DETROIT — The man charged with the Christmas bombing attempt of an airliner headed for Detroit took classes at an Islamic institute in Houston, an institute leader said Wednesday.
Nigerian defendant Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, in federal custody in Milan, Mich., attended classes in 2008 in Houston at the Al Maghrib Institute, said institute Vice President Waleed Basyouni.
Abdulmutallab told instructors he was studying engineering and finance in London, Basyouni said.
“Al Maghrib Institute is working with the authorities and will continue to cooperate as needed on this case,” he said in an e-mail to the Detroit Free Press.
The institute’s Web site shows 14 sites in North America and says it is a nonprofit with thousands of students — mostly from the United States — that teaches about Islam in depth. Abdulmutallab attended from Aug. 1-17, 2008, while in Houston, paying $2,250 for seminars on Islamic manners and history, Basyouni said.
The institute discourages talk of religious war and terrorism among students, Basyouni told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday. Of Abdulmutallab, he said, “He showed no signs of extremism.”
In metro Detroit, leaders at a Canton
center that — according to the institute’s Web site — has hosted events
for the institute said they were only vaguely aware of the group.
“I’ve heard of them. … They might have rented our space,” said Mashood Rabbaig, vice president of the Muslim Community of Western Suburbs.
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(c) 2009, Detroit Free Press.
