Amer el-Maati

Infobox Person
name =Amro Badr Abouelmaati


image_size =150x200px
caption =Wanted for questioning
(FBI photo)
birth_date =May 25, 1963
birth_place =Kuwait
death_date =
death_place =
occupation =
spouse =
parents =Egyptian father, Syrian mother
children =A Canadian citizen born in Kuwait, Amro Badr Abouelmaati (or Amer el-Maati) is a suspected member of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.

In 1992 he suffered a brain injury following a car accident. According to the 2005 interrogation of Abdullah Khadr in Pakistan, el-Maati had worked as a carpet salesman after the Mujahideen had denied him a pension due to his brain injury which prevented him from participating in long treks, and he was last seen in 2001 helping to repel the US-led Invasion of Afghanistan.Freeze, Colin. Globe and Mail, "I only buy and sell weapons for al-Qaeda", November 3 2006] Khadr's younger brother Abdurahman testified in Montreal in the summer of 2004 that el-Maati had given his Canadian passport to a man known as "Idriss".Freeze, Colin, Globe and Mail, "Canadians' ties with Chechen insurgents probed", October 16 2004]

In February 2003, he was listed and still remains on the United States Department of Justice's FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list, "being sought in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States." [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20030202083247/http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/terrorismsi.htm FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism archive page] , Internet Archive Wayback Machine, February 2, 2003] [ [http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/elmaati.htm FBI Seeking Information Alert for Amer El-Maati] , FBI, May 26, 2004]

His father Badr el-Maati currently resides in Toronto where he has protested his son's vilification, claiming that he is being used as a poster-child to help the Department of Homeland Security keep fear and suspicion high in the US, particularly against Canadian-Arabs. [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/1085655290235_28/?hub=Canada&subhub=PrintStory Father claims his son is innocent] , CTV] His opinions were echoed by a Toronto cleric, Aly Hindy, who has known the family for years and claimed that the FBI's announcement were "laughable"; though both admit that they had not heard from Amer in five or six years and there were rumours that he has since died. Amer's brother Ahmad Abou El-Maati was also the brief focus of a Canadian RCMP investigation.

On May 26, 2004, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that el-Maati was one of seven al-Qaeda members who were planning a terrorist action for the summer or fall of 2004. Others listed on that date were Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Aafia Siddiqui, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, Abderraouf Jdey, and Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/05/26/terror.threat.transcript/ Transcript: Ashcroft, Mueller news conference] , CNN.com, Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Posted: 8:19 PM EDT (0019 GMT)]

References

External links

* [http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/el-maati.htm FBI Seeking Information Alert: Amer el-Maati]