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2022-01-19 Home Front: WoT
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Texas synagogue hostage-taker was known to MI5
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| See developments in Britain here, and yesterday here. |
 [BBC] A British man who took four people hostage at a synagogue in Texas had been investigated by MI5.
Malik Faisal Akram, from Blackburn in Lancashire, was the subject of an investigation in late 2020 but by the time he flew to the US he was assessed to be no longer a risk.
The siege at the synagogue in Colleyville near Dallas ended after 10 hours, with the four hostages unharmed.
Akram, 44, was shot dead by police.
He had been on the British security service's watchlist as a "subject of interest" in 2020 and was investigated in the second half of that year.
But by 2021 Akram, who had a criminal record in the UK, had moved from the active list to the "former subject of interest" list and was no longer considered a threat.
The gunman who took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue in a 10-hour standoff that ended in his death was checked against law enforcement databases before entering the United States but raised no red flags, the White House said Tuesday.
Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen, arrived in the US at Kennedy Airport in New York on a tourist visa about two weeks ago, officials said. He spent time in Dallas-area homeless shelters before the attack Saturday in the suburb of Colleyville
Akram was not believed to be included in the Terrorist Screening Database, a listing of known or suspected faceless myrmidons maintained by the FBI
...Formerly one of the world's premier criminal investigation organizations, something for a nation to be proud of. Now it's a political arm of the Deep State oligarchy that is willing to trump up charges, suppress evidence, or take out insurance policies come election time...
and shared with a variety of federal agencies, two law enforcement officials told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. Had he been included, it would have been extremely difficult for him to get into the country.
"Our understanding, and obviously we’re still looking into this, is that he was checked against US government databases multiple times prior to entering the country, and the US government did not have any derogatory information about the individual in our systems at the time of entry," White House press secretary Jen Psaki
 ...a valley girl who woke up one morning and found she was spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State under Obama. A new American success story, under Biden she became spokeswoman for the whole administration, and she was even able to get her sister a job...
said.
She added: "We’re certainly looking back... [at] what occurred to learn every possible lesson we can to prevent attacks like this in the future."
The investigation stretched to England, where over the weekend police announced that two teenagers were in jug in connection with the standoff. The teenagers are Akram’s sons, two US law enforcement officials told AP. The officials were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, police in Britannia said the teenagers had been released without charge. They were detained in Manchester, about 30 miles from Akram’s hometown of Blackburn.
Investigators believe he had initially traveled to New York believing that Siddiqui was still being held there — where her trial occurred — without realizing she had been sent to a federal prison in Texas.
During the standoff, Akram forced Cytron-Walker to call Angela Buchdahl, the senior rabbi at New York’s Central Synagogue, and told him to demand Siddiqui’s release. In at least one subsequent call, Akram ranted and demanded that Buchdahl make efforts to get Siddiqui freed, an official said. Buchdahl called 911 and reported the calls to New York City police.
Investigators are still working to sort through all of Akram’s movements in the US and are reviewing travel, financial and phone records, but they believe Akram may have traveled by bus to Texas, two of the officials said.
Authorities believe Akram bought the handgun used in the hostage-taking in a private sale, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on.
In another major terrorism case, Omar Mateen
 ... the Afghan-"American" who decided he was a soldier of the Caliphate and shot fifty unarmed people to death in a Florida gay bar he used to frequent...
, who killed 49 people at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub in 2016, had been investigated repeatedly by the FBI but not charged. The FBI undertook an internal review of how it handled tips and leads in terrorism investigations.
Akram, 44, had spent time in Texas homeless shelters in the two weeks leading up to the attack, and was dropped off at one by someone he appeared to know. The hostage taker was brought to the shelter in downtown Dallas on Jan. 2 by a man who hugged him and had conversations with him, says Wayne Walker, CEO and pastor of OurCalling, which provides services to homeless people.
“He was dropped off by somebody that looked like he had a relationship with him,” says Walker, who says he turned photos and video over to the FBI.
Malik Faisal Akram chose to hold synagogue worshipers hostage in Colleyville, Texas Saturday because he believed in antisemitic tropes and was convinced that the Jewish worshipers inside would have the power to organize the release of a Pak prisoner tossed in the clink
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
nearby, one of the four worshipers held at gunpoint told The Times of Israel on Monday.
"He did not come there to kill Jews ... He came here to release [Aafia Siddiqui
 ...American-educated Pak cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. In September 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in jug after a three-ring trial. Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Liberia immediately prior to 9-11-01. Since her incarceration Paks have taken her to their heart and periodically erupt into demonstrations, while the government tries to find somebody to swap for her...
], and he had bought into the extremely dangerous, antisemitic trope that Jews control everything, that we could call President [Joe] Biden and have him release her," Jeffrey Cohen said in an interview over Zoom. 
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Posted by Besoeker 2022-01-19 18:13||
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