Amer el-Maati

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

FBI Released Photo of el-Maati

Amer el-Maati (Arabic: عامر المآتي) (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. In February 2003, he was listed and still remains on the United States Department of Justice's FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list, "being sought in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States." ^[1] ^[2]

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. ^[3]

His opinions were echoed by a Toronto cleric, Aly Hindy, who has known the family for years and claimed that the FBI's announcement were "laughable"; though both admit that they had not heard from Amer in five or six years and there were 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, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that el-Maati was one of seven al-Qaeda members who 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. The first two had been listed as FBI Most Wanted Terrorists since 2001, indicted for their roles in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. Jdey was already on the FBI's "Seeking Information" wanted list since January 17, 2002, to which the other three, along with el-Maati, were added as well. ^[4]

That August, there was a sighting of Amer el-Maati at Nantucket Memorial Airport which FBI officials followed up but were unable to determine the veracity of the incident.