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US man linked to radical cleric
Source: Agencies |
November 12, 2010, Friday
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A 26-YEAR-OLD American imprisoned in Yemen and accused of ties to al-Qaida had multiple contacts with a radical United States-born cleric who is a key figure in the terror group's Yemeni offshoot, his lawyer said yesterday.
Sharif Mobley came to Yemen in 2008 to study religion and Arabic, but was arrested in January for suspected links to al-Qaida. Last month, he was charged with killing one of his guards and wounding another while trying to escape in March from a hospital where he was receiving treatment.
His US lawyer, Cori Crider, said yesterday that Mobley had been in touch with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric, seeking advice about daily life in Yemen.
US intelligence has linked the 39-year-old al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, to the September 11, 2001 hijackers and to last year's failed Christmas Day bombing of a jetliner over Detroit. He also has ties to Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in November at the Fort Hood, Texas, military base.
The US has already authorized the CIA to capture or kill al-Awlaki, and Yemen brought charges against him last month for his alleged role in the killing of foreigners.
Crider, who is in Yemen for Mobley's trial, said her client told interrogators that he met al-Awlaki after arriving in Yemen, and later spoke to the cleric by phone.
"Sharif has been totally candid ever since I have been speaking to him about the nature of contacts he had with al-Awlaki," Crider said. "He knew al-Awlaki as an English-speaking imam. It is also important to remember that in July 2008 when this family went to Yemen, he (al-Awlaki) wasn't public enemy No. 1."
American officials maintain that Mobley, who grew up in New Jersey, traveled to Yemen aiming to join a terror group.
Sharif Mobley came to Yemen in 2008 to study religion and Arabic, but was arrested in January for suspected links to al-Qaida. Last month, he was charged with killing one of his guards and wounding another while trying to escape in March from a hospital where he was receiving treatment.
His US lawyer, Cori Crider, said yesterday that Mobley had been in touch with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric, seeking advice about daily life in Yemen.
US intelligence has linked the 39-year-old al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, to the September 11, 2001 hijackers and to last year's failed Christmas Day bombing of a jetliner over Detroit. He also has ties to Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in November at the Fort Hood, Texas, military base.
The US has already authorized the CIA to capture or kill al-Awlaki, and Yemen brought charges against him last month for his alleged role in the killing of foreigners.
Crider, who is in Yemen for Mobley's trial, said her client told interrogators that he met al-Awlaki after arriving in Yemen, and later spoke to the cleric by phone.
"Sharif has been totally candid ever since I have been speaking to him about the nature of contacts he had with al-Awlaki," Crider said. "He knew al-Awlaki as an English-speaking imam. It is also important to remember that in July 2008 when this family went to Yemen, he (al-Awlaki) wasn't public enemy No. 1."
American officials maintain that Mobley, who grew up in New Jersey, traveled to Yemen aiming to join a terror group.
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