The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released the first documents related to its investigation of the September 9, 2001, terrorist attacks, popularly known as 9/11.
The documents which came 20 years after the unprecedented attacks suspected to be the brain child of the Saudi government, followed an executive order by President Joe Biden.
The declassified document released on Saturday, catalogues reports from as early as 2016, which provided details of the FBI’s work to investigate the alleged logistical support that a Saudi consular official and a suspected Saudi intelligence agent in Los Angeles, provided to at least two of the men involved in the hijacking of the planes used in the attacks.
The document, released on the 20th anniversary of the deadly attacks, still contains significant redactions.
It details multiple connections and witness testimony that prompted FBI suspicion of Omar al-Bayoumi, who was purportedly a Saudi student in Los Angeles, but whom the FBI suspected to be a Saudi intelligence agent.
The FBI document describes him as deeply involved in providing “travel assistance, lodging and financing” to help the two hijackers.
The Saudi embassy in Washington, DC, previously said that it “welcomes the release of” the FBI documents and that” any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false.”
Biden’s executive order came after more than 1,600 people affected by the attacks sent a letter asking him to refrain from going to Ground Zero in New York City to mark the 20th anniversary unless he released the information.
The letter in part questioned the role of Saudi Arabia, suggesting that members of the Saudi Arabian government had been involved in “supporting the attacks.”
Shortly after the letter, the Department of Justice announced it would review what previously withheld information or documents related to the September 11, 2001, attacks it can disclose to the public.
Following the indictment of suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari, by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the fraud case involving Abass Ramon, popularly known as Hushpuppi, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), has petitioned the US government, demanding fairness in the case.
In the petition signed by CNG’s spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, on Sunday, the group expressed worry over the trajectory around Kyari’s case, urging the US not to discountenance Nigeria’s ability to protect Kyari’s legal rights.
The petition, as seen by Ripples Nigeria, reads:
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), have noticed a number of fundamental procedural lapses in the conduct of the investigation, which tend not only to threaten the sovereign status of Nigeria, but also infringe on its citizen’s rights and civil liberties; threatens the rule of law and confronts the humanity and civilization that the people United States of America stands for.
“We also note that the FBI might have breached another fundamental criminal justice procedure by not according Mr Kyari the benefit of being heard before going ahead with the purported indictment by an American Court in the US for an offence purportedly committed in Nigeria, triable under Nigerian laws, by Nigerian courts and on Nigerian land.
A breach of decorum and the negligence of the procedure might have also occurred when the FBI hurriedly published the purported indictment online without first intimating the Nigerian authorities and hearing the accused’s case.
“Let it also be clear that there is a mounting public concern that the action of the FBI could suggest that the US might willfully be participating in Nigeria’s current political chase game and playing the card of the gang-up of regional and ethnic propagandists against northern interests.
“It is therefore important that our friends in the US understand what a destabilised Nigeria will mean to the entire sub-Saharan region.
“As the most populous country on the continent and one that continues to influence peace and stability across the sub-continent, any breakdown of law and order will further make dangerous the situation in terms of regional security, international cohesion, migration and other challenges that will affect Africa and beyond.
It is important that the US engages protocol and path of justice in the matter of Abba Kyari, who until now, enjoys huge repute as a super cop by all sections of the country. But it is groundless insinuation to suggest that US is playing the card of anti-north tendency.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari says ‘bad belle Nigerians’ will wait forever to see him arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over bribery allegations leveled against him by suspected internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi.
Hushpuppi, who pleaded guilty to various charges, had said he paid Kyari to jail a fellow fraudster Kelly Chibuzor Vincent after both were locked in a dispute presumably over how to share the $1.1 million loot received from a Qatari businessperson.
But in his reaction on his Facebook page on Thursday morning, Kyari said he never demanded money from Hushpuppi, that he only helped connect him to the supplier of his native wears
Although he admitted to knowing about the money-related dispute, the DCP disclosed that it was about a threat to life and not connected to any multi-million dollar deal gone bad.
