His personal best time of 8:06.13 minutes is also the Bahraini national record, set on 13 July 2009 at the Athens Grand Prix Tsiklitiria.

Taher emerged on the international athletics scene at the 2005 World Cross Country Championships, where he finished ninth in the junior race.

[5] Born in Kenya under a different name, it was claimed that the identity of Taher was altered upon his switch to Bahrain, to qualify for international junior and youth events.

This purported birthdate would make him eligible to compete at the 2005 World Youth Championships which is open to athletes aged seventeen and less.

The case had been brought to government level in Kenya as IAAF president Lamine Diack had discussed the issue the previous month with Maina Kamanda, Kenyan Minister for Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services.

In addition the Council meeting reported on a similar case, involving Kenyan long-distance runner Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa, who was found to compete with a falsified age in the junior race at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships, the same thing for which Taher was investigated.

He was then selected to represent Asia at the 2006 World Cup, a meet which gathers one competitor from each continent in each event, and finished eighth in the 3000 metres.

[8] The reigning world champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen, another Kenyan who changed nationality to Qatar, was absent from the Asian Games due to injury.

If he is found to have forged his identity himself, Taher could face a two-year ban from the sport, similar to the suspension imposed upon first time doping offenders.