TERRORISMHostage Situation Continuing in Texas
The FBI joined local and state police to surround a synagogue in Coleville, Texas, a city of about 26,000 residents about 15 miles northeast of Fort Worth, where a man has been holding the rabbi and four other people hostage since late morning. A few minutes ago, the hostage taker released a man who was suffering from a medical condition.
The FBI joined local and state police to surround a synagogue in Coleville, Texas, a city of about 26,000 residents about 15 miles northeast of Fort Worth, where a man has been holding the rabbi and four other people hostage since late morning. A few minutes ago, the hostage taker released a man who was suffering from a medical condition.
The incident is unfolding at Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue.
The services were livestreamed on Zoom, so the hostage taking was broadcasted to all members of the congregation who were participating in the services from home.
FBI crisis negotiators were in communication with the man. Two law enforcement officials told CNN that the hostage taker was aiming to gain the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence at a federal prison in Texas.
In 2010, Siddiqui was sentenced a lengthy prison term by a federal judge in New York. She was found guilty of the attempted murder of U.S. nationals and government employees, as well as assault against U.S. officers and employees.
The federal indictment charged that Siddiqui – a Pakistani scientist who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and obtained a doctorate from Brandeis University – was arrested in Afghanistan by the Afghan National Police in 2008 after handwritten notes, in which she referred to targets of a “mass casualty attack,” were found at her residence.
When a group of Americans interrogators, sone in uniforms, the other civilians, tried to speak to her, she grabbed a U.S. soldier’s rifle and open fire on the interrogation team. No one was hit by the gunfire.
At sentencing, the judge found that a terrorism enhancement applied to her crimes, citing statements she had made which, the judge said, demonstrated her actions and intent to retaliate against the United States
Siddiqui repeatedly clashed with her defense team, telling the judge at sentencing, “If anybody thinks that it is my paranoia or whatever, I’m not paranoid. I’m not mentally sick. I do not agree with that.” She also stated her belief that Israel “masterminded 9/11.”
He lengthy sentence has been the cause of protests in the United States and Pakistan. Other Islamist terrorist groups often mention her name in their announcements.
Her family has said in interviews with CNN that she is not a terrorist.
Siddiqui is in a medical facility at a federal prison in Fort Worth.
