Word: cleric
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...troubling charge in Congress's joint 9/11 inquiry last month was that the FBI failed to investigate adequately Anwar al-Aulaqi, an American Muslim cleric who ministered to several of the hijackers. The FBI concluded al-Aulaqi was merely a spiritual adviser eager to assist followers, and an FBI official says, "I've heard no [further] interest [at the FBI ] in this guy." But the report quotes an FBI dissenter as saying, "There's a lot of smoke" surrounding his contacts with the hijackers. U.S. officials reportedly want further investigation...
Born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, al-Aulaqi studied engineering at Colorado State University. Friends describe him as warm and adamantly nonviolent. But while living in San Diego he met with an ally of an Egyptian cleric imprisoned for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center attack. The FBI investigated, closing the probe in March 2000. Two months earlier, two hijackers moved to the area. Al-Aulaqi, according to the joint inquiry, held "closed-door meetings" with them. When he moved to Virginia in early 2001, two hijackers followed. After 9/11, al-Aulaqi told the A.P. he didn...
...connection with the Bali bombings, was sentenced to death by a court in the island's capital, Denpasar. Meanwhile, a verdict is imminent for Abubakar Ba'asyir, the alleged spiritual head of JI, who is charged with treason and bombings unrelated to Bali. A conviction for the revered cleric?who denies that JI exists, although he did concede late in his trial that he believed attacks on Christian churches were permissible if the churches were proven enemies of Islam?could further enrage militants and spark more reprisals...
...Also in their in-box: an assignment from Washington's Joint Terrorism Task Force to track American Muslim cleric Anwar Aulaqi. TIME has been told by a friend of Aulaqi's that the imam abruptly moved to Yemen, his parents' birthplace, last year, as the investigation into his possible relationship with three 9/11 hijackers was heating up. But Aulaqi may be on the move. The FBI is asking British authorities for information on the 32-year-old cleric's doings if he appears in the northern English city of Bradford this month to teach, as advertised on the internet...
...Abubakar Ba'asyir Accused of being head of JI, on trial in Jakarta for treason and other charges not related to Bali Trial Status: Continuing Most interesting moment: July 15, when the 63-year-old cleric lectured the judges that all Muslims are obliged by their religion to fight "infidels" who oppress Islam...