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Hearing Put Off For Man Linked To NYC Bomb Try

A hearing for a Pakistani man who was arrested on immigration violations during the Times Square attempted bombing investigation has been postponed until next week.

A lawyer for 34-year-old Mohammad Shafiq Rahman asked for the postponement, saying that Rahman plans to file for a change in his immigration status based on his marriage in March to an American woman.

The hearing in Boston immigration court was rescheduled for June 2.

Rahman, a computer programmer who lives with his wife in South Portland, was arrested May 13. The government claims Rahman overstayed his work visa.

His employer, Larry Adlerstein, did not know Rahman was here illegally.

"There is a form that my bookkeepers should have filled out and in fact they tried to fill out," he said. "But he kept putting it off, and like a lot of things in life, it got dropped after a while."

Rahman has said that he knew bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad years ago, but had not spoken to him in years.

Adlerstein says he asked Rahman whether reports on Pakistani terrorism upset him.

"He says, 'Yes, it upsets me. I am sad. But I also want you to know, Larry, that I do know this guy that they accuse of trying to set off a bomb in Times Square,' " Adlerstein said.

Authorities have said Rahman and two men arrested in Massachusetts may have given money to Shahzad through an informal money transfer network, but may not have known how the money would be used.

This program aired on May 26, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.

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