But tape left behind suggests jihadist influence
Washington-area Muslim leaders said the extremist views expressed in a video left behind by one of five local men arrested in Pakistan seemed out of character for students who had not displayed radical views.
Imam Johari Abdul-Malik of the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations in the Washington area said that the five men were active in area mosques, but “there’s no sign that they were in any way outwardly radicalized… there haven’t been any reports that there was anything outwardly suspicious in their behavior.”
Ramy Zamzam, a Howard University dental student, was one of the five men detained in Pakistan, according to reports. He was involved with the university’s Muslim student association, according to Samirah Ali, president of the group.
“He’s a very nice guy, very cordial, very friendly,” Ali said. “It really caught me off guard.”
A younger brother of Zamzam, interviewed at the family’s Alexandria apartment, said Zamzam has a 4.0 grade-point average and is “a good guy.”
“He’s a normal Joe,” said the brother, identifying himself only by a nickname, Zam.
But one of the men left behind an 11-minute video that Muslim officials categorized as a “farewell” statement. The video juxtaposed images of the Quran and images of U.S. war casualties. The man in the video, who was not named, said young Muslims had to take action in the “ongoing conflict in the world,” an official said.
Waqar Hassan Khan, a local youth who was a friend of Zamzam’s, was also in the group detained in Pakistan, according to news accounts which quoted unnamed officials.
On Monday, friends of Zamzam and Khan made a Facebook page to discuss their disappearance. The page, however, could not be viewed by the general public.
According to Pakistani media reports, the other three detained men are Umer Farooq, Ahmed Abdullah Mini and Aiman Hassan Yamar. All five are from the D.C. area. Those names could not be independently confirmed Wednesday night.
The families of the five men knew each other. They first alerted the FBI late last month of the disappearances, authorities said. They declined to say how the families were acquainted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
