Wednesday November 11, 2009

FACTBOX - Preacher contacted by Fort Hood suspect on run in Yemen

REUTERS - U.S. intelligence agencies knew that a U.S. Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in Texas last week had been in contact with Yemen-based U.S. preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who later praised him for the attacks.

Awlaki, one of the best known English-language radical clerics, has been on the run for 1-1/2 years in Yemen, where the government has him on their most wanted list on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities, according to a security official.

Here are some details on Awlaki:

* Born in New Mexico in the United States, he is a U.S. citizen. He is a graduate in civil engineering from Colorado State University and holds a masters degree in educational leadership from San Diego State University, according to his Facebook profile.

* Awlaki is from a family that is well-known in Yemen, and is the son of a former minister of agriculture, Nasser al-Awlaki, according to a Yemeni security official.

* Awlaki served as an imam in California, and later in Washington, D.C. where he headed the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center. He was also the Muslim chaplain at George Washington University, according to a website run by former UK Guantanamo inmates.

* Awlaki returned to Yemen in 2004, where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned for 1 1/2 years in mid-2006, according to the same website.

* His trouble with the Yemeni authorities stemmed from the fact they suspect him of having links with al Qaeda, as well as involvement in unspecified attacks by the group, a security official said.

* He was released from prison in 2007 because he said he had "repented", according to the same official, only to be charged again a short time later on similar counts. He then went into hiding.

* A popular English-language cleric on the Internet, Awlaki addressed followers through video lectures and sermons that were also for sale in DVD box sets.

* After the attack by Nidal Malik Hassan, Awlaki wrote in a blog post that Hassan was "a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an

army that is fighting against his own people."

His website was closed down in the days following the Fort Hood killings.

* Last year, the U.S. Undersecretary for Homeland Intelligence, Charles E. Allen, said in a speech at a conference that Awlaki was "another example of al Qaeda reach into the Homeland", and described him as the "former spiritual leader to three of the September 11th hijackers".

* The Yemeni authorities believe Awlaki is hiding in Yemen's central Shabwa province, which combines mountains, deserts and a coastline.

(Compiled by Mohamed Sudam, Raissa Kasolowsky and William Maclean, Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

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