Also, a U.S. court had issued a warrant for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, (FBI) to arrest Kyari.
Replying to a comment on the post, the police boss asked those criticising him to produce the proof that there is a warrant for his arrest.
A court in the United States has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to ensure the arrest of an Assistant Commissioner of Police in the Nigerian Police Force, Abba Kyari.
The order is sequel to allegations made against Kyari by alleged fraudster, Abass Akande, also known as Hushpuppi, that he gave the policeman some money to ensure the arrest of another fraudster, Vincent.
Breonna Taylor: Officer in shooting says it ‘was not a race thing’
Breonna Taylor, 26, was a decorated emergency medical technician
A US policeman involved in the controversial killing of black woman Breonna Taylor in her home has broken his silence in his first interview.
Sgt Jonathan Mattingly, who was shot in the leg by Ms Taylor’s boyfriend, said the case had “nothing to do with race”.
Last month a Kentucky jury recommended that the three officers involved in the drug raid face no homicide charges.
The death of the 26-year-old hospital worker spurred Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
Mr Mattingly is one of three Louisville Metropolitan Police officers who prosecutors say were cleared of murder charges by a grand jury last month.
In an interview with ABC News and The Louisville Courier Journal, Mr Mattingly accused city officials of not coming to his defence in the aftermath of the shooting.
“It’s been excruciating,” he said. “When you have the truth right there in your hands and everything else is getting crammed around you, it’s frustrating.”
He added that although Ms Taylor’s death was tragic, it was not similar to other high-profile killings by police in recent months.
“It’s not a race thing like people want to try to make it to be. It’s not. This is a point where we were doing our job, we gave too much time when we go in, I get shot, we returned fire,” he said.
“This is not us going, hunting somebody down. This is not kneeling on a neck. It’s nothing like that.”
“She didn’t deserve to die,” he continued. “She didn’t do anything to deserve a death sentence.”
In September, Mr Mattingly drew scrutiny after an email he wrote to more than 1,000 of his colleagues on the police force accused the city’s mayor and police chief of failing “all of us in epic proportions for their own gain and to cover their asses”.
He wrote “legal, moral and ethical thing that night,” adding: “It’s sad how the good guys are demonised, and the criminals are canonised.”
What happened to Breonna Taylor?
Plainclothes police officers Hankison, Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove stormed Ms Taylor’s Louisville home shortly after midnight on 13 March.
Ms Taylor was in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, at the time.
The officers were executing a search warrant as part of a drugs investigation.
Mr Walker fired a shot from his licensed gun, later telling police he thought that Ms Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, had broken in, according to the New York Times. Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker describes the night she was killed by police
Officials say Mr Walker’s bullet struck Mr Mattingly in the leg. The three officers returned fire, discharging 32 rounds, according to a ballistics report from the FBI.
Ms Taylor was shot amid the commotion and died on the hallway floor.
A subsequent police report contained errors, including listing Ms Taylor’s injuries as “none” and saying no force was used to enter, when a battering ram had been used.
Mr Hankison was fired from the police after investigators found he had “wantonly and blindly fired 10 rounds” during the raid, according to his termination letter.
Mr Mattingly and Mr Cosgrove were reassigned to administrative duties.
The search warrant obtained by police included Ms Taylor’s name and address. Authorities believed Mr Glover was involved in a drug ring and had used her apartment to hide narcotics.
No drugs were found at the property, though Jefferson County Prosecutor Thomas Wine said the search was cancelled after the shooting.
The grand jury ruling last month reignited protests in Kentucky
Mr Glover was arrested for drug possession on the night of Breonna Taylor’s death. He has said that prosecutors pressed him to name Ms Taylor as a “co-defendant” in the case against him.
In May, Louisville postal inspector Tony Gooden said that another government agency had been asked in January to investigate whether Ms Taylor’s home had been receiving suspicious mail. Mr Gooden did not name the agency but said it had found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Mr Glover also told the Courier Journal that he had sent packages of clothes and shoes to Ms Taylor’s apartment because he feared they would be stolen.
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