Arrest
The Peoria Journal Star reports that al-Marri's initial capture was at a routine traffic stop in Peoria in December 2001. He was held in civilian jails in Peoria, Illinois and New York City as a material witness.
It was Ali Soufan's questioning of Mohammed al Qahtani, that led to the terrorism charges against al-Marri, whom al Qahtani had mentioned being a relative.
In 2002, Ali was charged with making false statements to the FBI and to financial institutions, identity fraud, and credit card fraud. Al-Marri was alleged to be in possession of more than 1750 credit card numbers, along with the names of the account holders, none of whom were Al-Marri. He was also alleged to be in possession of falsified identification documents. Additionally, he was alleged to have used a Qwest calling card to call a number in Dubai linked to the reputed al-Qaeda financier Mustafa al-Hawsawi. After searching al-Marri's computer, folders were found labeled "jihad arena" and "chem," which (according to the government) contained information on hydrogen cyanide, a poisonous gas produced in large quantities by several industrial processes in the U.S. and listed amongst chemical warfare agents that cause general poisoning, along with lectures by Osama bin Laden and links to Web sites related to weaponry and satellite equipment.
Al-Marri's initial charges were dropped when President Bush classified him as an unlawful combatant in 2003. Unlike other foreigners, al-Marri was not transported to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp but was instead transferred to Naval Consolidated Brig, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Read more about this topic: Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri
Famous quotes containing the word arrest:
“The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. Since man is mortal, the only immortality possible for him is to leave something behind him that is immortal since it will always move. This is the artist’s way of scribbling “Kilroy was here” on the wall of the final and irrevocable oblivion through which he must someday pass.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“One does not arrest Voltaire.”
—Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970)
“Let me arrest thy thoughts; wonder with me,
Why plowing, building, ruling and the rest,
Or most of those arts, whence our lives are blest,
By cursed Cain’s race invented be,
And blest Seth vexed us with Astronomie.”
—John Donne (c. 1572–1631)