Brit synagogue terrorist Malik Faisal Akram was banned from UK court for ranting about wishing he’d died on 9/11 plane
BRITISH synagogue terrorist Malik Faisal Akram was banned from a UK court for ranting at staff about how he wished he had died in the 9/11 attacks.
Akram, 44, who was shot dead on Saturday after a 12-hour siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Texas, was barred from entering Blackburn Magistrates’ Court for repeatedly threatening and abusing the court staff.
Deputy justice clerk Peter Wells slammed Akram as a "menace" at the time.
Akram was reportedly known to regularly cause trouble inside the court - even when he wasn't due to appear before the bench.
After issuing a warning to him, Lancashire magistrates' committee decided to slap him with a ban for raving about 9/11 just hours after the terror attack that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
A letter from the court, published by the , said: "Once again you were threatening and abusive towards court staff.
"In a clear reference to the the terrorist attack on New York the previous day you said on more than one occasion to one of my court ushers 'you should have been on the ******* plane'.
"This caused a great deal of distress to an individual who was simply doing his job and should not be subjected to your foul abuse.
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"With immediate effect it has been decided that in order to protect and ensure the health and safety of staff you should be excluded from and prohibited from entering the court building at all times other than when due to appear in court to answer a summons or surrender to bail or to make a payment in respect of any outstanding financial penalty owed by you."
Mr Wells added: "These frontline staff put up with a lot, they are used to getting stick for court decisions. But being threatened is too much for them, as were the comments made to them last week."
At the time, Akram claimed he was innocent and was falsely accused of the remarks because “people at the court have just got it in for me”.
The incident more than 20 years ago raises questions about whether he was known to security services on either side of the Atlantic.
Akram was living at a property in Brantfell Road in Blackburn in 2001, according to the court report.
A report in the in 2005 appears to suggest Akram's brother, Gulbar, was ordered to pay back £60,000 after he was jailed for changing the identities of stolen vehicles and selling them on.
According to the report, Gulbar had sold a property in Brantfell Road, appearing to suggest the brothers had been living together and the terror suspect is the same man who was banned from the Blackburn court in 2001.
Gulbar Akram issued a statement on Saturday saying the family was "devastated" by the incident in Texas.
'KNOWN TO POLICE'
Speaking to Sky News, Gulbar confirmed his brother was "known to police" and insisted he should not have been allowed into the United States.
He said: "He's known to police. Got a criminal record. How was he allowed to get a visa and acquire a gun?"
It comes as two teenagers were arrested in Manchester last night as part of a joint FBI probe into Akram, who took a rabbi and three worshippers hostage.
The teen were quizzed as security agencies began urgently looking into the background of the gunman.
The Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit said it is also "liaising with US authorities and colleagues from the FBI".
Akram stormed in during a livestreamed Sabbath service and allegedly demanded to speak to jailed terror mastermind Aafia Siddiqui, known as Lady Al-Qaeda.
President Joe Biden called it an "act of terrorism" as the FBI vowed their probe would span the globe.
The US president said: "We don't have all the facts yet, but allegedly he purchased the weapons on the street after he landed."
He said an investigation was underway to find out where Akram bought the guns from.
Akram, who was shot dead as officers stormed the building, kept members of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville captive for almost 12 hours.
All the hostages were unharmed.
The early stages of the siege were livestreamed on the synagogue's Facebook page, which was broadcasting the day's service when the gunman stormed in.
A man's voice was heard saying "do something" and "I haven't spoken to her," and at times yelling profanities.
He was also allegedly heard saying, "I am going to die. Do not cry for me," according to local outlet KTVT.
The gunman, who spoke with a British accent, also made mention of having "six beautiful kids" and claimed he had a bomb.
One hostage was released during the stand-off and three others got out at 9pm local time when an FBI Swat team entered the building, authorities said.
Hostage Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker said the suspect became "increasingly belligerent and threatening" towards the end of the siege.
The FBI confirmed that Akram was killed after loud bangs and gunfire were heard inside the building.
'INEXCUSABLE'
Akram's brother Gulbar told of the family's "devastation" in a statement and revealed they had spent hours "liaising with Faisal" during the siege and tried to convince him to surrender.
But Gulbar said "there was nothing we could have said" to get him to give himself up.
He said: "We are absolutely devastated as a family. We can't say much now as there is an ongoing FBI investigation.
"We would like to say that we as a family do not condone any of his actions and would like to sincerely apologize wholeheartedly to all the victims involved in the unfortunate incident.
"Sitting in the incident room all last night at Greenbank liaising with Faisal, the negotiators, FBI, etc.
"Although my brother was suffering from mental health issues, we were confident that he would not harm hostages.
"There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender."
He added: "We would also like to add that any attack on any human being be it a Jew, Christian or Muslim etc is wrong and should always be condemned.
"It is absolutely inexcusable for a Muslim to attack a Jew or for any Jew to attack a Muslim, Christian, Hindu vice versa etc."
According to Sky News, Gulbar was "trying to get him to back down and to ensure that no harm was caused".
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