WASHINGTON, 6 October — Saudi radiologist Dr. Badr Muhammad H. Al-Hazmi, among the suspects queried by the FBI following last month’s terror attacks, said one of the questions by the US investigators about $21 that he spent near the White House had left him baffled.
“I told them I had never been to the White House. What happened was during a visit to Washington with my family we had lunch at a restaurant near the White House. I paid the sum with my credit card.”
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Hazmi explained his ordeal of 12 days in jail for no reason other than that he had the same family name as the two prime suspects — Salim and Nawaf Al-Hazmi — in the hijacking of the American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
Badr Al-Hazmi was released on Sept. 24 after it was proved that he had no links with the hijackers. His attorney said he cooperated with the FBI and all suspicions have been cleared. Dr. Badr was studying for American medical fellowship in San Antonio, Texas. The attacks took place while he was preparing for exams, which were to take place in two days.
His terror began when FBI officers knocked at his door less than 24 hours after the attacks and took him for interrogation. He said five officers from the FBI and the INS, including a woman, arrived in the early hours with a warrant to search his house. “I asked for their IDs and they showed them to me. They were very polite. They did not harass or insult us. My children were sleeping and I woke up my wife.”
Dr. Badr said he told FBI officials that he would answer their questions only in the presence of a lawyer. They asked him whether he knew of Muhammad Atta and Khaled Mihdar and some other suspects. They searched his house for about six hours. They also asked his wife when she came to the US and when her husband’s studies would be over and about their travels within the country. Badr said they arrested him when they saw his visa had expired. In the meantime, he asked his wife and children to stay with their friends. The FBI officers had confiscated his computer, Arabic books and English magazines and other things from his office.
After two days they took him in a car to an airport with his hands and legs chained. “When they took me to the airport, I was worried not knowing what was happening.” They took him to New York along with two others — Ayyub Khan and Muhammad Zamat — by plane. The two were arrested after security officers found two knives on them. The knives were similar to the ones carried by the hijackers.
“Ayyub was crying throughout the flight and I consoled him and told him to recite verses from the Holy Qur’an. He was saying that his family was in India and nobody knew anything about him. Muhammad was so frightened that he did not talk at all. Badr said when they arrived at JFK airport in New York their plane was surrounded by security officers. They were later taken to an unknown place accompanied by several security vehicles.
Badr was then put in a Manhattan jail. He was not asked any question for the first four days during which he had no contact with the outside world. “I was afraid to ask them a copy of the Qur’an, fearing the worst.” On Sept. 18, they transferred him to another jail in Brooklyn.
