Authorities held, released Pakistani roommate of OU suicide bomber
Tulsa World/AP ^ | 10/5/2005 10:39:00 AM
( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1497095/posts )
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- The Pakistani roommate of a man authorities say died when he detonated an explosive device outside a crowded football stadium was led in handcuffs from a party shortly after Saturday's explosion, the head of an Islamic student group said.
Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, shared a university-owned apartment with Joel Hinrichs III, 21, who died Saturday when a device attached to his body exploded as he sat on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall.
Cheema and three other Muslim students were led in handcuffs from a party by police after the blast, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association, said Tuesday. They later were released...
...OU President David Boren said authorities continue to believe that Hinrichs... acted alone. He said Hinrichs' roommate, along with his acquaintances, were questioned by federal authorities...
The FBI said in a statement Tuesday that there is no current threat posed by additional explosive materials, that there is no known threat from anyone else related to the incident and that there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization or activities...
Meanwhile, Norman feed store operator Dustin Ellison said Hinrichs attempted to purchase ammonium nitrate a few days before the explosion...a key ingredient in the 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
The FBI told [Hinrich's father]...more high-density hydrogen peroxide was found in the apartment...[Snip]
Huh? I'm on that thread. The reason Cheema was detained was for questioning about Hinrichs - that was right after the bombing, as Norman PD was starting to investigate.
Here's what I have in my notes as the "rest of the story":
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Bad timing blamed for group's detainment
By Randy Ellis and Judy Gibbs Robinson
The Oklahoman
NORMAN - A University of Oklahoma instructor from Egypt said he and others of foreign descent were handcuffed at gunpoint and questioned after the OU bomb blast Oct. 1, but added he is not bitter.
"Not at all. I understand. They explained. But if they keep coming back -- that's something else," Hossam Barakat said. "Because I'm not guilty in any way."
Barakat, 37, blames unfortunate timing.
The roommate of the student killed by the explosion just happened to wander into an apartment where he and four or five others were visiting.
Also arrested was Pakistani student Fazal M. Cheema, the roommate of the student who apparently killed himself with a bomb, Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III. Cheema took a polygraph test and later was released, The Oklahoman has learned.
The others do not wish to be identified or interviewed, Barakat said. He described them as either born abroad or Americans of Middle Eastern descent but said he does not believe they were targeted because of nationality or religion.
"It wasn't toward the Muslim community. It was just because of Cheema," Barakat said. "I can understand. He's the roommate."
Roommate visited
The others came under suspicion because Cheema had stopped by an apartment where they were talking around midnight Oct. 1, Barakat said.
"Cheema always come to this apartment. That night, he just walk in," Barakat said.
In addition, one of the men in the apartment was a visiting professor from Algeria who had his suitcases packed and was ready to leave the country on an airplane the following day, Barakat said.
"I understand, absolutely, that something had happened and we needed to cooperate. If this had happened in any other country, they would have done it the same way."
Hinrichs, an engineering student, has tentatively been identified as the student who died Oct. 1 in an explosion on a campus bench about 100 yards from OU's packed football stadium. Investigators believe he blew himself up.
Investigators found identification on the body, but the state medical examiner is awaiting DNA test results for a positive identification.
Salvador Hernandez, special agent in charge of the FBI's Oklahoma City office, told a congressman Tuesday the investigation into the explosion is continuing, but so far it appears to be "an individual act."
Barakat, who lives in the same university apartment complex as Hinrichs, said that hours after the bomb blast, he went to another apartment in the complex to say goodbye to the Algerian friend who was scheduled to fly out of the United States the next day. Later, Cheema dropped in unexpectedly, staying only a few minutes.
When Cheema left, the commotion began.
Outside, guests heard yelling, Barakat said.
"We heard someone said, 'Put your hands up! Put your hands up!' And someone looked from the window and seen that Cheema got arrested," he said.
Because Cheema has a hearing impairment, he did not respond immediately to the police order to stop.
"That's why they got mad and started to yell and flashed in his eyes and got guns," Barakat said.
Barakat said he started to leave his friend's apartment to go home about 15 minutes later, but an officer pulled a gun and ordered him back inside.
"We knew that they are investigating this thing but I didn't know that we are under house arrest. That didn't come to our mind," Barakat said.
Hours passed as the group waited in the apartment.
"We are terrified. We were sitting waiting for them to come at any time," Barakat said.
About 4:05 a.m., police telephoned the apartment and told the group to come out the front door, one at a time, hands up, he said.
As they arrived outside, they were ordered to kneel and put their hands behind their heads so they could be handcuffed. Barakat said they were separated at that point and questioned individually.
"They asked if I knew Joel," Barakat said. "I said, 'No.' They kept asking over and over, 'Do you have bombs, guns or knives?'"
Barakat said he did not.
About 5:30 a.m. Sunday, all were released to go home except Cheema, who was put up in a motel overnight because FBI agents wanted him to take a polygraph the next day, Barakat said.
The apartment where they had been was among those evacuated so officers could remove explosive material from Hinrichs' home, so the group went to Barakat's apartment, which was outside the evacuation area. Exhausted, they fell asleep, some on the floor, he said.
An FBI agent called again about 8:45 a.m. Oct. 2, saying agents wanted to talk to them some more, Barakat said.
Later that morning, the agents arrived but instead of questioning them at Barakat's apartment as expected, they took them to an FBI office in Oklahoma City, where they spent the day watching football on television with an equal number of FBI agents.
The agents brought in chicken for lunch and pizza for dinner and joked with the men. But they also accompanied them to the rest room, Barakat said.
Eventually, an immigration officer arrived and questioned each person individually to make sure they were in the country legally, he said.
"He make a copy of everything I have in my wallet -- everything except the cash," he said.
Later, FBI agents separated the group again and asked more questions: Where have you been? What have you been doing? Do you know any radical person in the Islamic community? Did you ever see anyone taking anything out of Hinrichs' apartment in a garbage bag?
Barakat said he answered "no" to the last two questions.
About 10:30 p.m., an FBI agent finally told them it was all over and thanked them for their assistance. Barakat said the FBI agents were polite and professional throughout the investigation, but he also said Norman police were "very aggressive, very mean."
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And while investigators did find an airplane ticket to Algeria, it wasn't in Mr. Hinrichs's apartment, but rather in one belonging to an international student, Mr. Boren said.
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