budanski
11-15-2003, 11:42 PM
British Olympic hope 'was Iraq suicide bomber'
Guardian (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1086340,00.html)
A 22-year-old martial arts expert from Sheffield who was hoping to fight with the British Olympic tae kwon do team is suspected of being one of the suicide bombers behind the recent spate of attacks in Iraq.
The Yemeni paper Al Ayyam has reported that the parents of a British-based Muslim, Wail al Dhaleai, were telephoned by Islamic fighters in Iraq telling them their son had killed himself in an attack on US troops earlier this month.
The death of Wail al Dhaleai, also known as Wail Abd-al-Rahman, has raised fears that groups of handpicked young British Muslims are heading to Iraq to fight Coalition forces.
Earlier this month the Archbishop of Canterbury's peace envoy Canon Andrew White met a group of British men in Jordan who claimed they were heading to Iraq 'to be part of the battle against the evil occupying forces'.
According to al Dhaleai's relatives, he was married to a British wife with one son and was a taekwondo expert who had entered Iraq through Syria. Three weeks ago an anti-terrorist squad swooped on Sheffield's well-established Yemeni community, arresting four friends of al Dhaleai and charging them with terrorist offences. All four were released without charge although two were detained on alleged immigration offences.
Friends knew Wail as a happy, energetic migrant who made good. He arrived in Sheffield penniless a few years ago, fleeing his Aden tenement for political asylum in Britain.
Two years ago al Dhaleai married a white Sheffield girl, who converted to his strict tenet of Islam. They had one son and she was expecting her second when he left to travel to the United Arab Emirates.
But despite his marriage and his supposedly settled family life in a council maisonette, he had yet to receive a passport. It was this fact that meant he was unable to travel with the British Olympic tae kwon do team in a tournament in Holland.
'Wail didn't give a damn between Muslims and non-Muslims, he just made you laugh - he was the last person you'd think was a fanatic,' said Andy Hill, Sheffield's tae kwon do don.
'We used to take him down the pub, buy him a pack of crisps and tell him it was just a restaurant. He would laugh. He won medals with the national squad.'
Neighbours described how three weeks ago an anti-terrorist squad with bomb disposal experts broke down the door of his house. His wife has not been seen for a week, and there is no suggestion that she knew of her husband's activities.
Al Dhaleai's death in Iraq has stunned the 8,000-strong Yemeni community of Sheffield, which is now facing the glare of accusations which dogged the Birmingham enclave whose Kashmiri community sent its young to fight against British troops in Afghanistan.
Muslim leaders describe the martial arts craze of their youth as a welcome deterrent from a descent to drugs.
Sheffield's al Khair mosque, where al Dhaleai prayed and taught tae kwon do, was built by Yemeni boxer Prince Nasim. Earlier this year it was closed down by Sheffield City Council on the grounds that it was built without planning permission.
'Wail was jolly fine gentleman,' said Omar Abdel Qader, chairman of the Al Khair mosque. 'He would spend the last 10 days of Ramadan living and sleeping in the mosque.'
It is uncertain how al Dhaleai got to Syria but Hill said that he returned from the Hadj pilgrimage to Mecca shaven-headed and claimed he had there met his old tae kwon do instructor who had got him a job as a security guard in Dubai.
Any of you guys heard from martin lately? ;)
Guardian (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1086340,00.html)
A 22-year-old martial arts expert from Sheffield who was hoping to fight with the British Olympic tae kwon do team is suspected of being one of the suicide bombers behind the recent spate of attacks in Iraq.
The Yemeni paper Al Ayyam has reported that the parents of a British-based Muslim, Wail al Dhaleai, were telephoned by Islamic fighters in Iraq telling them their son had killed himself in an attack on US troops earlier this month.
The death of Wail al Dhaleai, also known as Wail Abd-al-Rahman, has raised fears that groups of handpicked young British Muslims are heading to Iraq to fight Coalition forces.
Earlier this month the Archbishop of Canterbury's peace envoy Canon Andrew White met a group of British men in Jordan who claimed they were heading to Iraq 'to be part of the battle against the evil occupying forces'.
According to al Dhaleai's relatives, he was married to a British wife with one son and was a taekwondo expert who had entered Iraq through Syria. Three weeks ago an anti-terrorist squad swooped on Sheffield's well-established Yemeni community, arresting four friends of al Dhaleai and charging them with terrorist offences. All four were released without charge although two were detained on alleged immigration offences.
Friends knew Wail as a happy, energetic migrant who made good. He arrived in Sheffield penniless a few years ago, fleeing his Aden tenement for political asylum in Britain.
Two years ago al Dhaleai married a white Sheffield girl, who converted to his strict tenet of Islam. They had one son and she was expecting her second when he left to travel to the United Arab Emirates.
But despite his marriage and his supposedly settled family life in a council maisonette, he had yet to receive a passport. It was this fact that meant he was unable to travel with the British Olympic tae kwon do team in a tournament in Holland.
'Wail didn't give a damn between Muslims and non-Muslims, he just made you laugh - he was the last person you'd think was a fanatic,' said Andy Hill, Sheffield's tae kwon do don.
'We used to take him down the pub, buy him a pack of crisps and tell him it was just a restaurant. He would laugh. He won medals with the national squad.'
Neighbours described how three weeks ago an anti-terrorist squad with bomb disposal experts broke down the door of his house. His wife has not been seen for a week, and there is no suggestion that she knew of her husband's activities.
Al Dhaleai's death in Iraq has stunned the 8,000-strong Yemeni community of Sheffield, which is now facing the glare of accusations which dogged the Birmingham enclave whose Kashmiri community sent its young to fight against British troops in Afghanistan.
Muslim leaders describe the martial arts craze of their youth as a welcome deterrent from a descent to drugs.
Sheffield's al Khair mosque, where al Dhaleai prayed and taught tae kwon do, was built by Yemeni boxer Prince Nasim. Earlier this year it was closed down by Sheffield City Council on the grounds that it was built without planning permission.
'Wail was jolly fine gentleman,' said Omar Abdel Qader, chairman of the Al Khair mosque. 'He would spend the last 10 days of Ramadan living and sleeping in the mosque.'
It is uncertain how al Dhaleai got to Syria but Hill said that he returned from the Hadj pilgrimage to Mecca shaven-headed and claimed he had there met his old tae kwon do instructor who had got him a job as a security guard in Dubai.
Any of you guys heard from martin lately? ;)