Word: abouhalima
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...Abouhalima's social life revolved around the Egyptian immigrant community in Munich, especially the orthodox Muslims he met while praying in makeshift mosques. He invited several Muslim friends who needed housing to live temporarily with him and his wife. Abouhalima conducted many smoky gatherings in their home, where groups of Egyptians would sit and discuss politics in Arabic, which Soika did not understand. Soika says she was left with the impression that Mahmud worked in some kind of "underground," but she couldn't put her finger on it. "He never said anything about it directly," she says. "But I could...
...Abouhalima never hid his opinions. He condemned the governments of Sadat and later Mubarak, along with their supporters like the U.S. Abouhalima had little regard for Germans, complaining that they drank too much, had cold personalities and spent money too lavishly. Despite his bitterness toward Egypt, he longed for his homeland and spoke about it often. He read Arabic newspapers, and since his parents did not own a telephone, he made it a point to call one of his uncles in Egypt every Sunday...
...pregnant in 1984, she had an abortion against her husband's will. Soon thereafter, Soika arrived home early after spending nine weeks at a health clinic for treatment of stress. When she opened the door, she found a 21-year-old woman named Marianne Weber staying in the apartment. Abouhalima suggested that the three live together as one happy family, but Soika refused. They divorced in February 1985, after Abouhalima had married Weber in a Muslim ceremony at the Islamic Center...
Despite Soika's resentment, she still refers to Abouhalima as her husband and keeps his surname on the doorbell of her current home. She is angry, yet still incredulous about his alleged involvement in the bombing. "The electric chair would be too good for him," she says, on the verge of tears. "I don't know how he can sleep at night after what he did. He prays five times a day and then does this? He's made a mockery of his religion. I can't grasp it. It doesn't fit with my image...
...many, the Afghan war was a transforming experience. "I haven't met one person who was sorry he went," says Ahmed Sattar, a director of a Brooklyn mosque where Abouhalima and other defendants prayed. "Most of them left America as ordinary men and came back so devout and so proud. The war reminded them of the glorious old days, many hundreds of years ago, when Muslims were fighting the infidel...