Shahawar Matin Siraj
Encyclopedia
Shahawar Matin Siraj is a Pakistani American
who planned to bomb the Herald Square
of Manhattan
, New York, when police arrested him in 2004. A New York court found Siraj guilty of plotting to commit a terrorist act in U.S. v. Shahawar Matin Siraj (2006). Siraj worked at an Islamic bookstore in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Over a period of several months in 2004 he was recorded by an FBI informer Osama Eldawoody
plotting to plant a bomb in the 34th Street – Herald Square station of the New York City Subway
. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in January 2007.
's Federal court.
They attacked the credibility of the prosecution's lead witness, Osama Eldawoody
, on grounds that he was paid a total of $100,000 for his work as an informer, $25,000 of which he received during the year he conversed with Siraj. It was the informant's salary, they argued, that kept him interested in the issue and encouraged him to bring Siraj into such a predicament. However, Eldawoody did not turn Siraj in for the pay, he said, but rather, as a good Muslim who believed that his faith was not one to be degraded into one of terrorism and violent activity. His compensation was for a tough job, he said, because he had to be circumspect in his demeanor to conceal his true identity. He is not likely to work for the NYPD again, simply because he may be recognized from the trial and/or his previous eavesdroppings.
The validity of the tapes was raised, and it was asserted that they may have been subject to review and censorship by the New York City Police Department, which was working alongside Eldawoody during his information-gathering visits. It was asserted that perhaps that the tapes were reviewed for incriminating content and may have been selectively edited—either by deletion or by Eldawoody himself—to leave out statements of encouragement and "entrapment" by Eldawoody that could have been critical proof for the defense.
They attacked Siraj's credibility strongly because of many anti-American and anti-Semitic remarks he had made, some far before he had been encouraged into the bomb plot. These remarks, which would be regarded as reprehensible by the far majority of Americans, served to alienate the defendant as an ally to terrorist regimes and characterized him as a terrorist, despite the absence of weapons.
They were very convincing in showing that Siraj would have committed the crime if given the adequate weaponry. His sympathy of terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Hamas gave him a strikingly dangerous set of role models that would have meant he could have become violent and committed a terrorist act at any time if given the right amount of pressure. When Eldawoody told him that he was part of a terrorist organization from his country and that he could produce the materials to build a subway bomb, Siraj jumped onto the idea, they claim. They dismissed any allegations that Siraj was duped into the crime, stating that he was trying to "play dumb" rather than admit to his actual intentions. The fiery statements he made regarding the United States and his anti-American sentiment made him a dangerous individual at best. Eldawoody testified that "The defendant said that if anyone did... [a rape or murder] to his family, he would do the same thing, meaning a suicide bomb."
One of Siraj's friends testified against him as well. The individual, James Elshafay, was introduced to Eldawoody by Siraj and said he had every intention of carrying the act out if it had reached fruition. Elshafay, who is schizophrenic, was also a defendant in this case, but pled guilty to all charges and testified against his friend, leading the court to release him. Elshafay had actually stated that he was the intended bomber, while Siraj would be a lookout. According to Elshafay, Siraj did not want to bomb himself during the act, but he had talked with Elshafay and they had devised a plan where Elshafay would dress like a Hasidic Jew "'cause they know Jews aren't the ones doing it" and leave the bomb in a garbage can or under a bench, waiting to explode.
Siraj was encouraging of the terrorists, while claiming no allegiance to any group aside from the Islamic Thinkers Society
and the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge. This has brought into question the nature of these groups as well, especially to the intelligence community, which has begun to bring these organizations into deeper investigation.
Eldawoody had many shocking statements from Siraj that were downright disgusting: "The mission was not completed on 9/11," he quoted Siraj as saying, because "Wall Street was not attacked."
The defense's lead Defense Attorney, Martin Stolar, was disappointed and highly critical of the implications this case had for the civil rights of New Yorkers with these tactics being used by the NYPD. It represented the court precedent for a "police state" that gave the police license to instigate and eavesdrop on unfairly targeted people, especially Arab-Americans, he claimed. He rejected any statements that this guilty verdict was a success in the war on terrorism, saying "any claims that are made by the Police Department that they have made the citizens of the city of New York safer by convicting Shahawar Matin-- they have not."
