Latest news with #Awlaki
Time of India
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'Why no proper interrogation': Zohran Mamdani under spotlight over old posts questioning FBI's surveillance of al-Qaeda terrorist al-Awlaki; who was he?
Zohran Mamdani (AP) Zohran Mamdani , the democratic socialist who recently won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in the US by a wide margin, has landed in controversy over old tweets about the FBI's surveillance of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric later linked to terror group al-Qaida. Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, was a well-known imam at mosques in San Diego and Virginia. According to a report by the New York Post, he had contact with three of the September 11, 2001, hijackers. After 9/11, the FBI began monitoring him. Their investigation found that, despite his public preaching of conservative family values, he was visiting prostitutes at hotels. Mamdani, in tweets from 2015, appeared to question this surveillance. Sharing a New York Times article, he wrote on X (then Twitter), "Why no proper interrogation of what it means for the FBI to have conducted an extensive survey into Awlaki's private life?" — ZohranKMamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) In another post, he said, "How could Awlaki have ever trusted the FBI to not release surveillance, especially if he continued to critique [the] state? Why no further discussion of how Awlaki's knowledge of surveillance eventually led him to al-Qaeda? Or what that says about [the] efficacy of surveillanec?" Anwar al-Awlaki was connected to multiple attacks and plots, including the 9/11 attacks and the Fort Hood shootings in November 2009. After several failed attempts to kill him, the US carried out a drone strike that killed him in western Yemen on September 30, 2011. The drone strike was ordered by then-US President Barack Obama. Al-Awlaki became the first US citizen to be killed in such a strike without being formally charged with a crime since the American Civil War. At the time, Obama said, "He directed the failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009. He directed the failed attempt to blow up US cargo planes in 2010." He added, "And he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda."
India Today
07-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Mamdani's 2015 post on al-Qaida terrorist returns to haunt him
New York City's Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing fresh scrutiny after his past tweets surfaced in which he appeared to question the FBI's surveillance tactics of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric later linked to terror outfit al-Qaida, and suggested that American intelligence actions may have contributed to Awlaki's 2015 post surfaced days after US President Donald Trump called the mayoral candidate a "100% Communist lunatic" and warned that the Democrat would be arrested if he stopped the immigration department from carrying out raids. Mamdani has also been under scrutiny over his family a 2015 post on X (formerly Twitter), Mamdani questioned al-Awlaki's surveillance the FBI had done after the 9/11 attacks. "Why no proper interrogation of what it means for the FBI to have conducted an extensive survey into Awlaki's private life? (sic)" asked Mamdani on X (formerly Twitter) in 2015."How could Awlaki have ever trusted the FBI to not release surveillance, especially if he continued to critique [the] state? Why no further discussion of how Awlaki's knowledge of surveillance eventually led him to alqaeda? Or what that says about [the] efficacy of surveillanec? (sic)," Mamdani said. Screenshort of Zohran Mamdani's 2015 posts. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, served as an imam in US mosques and came under federal scrutiny for his suspected ties to three of the 9/11 terrorists, according to a report in the New York never charged with involvement in the attacks, Awlaki later emerged as a senior figure in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and was killed in a 2011 US drone strike in was put under surveillance by the FBI after 9/11, a probe that uncovered, among other things, that the conservative, family-values-preaching cleric was frequenting sex workers at hotels, according to the ORDERED AIRSTRIKE ON THE AMERICAN CITIZENAl-Awlaki moved to Yemen in 2004, where he joined terror outfit al-Qaida and helped plan multiple terrorist attacks while spreading jihadist messages through videos and cleric was considered so dangerous that then-president Barack Obama approved the drone strike that killed him in 2011, an unprecedented assassination of an American citizen who had not been charged with a crime, The New York Post reported."He directed the failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009. He directed the failed attempt to blow up US cargo planes in 2010," Obama said at the time, according to the report."And he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women, and children to advance a murderous agenda," Obama added. Al-Awlaki moved to Yemen in 2004 and joined terror outfit al-Qaeda (Photo: AFP) MAMDANI'S COMMENTS ENRAGED 9/11 VICTIMS' FAMILIES, US OFFICIALSMamdani's comments have enraged 9/11 victims' families and US anti-terror officials, who view his remarks as Long Island Representative Peter King said holding the US responsible for al-Awlaki's deeds is like blaming the Jews for Hitler."To blame the United States for al-Awlaki is like blaming the Jews for Hitler," King, who chaired the House Homeland Security Committee and served on the Intelligence Committee that received confidential briefings on the slain terrorist, was quoted as saying by the New York Post."Mamdani is making excuses and rationalising al-Awlaki joining al-Qaida," King Lieutenant of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) Jim McCaffrey, whose brother-in-law, FDNY Battalion 7 Chief Orio Palmer, rushed into the World Trade Centre's south tower to try to help people before the building collapsed, called Mamdani's comments "very offensive to 9/11 victims and their families," the New York-based tabloid reported."It's offensive to all New Yorkers and all Americans," he said."It's an absolutely ridiculous assertion on Mamdani's part. The FBI agents were doing their job," said McCaffrey, who himself spent many days participating in search and recovery efforts at Ground guy, al-Awlaki had connections to al-Qaida. But [Mamdani's] blaming the FBI?" he said, slamming New York Post reported that intelligence sources claimed al-Awlaki's disciples had been linked to about a quarter of the Islamists convicted of terrorism-related offences in the US from 2007 until his death.- EndsMust Watch
MTV Lebanon
27-06-2025
- MTV Lebanon
Boston Marathon bombs: al-Qaeda's Inspire magazine taught pressure cooker bomb-making techniques
