British police said today, Monday, that two young men were detained in Britain over the weekend while being held hostage at a synagogue in Texas, and the British government confirmed its support for law enforcement in the United States.
The police said in a statement that the two young men were detained by British police in south Manchester, as of Sunday, and are still being questioned.
The hostage taking took place on Saturday in Colville, Texas, and the hostages were released unharmed. The kidnapper was shot dead by the police. According to the FBI on Sunday night, the culprit is Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen who wanted to secure the release of a woman in a US prison for ten years and “faced anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements.”
British counter-terrorism police confirmed Akram’s British citizenship on Sunday night and said on Monday the man was from Blackburn, Lancashire.
On Monday, the British government said it would provide all support to US law enforcement authorities to investigate the hostage-taking.“We are on the side of our American friends against those who want to spread hatred and fears around the world,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who condemned the “horrific act of terrorism and anti-Semitism”.
An umbrella organization called the Muslim Council of Britain, which includes mosques, educational and charitable institutions, condemned the hostage-taking, which it described as a hate crime and an anti-Semitic act, in a statement on Monday.
On the Facebook page of the Muslim community in Blackburn, a man logged on as the perpetrator’s brother and wrote that Akram “has psychological problems”. “Our family absolutely does not agree with any of our actions, and we sincerely apologize to all those who have suffered in this unfortunate incident,” the man, called Golbar, wrote. He also noted that he was in constant contact with his brother and FBI staff until Saturday morning while he was being held hostage.
FBI Special Affairs Officer Matt Desarno announced Monday that the FBI has launched a full-scale investigation into the hostage-taking system. Desarno also said there was an “international investigation” into the matter. Downing Street 10 – the prime minister’s office in London – assured US investigators of its full support on Monday.
According to the British news portal Mail Online Akram was expelled from his hometown in September 2001, To make a statement before the record that he “should have died” in the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
The perpetrator stormed a Texas synagogue on Saturday morning local time, as the ceremony was broadcast live on the Internet. The man demanded the release of a Pakistani woman of Pakistani origin, Afia Siddiqui, in exchange for the release of the hostages. Sediqet was sentenced to 86 years in prison by a US court in 2010 for attempting to kill US soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan. The woman is serving her sentence at Fort Worth, a federal prison near Colleville.
US President Joe Biden described the hostage-taking as an act of terrorism. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss made a similar statement.
