New charges for admitted terrorist's dad

Two months after revealing in court that the father of subway bomb plotter Najibullah Zazi would not agree to a plea deal on an obstruction of justice charge, Brooklyn federal prosecutors Tuesday added seven new counts.

In addition to the original charge that Mohammed Zazi tried to destroy evidence when his son came under FBI scrutiny in 2009, the superseding indictment includes several related charges of lying and witness tampering as well as two counts of visa fraud dating back to 1997.

Najibullah Zazi, a Colorado airport shuttle bus driver who grew up in Flushing, pleaded guilty earlier this year to plotting an attack on New York City's subways. He has been supplying information to the government as a cooperating witness.

Mohammed Zazi, of Denver, was first charged in January and is free on bail. He is due in court on Dec. 9 to be arraigned on the new charges.

His lawyer, Deborah Colson, did not return a call for comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney did not respond directly to questions about whether the added charges were designed to pressure Zazi into a guilty plea.

"The government's position is that this indictment - presented to and voted on by a grand jury - is based on evidence that the government is prepared to present at trial," said the spokesman, Robert Nardoza.

In addition to attempting to destroy some of his son's bomb-making equipment, the new indictment says, the elder Zazi tried to persuade a witness to not talk to federal agents, and lied about being warned by a Queens imam that his son was in trouble.

The visa fraud charges allege that beginning in 1997 and continuing in later years, Zazi falsely claimed in a refugee application and other documents and a statements that a nephew was in fact his son.