A recipe for how to make pressure cooker bombs, which investigators say were used in the Boston Marathon attack, was most notoriously published in the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire. The recipe – along with a rationale for post-9/11 terror – was printed three years ago in al-Qaeda's English-language promotional online magazine, Inspire. In an article, it instructed readers on how, as its headline writers put it, to 'Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom'. It gave the types of explosive, timers and other ingredients needed – along with, it said, a pressure cooker. That article was from the first edition of the magazine. Written in perfect but slightly hysterical English, some thought it was a hoax or satire along the lines of the film 'Four Lions'. In fact, most analysts remain convinced it was the brainchild of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American propagandist for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and was edited by Samir Khan, another American citizen who had travelled to Yemen to join the group. It was clear in its market – the disaffected young men in their mid-twenties, whether converts or of Muslim origin, who studies show are by far and away the biggest source of recruits to the jihadist cause. Subsequent editions suggested even more random forms of violence that anyone could carry out, such as driving a car into crowds as a weapon. The aim was to cause maximum response with a minimum of fuss. Its methodology was in some ways a sign of weakness, an acknowledgement that well-planned, large scale attacks on the scale of 9/11, or for that matter the Oklahoma outrage by a white supremacist, were unlikely to be repeated because of increased security and the erosion of al-Qaeda's command structure by drone strikes. Other 'spectaculars' had failed, such as the attempt to down an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 by the so-called 'underpants bomber', an Awlaki recruit of Nigerian origin, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. By contrast, smaller scale random attacks had notable success: most strikingly, before Inspire's first edition but clearly an incident its authors had in mind, Nidal Malik Hasan, the US army major who shot 13 people dead at his base at Fort Hood, Texas, had been in direct contact with Awlaki. As new editions appeared, investigators took Inspire ever more seriously. A disaffected US army private, Naser Jason Abdo, jailed for life in August 2012 after being found in possession of a bomb with which he said he was going to blow up a restaurant popular with soldiers from Fort Hood in an act of solidarity with Hasan, had a copy of the Inspire article. In his hotel room were all the ingredients listed, including two pressure cookers. Last October, Quasi Muhammad Nafis, accused of attempting to bomb a Federal Reserve Bank building in New York, was said by prosecutors to have read Inspire and even to have written an article in the hope that the magazine would publish it. He, though, was trapped by an FBI sting operation. His car bomb was a fake given him by an undercover operative. Awalaki and Khan were both killed in an American drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. The magazine has continued to publish, however, and while the pressure cookers do not prove Islamist terrorists were involved in the Boston attack, that is only part of the story. For all its semi-comic tone, the magazine's strategy of balancing relatively small-scale bombing with dramatic symbolism for political effect is an important chapter in the modern terror playbook. And its recipes are available for anyone.
New York Times
05-02-2025
- New York Times
Man Sentenced to 44 Years in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Qaeda Ties
A man who pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges nine years ago after being accused of plotting a suicide bombing at Heathrow Airport in London in support of Al Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate was sentenced on Tuesday to 44 years in prison. Prosecutors said that the man, Minh Quang Pham, planned the bombing after having received military training in Yemen from Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical Muslim cleric who was later killed by the United States in a drone strike. The sentencing of Mr. Pham, 41, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, appeared to conclude a winding case that began with his indictment in New York on several terrorism counts in 2012 and his extradition to the United States from Britain in 2015. 'Minh Quang Pham's actions were not just an affront to the safety of this country, but to the principles of peace and security that we hold dear,' Danielle R. Sassoon, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said. 'Today's sentencing underscores our resolve to stop terrorism before it occurs.' A lawyer for Mr. Pham, Bobbi Sternheim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Pham was born in Vietnam, moved to Britain as a child, worked as a web designer and converted to Islam. The events that led to his conviction and sentencing began in late 2010 when he traveled to Yemen, the base of operations for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, according to court documents. Mr. Pham planned to join the terrorist group, wage jihad on its behalf and martyr himself for its cause, prosecutors said. While in Yemen, he received training from Awlaki, who advised him to return to Britain and recruit others to the cause, according to court documents. Before leaving Yemen, prosecutors said, Mr. Pham approached Awlaki about undertaking a suicide mission. Awlaki personally taught Mr. Pham how to create a deadly explosive device using household chemicals and directed him to detonate such a device at an area of Heathrow where flights arrived from the United States or Israel, according to court documents. During this period, prosecutors said, Mr. Pham made various videos, some of which showed him preparing the device. In others, he encouraged people to engage in violent jihad. He was detained upon arriving at Heathrow in July 2011 after the authorities searched him and found, among other things, a live round of armor-piercing ammunition, according to court documents. He was released, and was arrested again several months later under British immigration law, prosecutors said. Searches of his home and other locations yielded several pieces of electronic media that showed he had been viewing Awlaki's speeches and writings since returning to Britain, according to court documents. Mr. Pham pleaded guilty in January 2016 to providing material support to Al Qaeda, to conspiring to receive military-type training from the group and to using a firearm in furtherance of violent crimes. He was sentenced several months later to 40 years in prison. The conviction was subsequently vacated, partly at the request of federal prosecutors, according to court filings. A grand jury later returned a superseding indictment that reinstated several of the original charges and that added new ones. Mr. Pham entered a second guilty plea in May 2023, setting the stage for the sentencing on Tuesday.
