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WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors plan to move an alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent out of a Navy brig in South Carolina and send him to federal court in Illinois to face trial. Two people familiar with the case of Qatar native Ali al-Marri said Thursday the government plans to transfer him to the civilian court system. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity because it's a pending criminal case. The transfer could avert a Supreme Court hearing in April and a subsequent ruling that would govern other cases against accused terrorists. To justify holding al-Marri, the Bush administration claimed the...

If Saleman Abdirahman Dirie intended to do harm with the sodium cyanide found in his Denver hotel room, he could have done a lot of it. Firefighters said Wednesday that Dirie, whose body was found Monday, had a pound of the substance in Room 408 at the Burnsley All Suite Hotel in Capitol Hill, and an expert said that if it were mixed with acid, that would be plenty enough to function as a weapon. Denver police verified that the substance found in Dirie's hotel suite was sodium cyanide, which converts to a gas if mixed with acid and could...

DENVER -- A Canadian national found dead inside an upscale Denver hotel with a pound of highly toxic sodium cyanide had killed himself, the deputy coroner said Wednesday. However, a spokesman for Dirie's family said he finds the idea that it was suicide "ridiculous." Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, was found dead inside the Burnsley hotel on Aug. 11. In his hotel room, firefighters found nearly a pound of sodium cyanide -- the crystal form of cyanide "This office completed an autopsy. The test results have been returned to our office and the decedent was positive for ingesting cyanide. The manner...

The former Somali refugee, who was buried Thursday, was described as humble, reclusive and "psychotic." A Minnesota-based legal advocacy center for Somalis is assembling a troubling, curious background of a man found dead in a Denver luxury hotel Monday near a pound of deadly cyanide. "He was psychotic; he was on medication," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, which has talked to dozens of people who knew Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, a 29-year-old Canadian citizen and former Somali refugee. Dirie's journey to the U.S. and his stay in an expensive hotel does not fit the profile...

DENVER (AP/CBS4) An advocacy group for Somali immigrants has cautioned against linking terrorism to a man found dead in a Denver hotel with a pound of highly toxic sodium cyanide in his room. U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Thursday terrorism couldn't be ruled out, but that it was not indicated in the investigation. Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, of Ottawa was found dead Monday, and police say a powder found in his room was cyanide. The cause of death hasn't been established. Police say they don't suspect foul play and the FBI says there's no apparent connection to terrorism. The...

Ottawa man's death still a mystery: The mystery deepens in the case of an Ottawa man found dead in an upscale Denver hotel room — a pound of highly toxic sodium cyanide in a jar beside him. More than a week ago, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, told his Somalian family out of the blue that he was leaving to vacation in Denver. On Monday, he was found in a fourth-floor room at the ritzy Burnsley Hotel about four blocks from the Colorado state Capitol. He had been dead for several days. Yesterday in Ottawa, a quiet west end family was...

Authorities are testing a pound of a granular substance found inside an upscale Denver hotel room to determine if it is cyanide. A Canadian national was found dead on Monday inside room 408 of the Burnsley Hotel. The Denver Coroner's Office has not completed the autopsy of 29-year-old Saleman Abdirahman Dirie. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting Denver police with the investigation. "You have a suspicious substance that was found in a hotel room in conjunction with person being a foreign national and we have a lot of questions and that is why we are assisting," said Denver...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

LGF reader “Shiplord Kirel” points out a blog post from July with a comment by a Somali with the same name as the man found dead in Denver with a large amount of possible cyanide: Somali Christian Blog Abandoned. « Zot Media Inc. Please don’t talk sh*t , that man deserves what happened to him , simply because having the bible in one hand , and a bread in the other hand , is not a correct thing ,! Kill Them , Kill them , Kill them , that is my massage,!Comment by Abdirahman Dirie — July 11, 2008 @...

DENVER (CBS4) ― It has the makings of international intrigue. Less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention a man has been found dead in a Denver hotel room with a container of what authorities initially suspect to be the deadly poison cyanide. Adding to the intrigue is that the dead man, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada. A large container of a white powdery substance was found in the man's room on the fourth floor of The...

