Updated: Fri Nov. 06 2009 5:23:04 PM

The Canadian Press

WINDSOR, Ont. — Two Canadians connected to a controversial imam killed by the FBI in Detroit were released on bail Friday pending hearings to determine if they should be extradited to the United States.

Mohammad Al-Sahli was granted bail of $300,000, while Yassir Ali Khan was granted bail of $260,000.

The release conditions were negotiated between Crown and defence behind closed doors after a large number of Muslim community members showed up at the border-city courthouse to support the men.

"There were many, many people who offered to be sureties," said defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme.

An FBI complaint filed in Detroit alleges the two men, both 30 and both of Windsor, Ont., had a hand in trying to buy and sell stolen goods, possibly on behalf of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah.

"There's been a lot of information that has not been very specific," said Ducharme.

"They've cast a very broad net here. Now they're going to have get some specifics and really demonstrate that there's some actual evidence."

Abdullah, 53, also known as Christopher Thomas, was shot dead Oct. 28 when FBI agents attempted to arrest him at a warehouse in Dearborn, Mich., on charges of conspiracy to sell stolen goods.

Police also arrested seven alleged followers, while warrants were issued for his son, Mujahid Carswell, as well as Al-Sahli and Kahn.

The FBI complaint, the result of a two-year investigation, alleges the men conspired to commit crimes of a relatively minor nature, such as stealing and fencing laptop computers.

However, the underlying thread is that the imam espoused violence and was a member of a radical Islamic group that sought to establish a Shariah-law state within the United States.

Abdullah was a leader of a "nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group consisting primarily of African-Americans, some of whom converted to Islam," FBI special agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit in support of the complaint.

Abdullah's mosque called the allegations ridiculous.

Ducharme said he expected Crown disclosure within about two months and the extradition hearing to proceed within about six months.

"I've never seen their evidence," Ducharme said. "Indeed (the Crown) told me they haven't seen their evidence yet either."

Other bail conditions imposed on the men, both of Windsor, Ont., include a night-time curfew and weekly reporting Fridays to the RCMP.

They will appear again briefly Dec. 4 to make sure they are complying with the terms of their release.

Carswell, an American, was arrested in Windsor last week and turned over to the FBI, while the two Canadians were arrested at homes in Windsor last weekend.