On January 8, 2007, a New York court sentenced Siraj to 30 years in prison.
A 2011 NPR
report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit
.
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
who planned to bomb the Herald Square
Herald Square
Herald Square is formed by the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue and 34th Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Named for the New York Herald, a now-defunct newspaper formerly headquartered there, it also gives its name to the surrounding area...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York, when police arrested him in 2004. A New York court found Siraj guilty of plotting to commit a terrorist act in U.S. v. Shahawar Matin Siraj (2006). Siraj worked at an Islamic bookstore in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Over a period of several months in 2004 he was recorded by an FBI informer Osama Eldawoody
Osama Eldawoody
Osama Eldawoody is a US citizen with a nuclear engineering degree who volunteered to work as a paid New York City Police Department informant to work undercover in Mosques in the New York area...
plotting to plant a bomb in the 34th Street – Herald Square station of the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in January 2007.
U.S. v. Shahawar Matin Siraj
The trial received significant attention from local media outlets. The four week trial was conducted in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
's Federal court.
Defense
The defense alleged that Siraj was "entrapped" into plotting the crime, after incitement of hatred by the police informant. Using his hatred of America, they claimed, he was convinced to commit a crime against American civilians, which he would not normally have been inclined to do. Many jurors said in anonymous interviews after the case that the "entrapment defense" was the most convincing in their hesitation to convict him.They attacked the credibility of the prosecution's lead witness, Osama Eldawoody
Osama Eldawoody
Osama Eldawoody is a US citizen with a nuclear engineering degree who volunteered to work as a paid New York City Police Department informant to work undercover in Mosques in the New York area...
, on grounds that he was paid a total of $100,000 for his work as an informer, $25,000 of which he received during the year he conversed with Siraj. It was the informant's salary, they argued, that kept him interested in the issue and encouraged him to bring Siraj into such a predicament. However, Eldawoody did not turn Siraj in for the pay, he said, but rather, as a good Muslim who believed that his faith was not one to be degraded into one of terrorism and violent activity. His compensation was for a tough job, he said, because he had to be circumspect in his demeanor to conceal his true identity. He is not likely to work for the NYPD again, simply because he may be recognized from the trial and/or his previous eavesdroppings.
The validity of the tapes was raised, and it was asserted that they may have been subject to review and censorship by the New York City Police Department, which was working alongside Eldawoody during his information-gathering visits. It was asserted that perhaps that the tapes were reviewed for incriminating content and may have been selectively edited—either by deletion or by Eldawoody himself—to leave out statements of encouragement and "entrapment" by Eldawoody that could have been critical proof for the defense.
Prosecution
The prosecutors, Todd Harrison and Marshall L. Miller, used digital recording from the defendant's conversations with Eldawoody, which were secretly made by the informant and handed to the police department as evidence. In these recordings, Siraj expressed excitement and pride in a plot to kill American civilians in Herald Square, which was strongly incriminating, albeit in a crime the defense felt was framed. The prosecution called their main witness, Eldawoody, who was the part-time police informant and a nuclear engineer used by the New York City's Police Department to infiltrate and eavesdrop on Islamic congregations around the city.They attacked Siraj's credibility strongly because of many anti-American and anti-Semitic remarks he had made, some far before he had been encouraged into the bomb plot. These remarks, which would be regarded as reprehensible by the far majority of Americans, served to alienate the defendant as an ally to terrorist regimes and characterized him as a terrorist, despite the absence of weapons.
They were very convincing in showing that Siraj would have committed the crime if given the adequate weaponry. His sympathy of terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Hamas gave him a strikingly dangerous set of role models that would have meant he could have become violent and committed a terrorist act at any time if given the right amount of pressure. When Eldawoody told him that he was part of a terrorist organization from his country and that he could produce the materials to build a subway bomb, Siraj jumped onto the idea, they claim. They dismissed any allegations that Siraj was duped into the crime, stating that he was trying to "play dumb" rather than admit to his actual intentions. The fiery statements he made regarding the United States and his anti-American sentiment made him a dangerous individual at best. Eldawoody testified that "The defendant said that if anyone did... [a rape or murder] to his family, he would do the same thing, meaning a suicide bomb."
