My kind of job.
Posted on 05/21/2006 4:31:37 PM PDT by Flavius
AMPA - A judge revoked bail for two Saudi men arrested Friday for boarding a school bus and riding to Wharton High.
Initially, Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were held in Orient Road Jail on bails of $250 each on misdemeanor trespassing charges. Circuit Judge Monica Sierra decided to hold them at a court appearance Saturday so investigators could dig deeper into their pasts.
A friend of the two University of South Florida students tried to post their bail Friday night, said Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but a jail clerk told the friend that they couldn't be released because they were under an immigration hold until a hearing Saturday morning.
At the hearing, Sierra agreed with a prosecutor that she needed to know more about them before she could feel comfortable releasing them.
The prosecutor said neither man carried identification when they were arrested at Wharton High School, and authorities haven't had an opportunity to gather background information beyond a check of state records.
Almanajam and Alsidran appeared confused by the proceedings and smiled nervously as they stood behind a public defender's table.
Investigators say the men boarded a school bus at Fletcher Avenue and 42nd Street, sat down and began speaking in Arabic. Their behavior concerned the driver, a substitute, who alerted the school district.
The bus was met at Wharton High School by a swarm of officers from the sheriff's Homeland Security Division, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Regional Domestic Security Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI.
Bedier called the court's decision to revoke bond an overreaction and tied to the men being Arabic and Muslim.
"The only reason [this happened] is because of who they are, and that's wrong," he said. "How is it that they can say they can't find out who these kids are when they've searched their homes and found nothing? ... Thus far, it doesn't seem like they've been afforded their full rights for something as simple as getting on the wrong bus."
He questioned why the driver didn't tell them not to board if their appearance was suspicious.
Officials who questioned the men Friday said they at first said they were from Morocco but later admitted being from Saudi Arabia. Both arrived in the country six months ago and are enrolled at the English Language Institute at USF. Their reasons for getting on the bus ranged from wanting to enroll in easier English classes to having some fun.
Bedier said the men got on the bus out of a cultural misunderstanding.
"They don't have yellow school buses just for children in their home country," he said.
The judge scheduled a bond review hearing for Tuesday and asked that an Arabic interpreter be present. There was no interpreter Saturday.
'Cause he wasn't properly armed, with information, a weapon or courage perhaps.
The 911 hijackers did a dry run. Perhaps that is what we have here, to guage reaction. I see no problem with finding out what they can about these guys before setting bond. This is Florida, and 90 degree day and trench coat just ring a tad bit susupcious. A suicide vest would fit nicely underneath. Who knows what these guys were up too.
What are those pics of?
Sounds like a dry run or a try it out for feasibility run to me...
Gee, nothing to overreact to there....
The incident in Beslan, Russia.
Proving once again:
Those are pictures of the handiwork of the Muslim terrorists who took a school hostage and killed hundreds of children in Belsen, Russia last year.
If we think it can't happen here, we're dreaming.
After spending a couple years as a graduate teaching assistant, and dealing with some of these people, such a story doesn't surprise me in the least.
It's generally only those from wealthy families that can afford to come to the US to get an education, as tourists, or a combination of both.
Some of them just seem to have no clue about how "normal" people live.
I'm not saying that there are generally arrogant, rude, or genuinely inconsiderate, just clueless. Some are also rude and arrogant, but not many.
However I completely agree that the judge took the appropriate action. Boarding the bus was good reason to be suspicious of them. On top of that they didn't have any identification with them, and they lied about their country of origin to the police when first questioned.
They need to be held until a through background check is done. If there is anything questionable that comes up, or they feel they cannot get enough information for a reliable background check, I would think that lying to police about where they are from is good enough justification for deporting them.
Yea shorts and a trench coat on a hot day; that's not at all suspicious.
No, and they don't have Christian churches, either. But I'll bet they manage to recognize them and keep out of them.
This sounds like an intelligence gathering dry run for a later operation, to me. I hope I'm wrong.
Oh, boo hoo, they appeared confused, the court should give them a lollipop. Bullsh*t. These people are in college for cripes sakes. Of course they knew what they were doing. Holy F*cking Sh*t.
I agree. Even if they were not familiar with school buses, why go on a bus they allegedly did not know where it was going?
Well, here we go. From now on, all muSlum-looking men will be granted the right to get on school buses, no questions asked.
If they blow up or kidnap our kids, you can expect there will be hell to pay, though those who now deny a problem will never admit they saw anything coming. If there are any so-called moderate muSlums around, they better pay attention right quick.
My kind of job.
New fad. "Instant Muslim" mustache, beard and makeup kit. Now you can sail right through the the lines at the airport check-points because you 'look' like a muslim and they can't afford being accused of profiling.
Bin Laden has said schoolchildren may be allowed as targets.
I commend the judge for a prudent decision to hold them.
The judge initially set bail at $250. She revoked bail only after the Feds were brought in.
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