Friends: Sailor unhappy with U.S. policy By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Mar 23
Friends say they knew Hassan Abujihaad was unhappy with American foreign policy, but they were surprised when the former Navy sailor was arrested on charges of supporting terrorism.
Abujihaad, 31, is accused of giving a suspected terrorism financier secret information about the location of Navy ships and the best ways to attack them. He is due in federal court in Bridgeport on Friday.
"He was very opinionated," said Miguel Colon, a friend who said he was questioned about Abujihaad by FBI agents this week. "He would talk about things in regard to the way the Iraq war was going. It was something he disagreed with."
But Colon, 24, who met Abujihaad at a mosque in Phoenix, said he rarely saw his friend angry. Colon said he had a hard time believing the man whose children played with his children secretly supported terrorists.
"It's just very stressful, it's almost unbelievable," he said.
Abujihaad did admire rebels in Chechnya and said they were formidable fighters, Colon said.
Abujihaad was arrested March 7 in Phoenix, where he was apparently working as a delivery man. He was charged with one count of providing material support to terrorists with intent to kill U.S. citizens and one count of disclosing classified information relating to the national defense.
Messages seeking comment were left Wednesday and Thursday with his attorneys.
Abujihaad said his case was blown out of proportion and that he only bought DVDs, Colon said. Federal authorities say they recovered e-mails about videos Abujihaad ordered that promoted violent jihad.
"I was shocked," said another friend, Shakir Mannan. "I still don't believe he did that. I never got the impression he would do something like that."
Deedra Abboud, former executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Phoenix, said Abujihaad told her when they met a few years ago that he disagreed with some aspects of American foreign policy.
"He still considered himself a U.S. citizen and a member of the U.S. military and would never have betrayed them," Abboud said.
Colon said Abujihaad, an American-born Muslim convert also known as Paul R. Hall, was dedicated to his prayers, reading Islamic literature and following rules against drinking.
"He was pretty much a homebody," he said.
Abujihaad had custody of his two young children from a previous marriage and had remarried, Colon said.
"He was always helping out his family a lot," he said. "He spent quite a lot of time with them."
The investigation began at an Internet service provider in Connecticut and followed a suspected terrorist network across the country and into Europe and the Middle East.
Abujihaad is charged in the same case as Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist arrested in 2004 and accused of running Web sites to raise money for terrorism. Ahmad is awaiting extradition to the U.S. to face trial.
During a search of Ahmad's computers, investigators discovered files containing classified information about the positions of U.S. Navy ships and discussing their susceptibility to attack.
Abujihaad, a former enlisted man, exchanged e-mails with Ahmad while on active duty on the USS Benfold, a guided-missile destroyer, in 2000 and 2001, according to an FBI affidavit. In those e-mails, Abujihaad discussed naval briefings and praised Osama bin Laden and those who attacked the USS Cole in 2000, according to the affidavit.
Abujihaad received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 2002, according to the affidavit. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. |
