MIAMI, Jan 2: Jury selection began on Wednesday in the US for the trial of an elderly Muslim cleric and a son accused of funnelling about $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban.    

Hafiz and Izhar Khan of Miami are charged with providing material support to terrorists. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

The men say the money they sent overseas was for innocent purposes. They have pleaded not guilty.

The Pakistani Taliban were linked to Al Qaeda and had played role in several attacks against the US, including a December 2009 suicide bombing at a military base in Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven US citizens, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said that Hafiz Khan founded a religious school in Pakistan that was used by the Taliban to train and indoctrinate children in fighting the Americans. The Pakistani army shut down the school in 2009.

Defence attorneys say the money wired to Pakistan was for family members, not to buy weapons for terrorists, and that the school was not a terrorist training centre.—AP