It looks like the Al-Salmi's of the world were born to fly. This Al Salmi, linked indirectly to 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour, was convicted of lying to the FBI in February, 2002, served 34 days plus time served, and the Justice Department has requested he be deported. I can't find any confirmation that he was actually deported.
Detroit News:
Social events link Mideast immigrants
But do those ties signify terrorist network, FBI asks as they trace cells
by Dennis Wagner
They prayed together, partied together and practiced flying together in Arizona. They also socialized with Hani Hanjour, the hijacker who crashed a jetliner into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
But does that mean the group of Middle Eastern immigrants comprised a terrorist network? Or simply that Muslim men with similar backgrounds and aviation interests have an affinity?
The question hounds FBI agents as they seek al-Qaida cells and any possible ties among potential suspects here and abroad.
The latest disclosure comes from an FBI interrogation of Malek Seif, 36, a French citizen jailed in Phoenix who is facing 41 charges of fraud and using a false identity. In the FBI report, Seif offers no smoking gun about Osama bin Laden or the terrorist hijackings. During hours of questioning, Seif described his ties with Hanjour and others caught in the post-Sept. 11 probe as social.
Among the disclosures:
Seif met Hanjour at a 1999 Tempe, Ariz., dinner party for a mutual friend who had graduated from flight-training school. Also at that party was Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian who has been identified by British prosecutors as an instructor for the Sept. 11 suicide pilots.
Raissi, 36, has denied any role in terrorism. He was indicted in Phoenix on multiple counts of filing false documents. U.S. prosecutors are attempting to extradite him from England, where he is being held. Authorities have suggested in recent news reports that the evidence may not support claims that Raissi was a key conspirator.
Although Seif failed a test in instrument flight training, he provided several private lessons to associates, including Faisal Al Salmi, a 34-year-old Saudi national who is in custody on federal charges that he lied to FBI agents about his ties with Hanjour.
One session was held in the Arizona State University library, another at Falcon Field in Mesa. And two months before the World Trade Center was attacked, Seif taught Al Salmi and another man in Sawyer Aviation's simulated jetliner at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The three men also conducted a Muslim prayer session in the simulation room.
Seif told agents that Al Salmi asked him not to tell anyone he was training to be a pilot, a request he considered "weird." But the FBI report says that Seif also struggled when asked about his last contact with Hanjour. The report says Seif "avoided answering the question ... then began to cry during this portion of the interview, and advised that he had last seen Hanjour in the (Tempe) mosque."
Defense attorney Thomas Hoidal submitted the FBI account of Seif's late-October interview as an exhibit in U.S. District Court last week. Hoidal, who could not be reached for comment, argued in a court motion that Seif's statements should be suppressed because federal agents did not issue a Miranda warning against self-incrimination or advise him of his right to contact the French consulate.
Seif, who was born in Djibouti, denies any knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.