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Orange County Woman: Ex-Husband Is Terrorist

SANTA ANA - An Orange County woman said in an expose that aired last night that her ex-husband is a Muslim extremist who helped set up an al Qaeda sleeper cell in their Anaheim apartment complex in the 1990s.

Saraah Olson told ABC-TV's "Primetime Live" that her ex-husband, Hisham Diab, beat her, turned a local teenager into a terrorist fanatic, and brought other terrorists into their home.

Authorities say the couple's former neighbor, Khalil Deek, is considered a major al Qaeda figure, and is believed to have run the Orange County cell -- one of the first al Qaeda sleeper cells.

She said in the interview that she married Diab without knowing of his ties to terrorism, and that she helped him set up a charity that funneled money overseas.

Olson told ABC-TV that she was in love with Diab but he used her to get a U.S. passport.

She said she converted, along with her son from a previous relationship, to Islam.

Olson said she played a role in drawing up papers for a fake charity, called Charity Without Borders. It was used to funnel money overseas, and was not found or shut down until after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

She said her ex-husband recruited Adam Gadahn, a Garden Grove resident and a student at the Islamic Society of Orange County.

She said Diab viewed Gadahn as "fresh meat," someone his group felt they could control and, because he was unassuming looking, a person who could accomplish their tasks, according to the report.

Olson said Gadahn is the masked man who promised in an al Qaeda video message released in Pakistan in October that the "streets of America will run with blood."

Over three years, Olson told ABC-TV, she and her ex-husband hosted some of Osama bin Laden's top deputies including blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman in 1992. He later was sentenced to life in prison for his leadership role in the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center.

Olson said she tried to notify the FBI of her ex-husband's activities but she was not taken seriously.

In a statement, the FBI responded that counterterrorism is the agency's top priority, and that it acts on all credible leads.

Olson said her ex-husband made her wear a head scarf and beat her -- the first time just weeks after their wedding. The beatings were provoked, she said, by what he deemed were violations of his rules.

She said her ex-husband tried to recruit her son into his group. She said she wanted out, but went along so she would not be hit.

ABC-TV reported that her story was confirmed in detail by the Imam of the Islamic Society of Orange County, Haitham Bundakji.

Bundakji said Diab and the others in the cell were disruptive troublemakers who caused the most harm by recruiting others, especially Gadahn.

" And I blame myself and my people for not embracing him (Gadahn) and not making more efforts to gain him," Bundakji said. "He fell in the wrong hands and he became as aggressive as they were."

Gadahn left the Islamic Society after a series of events that started when he accused Bundakji of "being too Americanized," and one day assaulted the Imam.

Gadahn was prosecuted for the attack. Afterwards, Bundakji said he tried to welcome Gadahn back, but he did not wish to return.

Diab left the country suddenly in 1998 and is being sought by U.S. authorities. He is believed to be hiding in Pakistan with top al Qaeda leaders, Olson said.

Olson said she believes that now is the right time to come forward.

" These are dangerous people and a lot of people were hurt," she told ABC- TV.