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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Judge revokes bail for Saudis who boarded school bus and claimed to be Moroccans - CAIR defends lies

Judge revokes bail for Saudis who boarded school bus and claimed to be Moroccans - CAIR defends lies

May 22, 2006

MIM: Ahmed Bedier of CAIR can't get his story straight any more then the Saudis who lied about there reasons for boarding a school bus.

In an article about the arrest , the Saudis., who were students at a USF english program, were quoted as saying they had "boarded the bus because they thought it would be fun to see a high school". When arrested the men said they claimed to be Moroccans 'because Americans fear Saudi men' .

Undetered by the Saudis admission that they had boarded the bus to visit a High School, Bedier brazened it out and told a local journalist that it was a "cultural misunderstanding". He upped the ante by criticising the University of Southern Florida for not 'not giving foreign students civic lessons'.

Unfortunately for Bedier and CAIR the Saudis had come to USF too late to meet up with their close associates, former USF professors Sami Al Arian and Ramadan Shallah. Otherwise they could have gotten lessons directly from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders on how to blow up school buses.

MIM: In an article which appeared on May 20th it was clear that the two Saudis knew the bus was heading for a school:

When asked why they boarded the bus, Callaway said Almanajam and Alsidran gave different answers. They wanted to enroll in an easier English language program than the one they have attended at USF; they wanted to see a high school; and they thought it would be fun.

Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway described the two as cagey and evasive as they answered questions. They said they were from Morocco, Callaway said, and then Saudi Arabia. The men told authorities they said they were from Morocco because they worried Americans fear Saudi Arabian men.

Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations, said it sounded like a cultural mixup.

MIM: It certainly was a cultural mix up - since the two Saudis told police they were Moroccan, saying they lied because "Americans feared Saudi men".

"Obviously, if they had recently arrived here and they are from Saudi Arabia, they may not be familiar with American rules and laws," Bedier said. "They might have thought it was some kind of public transportation."

MIM: According to CAIR boarding a school bus to see a high school becomes a cultural mix up especially when one also forgets what country one came from.

Bedier said the incident highlights the need for programs like the English Language Institute to provide some kind of civics education for their students to help them avoid such situations.

MIM: CAIR puts the blame on the English Language Institute at USF for not providing 'civics education' which, presumably would have meant that the two Saudis would have been able to remember what country they came from.

(It is also worth noting that when an American bus driver told Muslim students who were out of control to get off of a school bus- in a 'cultural misunderstanding' CAIR called a press conference and had the newly arrived illiterate immigrant parents of the non english speaking children to sue the what appeared to be a Jewish owned bus company for discrimination.)

Judge revokes bail for Saudi bus riders

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBMTMWRGNE.html

TAMPA - A judge revoked bail for two Saudi men arrested Friday for boarding a school bus and riding to Wharton High.

Initially, Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were held in Orient Road Jail on bails of $250 each on misdemeanor trespassing charges. Circuit Judge Monica Sierra decided to hold them at a court appearance Saturday so investigators could dig deeper into their pasts.

A friend of the two University of South Florida students tried to post their bail Friday night, said Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but a jail clerk told the friend that they couldn't be released because they were under an immigration hold until a hearing Saturday morning.

At the hearing, Sierra agreed with a prosecutor that she needed to know more about them before she could feel comfortable releasing them.

The prosecutor said neither man carried identification when they were arrested at Wharton High School, and authorities haven't had an opportunity to gather background information beyond a check of state records.

Almanajam and Alsidran appeared confused by the proceedings and smiled nervously as they stood behind a public defender's table.

Investigators say the men boarded a school bus at Fletcher Avenue and 42nd Street, sat down and began speaking in Arabic. Their behavior concerned the driver, a substitute, who alerted the school district.

The bus was met at Wharton High School by a swarm of officers from the sheriff's Homeland Security Division, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Regional Domestic Security Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI.

Almanajam and Alsidran appeared confused by the proceedings and smiled nervously as they stood behind a public defender's table.

Investigators say the men boarded a school bus at Fletcher Avenue and 42nd Street, sat down and began speaking in Arabic. Their behavior concerned the driver, a substitute, who alerted the school district.

The bus was met at Wharton High School by a swarm of officers from the sheriff's Homeland Security Division, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Regional Domestic Security Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI.

Bedier called the court's decision to revoke bond an overreaction and tied to the men being Arabic and Muslim.

"The only reason [this happened] is because of who they are, and that's wrong," he said. "How is it that they can say they can't find out who these kids are when they've searched their homes and found nothing? ... Thus far, it doesn't seem like they've been afforded their full rights for something as simple as getting on the wrong bus."

He questioned why the driver didn't tell them not to board if their appearance was suspicious.

Officials who questioned the men Friday said they at first said they were from Morocco but later admitted being from Saudi Arabia. Both arrived in the country six months ago and are enrolled at the English Language Institute at USF. Their reasons for getting on the bus ranged from wanting to enroll in easier English classes to having some fun.

Bedier said the men got on the bus out of a cultural misunderstanding.

"They don't have yellow school buses just for children in their home country," he said.

The judge scheduled a bond review hearing for Tuesday and asked that an Arabic interpreter be present. There was no interpreter Saturday.

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