It has the makings of international intrigue. Less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention a man has been found dead in a Denver hotel room with a container of what authorities initially suspect to be the deadly poison cyanide. Adding to the intrigue is that the dead man, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada. A large container of a white powdery substance was found in the man's room on the fourth floor of the Burnsley Hotel at...

D.C. Fire Hazmat Teams responded to an apparent suicide in the District after fire officials said the man may have killed himself using cyanide. Police got a call around 4:30 p.m. on Monday for an unconscious male at a house in the 4300 block of 36th Street. Two officers responded and found a man laying next to a small vile of cyanide. Immediately, fire officials said police left the home and called in the hazmat crew, which is standard procedure. -snip-

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Still in Control Pervez Musharraf was calm, confident and—despite a flurry of rumors—not about to announce his resignation. Instead, the Pakistani president's "concession" to his troubled nation was an announcement that he would allow Britain's Scotland Yard to help local law enforcement agencies with their investigation into last week's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Speaking in a nationally televised address two hours after Pakistan's election commission announced the postponement of the ballot to Feb. 18, six weeks later than had been scheduled, Musharraf was notably deferential in his remarks about Bhutto, often invoking her "martyrdom" and extolling...

University of Minnesota Center for Drug Design and Minneapolis VA Medical Center researchers have discovered a new fast-acting antidote to cyanide poisoning. The antidote has potential to save lives of those who are exposed to the chemical -- namely firefighters, industrial workers, and victims of terrorist attacks. Current cyanide antidotes work slowly and are ineffective when administered after a certain point, said Steven Patterson, Ph.D., principal investigator and associate director of the University of the Minnesota Center for Drug Design. Patterson is developing an antidote that was discovered by retired University of Minnesota Professor Herbert Nagasawa. This antidote works in...

Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info Nov 16 9:36 AM US/Eastern A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide. Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday after a dog caught the scent of narcotics on cash he was carrying, according to an affidavit filed in court. When agents asked him if he had any cash to declare, he said he had $18,000, authorities said. But when agents checked his luggage, they found an additional $59,000....

Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info The Associated Press Thursday, November 16, 2006; 12:54 PM DETROIT -- A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying nearly $79,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide. Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday after a dog caught the scent of narcotics on cash he was carrying, according to an affidavit filed in court. When agents asked him if he had any cash to declare, he said he had $18,000, authorities said. But when agents checked his luggage,...

Obscure al-Qaida Chemist Worries Experts By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent 7 minutes ago He's a mystery in a red beard, with a strange alias and a degree in chemical engineering. In the hands of this alleged al-Qaida operative, it's a specialty that summons visions of poison gas and mass terror. Al-Qaida is "wedded to the spectacular," notes U.S. counterterrorism analyst Donald Van Duyn, and elusive Egyptian chemist Midhat Mursi was said to be exploring such possibilities when last seen, brewing up deadly compounds and gassing dogs in Afghanistan. Van Duyn's FBI and other U.S. agencies are interested enough...

A UNITED State Federal judge ordered the detention on Monday of an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen who was arrested at Detroit's airport last week for carrying nearly $79,000 in cash and articles on suitcase bombs and the Sept. 11 attacks. Sisayehiticha Dinssa, 34, was arrested on Nov. 14 on arrival in Detroit after a dog smelled narcotics on his cash, according to federal prosecutors who had appealed a decision for him to be released on bond as a threat and a flight risk. Dinssa is charged with failing to declare he was bringing more than $10,000 into the United States, a...

June 24— The Qatari man designated an enemy combatant by the Bush administration was planning another Sept. 11 attack, sources told ABCNEWS. Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, 37, was deemed an enemy combatant by the Bush administration on Monday after officials said he was positively identified by an al Qaeda detainee as being part of a planned second wave of terror attacks on the United States. Government officials said they believed al Qaeda's top leadership sent Al-Marri to the United States to coordinate a new round of attacks. "Al-Marri was sent to the United States as a facilitator for other al...