One of Siraj's friends testified against him as well. The individual, James Elshafay, was introduced to Eldawoody by Siraj and said he had every intention of carrying the act out if it had reached fruition. Elshafay, who is schizophrenic, was also a defendant in this case, but pled guilty to all charges and testified against his friend, leading the court to release him. Elshafay had actually stated that he was the intended bomber, while Siraj would be a lookout. According to Elshafay, Siraj did not want to bomb himself during the act, but he had talked with Elshafay and they had devised a plan where Elshafay would dress like a Hasidic Jew "'cause they know Jews aren't the ones doing it" and leave the bomb in a garbage can or under a bench, waiting to explode.
Siraj was encouraging of the terrorists, while claiming no allegiance to any group aside from the Islamic Thinkers Society
Islamic Thinkers Society
The Islamic Thinkers Society is a Muslim group based in New York City that seeks the goal of restoring the Islamic Caliphate to create what they call "an ideal Islamic society." They are located mainly in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, United States....
and the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge. This has brought into question the nature of these groups as well, especially to the intelligence community, which has begun to bring these organizations into deeper investigation.
Eldawoody had many shocking statements from Siraj that were downright disgusting: "The mission was not completed on 9/11," he quoted Siraj as saying, because "Wall Street was not attacked."
Verdict
The jury reached a guilty verdict for all four charges brought against him, leading to four charges of bomb plotting and conspiracy. These convictions left out a major accusation, plotting to bomb a subway station, which could have led to a death sentence.The defense's lead Defense Attorney, Martin Stolar, was disappointed and highly critical of the implications this case had for the civil rights of New Yorkers with these tactics being used by the NYPD. It represented the court precedent for a "police state" that gave the police license to instigate and eavesdrop on unfairly targeted people, especially Arab-Americans, he claimed. He rejected any statements that this guilty verdict was a success in the war on terrorism, saying "any claims that are made by the Police Department that they have made the citizens of the city of New York safer by convicting Shahawar Matin-- they have not."
Response
This demonstrated a greater efficiency by the NYPD after 2001 in its counter-terrorism efforts. It had only about 20 officers working to combat terrorism before 9/11; since then, they now employ over a thousand. This has all been part of a protective measure led by Commissioner Ray Kelly to prevent future attacks in New York. The investigative measures also include new eavesdropping and infiltration tactics, which employ immigrants such as Eldawoody, an immigrant from Egypt. They are able to interact with suspected terrorist individuals more easily and this case showed how convincing they may be when disguised. This has led to paranoia and distrust in the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, which the defendant attended as well as mosques across New York City.On January 8, 2007, a New York court sentenced Siraj to 30 years in prison.
A 2011 NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit
Communication Management Unit
Communication Management Unit is a recent designation for a self-contained group within a facility in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons that severely restricts, manages and monitors all outside communication of inmates in the unit.-Origins:As part of the Bush Administration's War on...
.
See also
- Bryant Neal VinasBryant Neal VinasBryant Neal Vinas is a Hispanic Muslim American convicted of participating in and supporting Al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S....
, American Muslim convert who traveled to Pakistan, trained in al-Qaeda training camp in Waziristan, and helped al-Qaeda plan a bomb attack on the LIRRLirrLirr or LIRR may refer to:*Long Island Rail Road, a commuter railroad in Long Island, New York, USA*Lapeer Industrial Railroad, in Lapeer, Michigan*Leeds Inner Ring Road, a motorway and A-road circling Leeds, West Yorkshire, England... - Najibullah ZaziNajibullah ZaziNajibullah Zazi is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. Al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City subway system, and has pled guilty as have two other defendants. U.S...
, al-Qaeda member, U.S. resident, trained in Waziristan training camp to commit suicide bombing attack on trains near Grand Central Station in New York City in 2009
External links
- Police: Bomb plot suspects scouted many sites, CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...