Posted on 08/03/2004 6:31:26 PM PDT by wagglebee
A University of Washington computer-security expert detained last month by federal agents is the son of a radical Islamic dissident in England, who believes his son has been targeted by the U.S. government and the Saudi royal family.
Majid al-Massari, 34, a Saudi national and an employee of the UW School of Nursing, was arrested July 17 by agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for investigation of immigration violations.
FBI agents with the Seattle Joint Terrorism Task Force seized computers from al-Massari's office and his University District home, according to federal sources. One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said agents are translating hundreds of e-mails in Arabic between al-Massari and his father.
Dr. Muhammad al-Massari, 57, speaking from his home in London yesterday, said his eldest son's arrest coincides with his own stepped-up efforts to topple the Saudi Arabian government through what he calls "political and intellectual jihad."
Majid al-Massari's Seattle attorney, Cheryl Nance, said her client had applied for asylum in the U.S. in 1997. He did so, she said, after the Saudi government tortured his brother and targeted his father, who had fled Saudi Arabia the previous year.
Nance explained that people who apply for asylum are allowed to stay in the country legally until their situation is resolved.
The U.S. is now trying to expel Majid al-Massari, apparently believing he poses "some sort of terrorist threat," Nance said.
She dismissed any notion that her client is anything more than outspoken. "He fears persecution by the Saudi government," Nance said. "He has a legitimate asylum claim."
He had a misdemeanor drug conviction in 2003, and Nance said that's what immigration agents are citing as a reason to deport him. "But I don't believe this has anything to do with drugs," she said. "They are treating him like he's a terrorist."
Nance said that, after his arrest, Majid al-Massari was held for six days before being allowed to contact her. She has represented him for nearly seven years. He had worked at the UW for three years.
"They have ignored him and his asylum claim until now. I have to wonder why," she said.
Majid al-Massari, who is being held at the federal detention center in SeaTac, is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge tomorrow in Seattle, said Greg Gagne, a spokesman for the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Washington, D.C. He said the hearing likely will be closed to the public.
The senior al-Massari, a former Saudi diplomat and physicist who fled the country in the mid-1990s to become one of the royal family's most virulent critics, said the close ties between the U.S. government and Saudi Arabia are at the heart of his son's immigration troubles.
"I must confess there can be no other reason," said al-Massari, who was posted in Denver for 2-1/2 years in the 1980s as an educational attaché, according to news reports.
He said the Saudi government tried to pressure Great Britain into deporting him in 1996.
At that time, then-Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe publicly acknowledged the pressure, saying al-Massari's presence in London had "complicated" billions of dollars in trade with the Saudis. A public outcry resulted in al-Massari being allowed to remain in London.
In recent months, the senior al-Massari said, he and his group — called the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights — have stepped up their oral attacks on the Saudi regime, calling for Muslims to depose the royals and replace them with a fundamentalist Islamic government.
Majid al-Massari had been a regular guest on London-based anti-Saudi radio talk shows and posted regularly on Internet discussion groups, his father said.
Muhammad al-Massari acknowledges there may be other reasons for increased scrutiny of himself and his family. He acknowledged yesterday a long relationship with an al-Qaida sympathizer named Mustafa al-Ansari, who led an attack on a Saudi petrochemical plant in Yanbu in May that left two Americans, two Britons and an Australian dead. They were employees of a Houston firm.
He also said he was "acquainted" with Abdurahman Alamoudi, who pleaded guilty last week in Washington, D.C., to being involved in a Libyan-funded plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Al-Massari denied any involvement in the scheme.
More here....
Well, well, well. Who'd have thought that our engineering schools were full of jihadi? Would anyone in the administration like to rethink the student visa program?
Some dissidents this man is; he's like to overthrow the Saudi Gov't and replace it with something even worse!
It's things like this that make one believe in the Coulter Doctrine: Invade their countries, kill their leaders, convert them to Christianity.
The 9/11 commission was the most over-hyped fiasco in history. They spent years and millions of dollars a lot of it merely to try to make Bush look bad. In the end, they "recommended" what any logical person already knew on September 11, 2001.
One mo'!
Ping.
I was in the Bahamas last winter and on entering the country my wife and I had to show proof of what hotel we were staying in, when someone comes into the US there is no requirement. We have no idea what happens to these people once they clear customs and that's scary.
He is out of immigration status other wised they would not have schedulede a hearing...AND his dad is sympathetic to Al Qaeda...send him bakc to Saudi let them deal with him
Some things don't add up here.... he's supposed to be a computer security expert yet he is an employee of the School of Nursing?
The father is an enemy of the royal family - this is not necessarily a bad thing. Unless of course his opposition to the royal family leads him to join the jihadis......
You forgot the words 'politically biased' in your description of the 9/11 commission. How Jamie Gorelick, who had a heavy hand in the events leading up to 9/11/2001, could serve on this commission is beyond belief. How Bob Kerrey, who called Clinton (who IMHO allowed 9/11 to happen) an 'unusually good liar' and who has political baggage of his own, could serve on the commission is, again, beyond belief.
It's interesting that this commission never asked questions like
1)Why was there not one person rescued from the rooftops of the burning towers prior to their collapsing?
2)Why did the buildings actually collapse? Did the regulations on asbestos fire-shielding have an influence on the collapsing towers? Were the buildings not engineered for a violent file on the upper floors?
Nance explained that people who apply for asylum are allowed to stay in the country legally until their situation is resolved.
The U.S. is now trying to expel Majid al-Massari, apparently believing he poses "some sort of terrorist threat," Nance said.
She dismissed any notion that her client is anything more than outspoken. "He fears persecution by the Saudi government," Nance said. "He has a legitimate asylum claim."
He had a misdemeanor drug conviction in 2003, and Nance said that's what immigration agents are citing as a reason to deport him. "But I don't believe this has anything to do with drugs," she said. "They are treating him like he's a terrorist."
I am continually amazed. Seattle cops aren't even allowed to ask a person about their immigration status. Gotta stay PC, even when our National security is at stake........especially in Seattle! Why do you think anybody with an axe to grind likes to come here? The last person leaving Seattle doesn't have to worry about turning the lights out. They're already out!
The roundup continues!
"They are treating him like he's a terrorist."
Well, duh!
My ex-neighbours from Turkey were all taking some form of engineering at WSU or UI...Go figure...
Later
MD
"...Muhammad al-Massari acknowledges there may be other reasons for increased scrutiny of himself and his family. He acknowledged yesterday a long relationship with an al-Qaida sympathizer named Mustafa al-Ansari, who led an attack on a Saudi petrochemical plant in Yanbu in May that left two Americans, two Britons and an Australian dead. They were employees of a Houston firm.
He also said he was "acquainted" with Abdurahman Alamoudi, who pleaded guilty last week in Washington, D.C., to being involved in a Libyan-funded plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Al-Massari denied any involvement in the scheme...."
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