A Falls Church man who worked as a federal informant on terrorism set himself on fire in front of the White House yesterday, hours after announcing his suicide attempt and citing his growing despondency over how the FBI managed his case.
Mohamed Alanssi, 52, approached the northwest guardhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue about 2:05 p.m. and asked the security detail to deliver a note to President Bush. When uniformed Secret Service officers turned him away, he stepped about 15 feet from the guard post and used a lighter to ignite his jacket, according to the U.S. Park Police
Alanssi said that he went to the FBI in New York shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and offered information on alleged financers of al Qaeda working in Yemen. He said he quickly became a major informant for the FBI, on occasion traveling to Yemen to gather intelligence.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51575-2004Nov15?language=printer
More on Alanssi - damaged NY case.
N.Y. Terror Case Hurt By Man Who Set Himself Afire At White House
UPDATED: 5:32 pm EST November 16, 2004
NEW YORK -- The prosecution of a sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to al-Qaida was roiled Tuesday by news that a man who set himself on fire in front of the White House was a key witness in the case.
Defense attorneys said Mohamed Alanssi is a confidential informant central to the prosecution of Sheik Ali Hassan al-Moayad, whom U.S. authorities consider their biggest catch to date in a campaign to cut off funding for terrorists.
Al-Moayad, a leading member of an Islamic-oriented political party in Yemen, was extradited from Germany last year and is awaiting trial in federal court in Brooklyn. He and his assistant allegedly conspired to provide material support to Osama bin Laden and the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas......
http://www.wnbc.com/news/3923760/detail.html