Amer El-Maati
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Amer El-Maati (born May 25, 1963) is a suspected member of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. He has been known to use the aliases Amro Badr Eldin Abou El-Maati and Amro Badr Abouelmaati.
A Canadian citizen, El-Maati was born in Kuwait. His father Badr El-Maati currently resides in Toronto where he has protested his son's vilification, claiming that he is being used as a poster-child to help the Department of Homeland Security keep fear and suspicion high in the US, particularly against Canadian-Arabs.
His opinions have been echoed by a Toronto cleric, Aly Hindy, who has known the family for years and claims that the FBI's announcement are "laughable"; though both admit that they have not heard from El-Maati in five or six years and there have been rumours that he has since died. Amer's brother Ahmad Abou El-Maati was also the brief focus of a Canadian RCMP investigation.
On May 26, 2004, he was listed along with six others when United States Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that reports indicated that Al Qaeda members were planning a terrorist action for the summer or fall of 2004. Others listed on that date were Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Aafia Siddiqui, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, Abderraouf Jdey, and Adnan Gulshair El Shukrijumah.
That August, there was a sighting of El-Maati at Nantucket Memorial Airport which FBI officials followed up but were unable to determine the veracity of the incident.
External links
- FBI: Amer El-Maati (http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/el-maati.htm)
- CTV: Father claims his son is innocent (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/1085655290235_28/?hub=Canada&subhub=PrintStory)