A Lancashire man shot dead after taking four people hostage at a synagogue in the US was banned from a court building in his home town for making threats to staff about the September 11 terror attacks, it emerged today.
Malik Faisal Akram, 44, from Blackburn, was said to have told an usher at the town's magistrates' court: "You should have been on the f***ing plane."
He held four hostages at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, US, on Sunday (January 16).
All of the hostages were released without being injured, but Mr Akram was shot and killed by the FBI a short time later.
Two teenagers have since been detained in south Manchester by officers from Counter Terror Policing North West in connection with the hostage attack.
Today it emerged Akram had been banned from going in Blackburn magistrates' court after telling an usher he wished they had died in one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers in the New York terror attack on September 11, 2001.
Akram was branded a 'menace' for causing trouble at the court building, prompting court bosses to successfully apply for an exclusion order made under Section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act.
Such an order, issued in September 2001, had only been used once before by the court in the previous 25 years.
Lancashire magistrates' committee decided to exclude him following an incident the day after the Al Qaeda attack on the town towers.
A letter, addressed to Faisal Akram, from deputy justice clerk Peter Wells confirming the ban at the time, 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 f***ing 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."
The ban was reported at the time by the Lancashire Telegraph.
Akram told the newspaper: "I'm innocent. This is nothing to do with me because I didn't say that. People at the court have just got it in for me because they don't like me."
The first part of the Texas siege was live-streamed on Facebook until the feed was cut off around 2pm.
On the Facebook live broadcast, Akram was heard calling for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al Qaeda.
She was convicted of trying to kill US military officers while in custody in Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden branded the incident 'an act of terror' and UK police are working with authorities in America on the investigation.
It is understood the hostage taker had flown to America two weeks ago and had been living in a homeless shelter.
He purchased a gun on the street, according to US President, Joe Biden.
Mr Akram's brother Gulbar said that his family were 'devastated' by his death after they spent hours talking to him in an attempt to secure a peaceful resolution.
In a statement posted on the Blackburn Muslim Community Facebook page, he said: "Salaam family and friends, it is with great great sadness I will confirm my brother Faisal passed away in Texas, USA this morning.
"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 apologise wholeheartedly to all the victims involved in the unfortunate incident.
"Sitting in the incident room last night at Greenbank until the early hours liaising with Faisal, the negotiators, FBI etc and although my brother was suffering from mental health issues we were confident that he would not harm the hostages.
"At around 3am the first person was released then an hour later he released the other 3 people through the fire door unharmed.
"Don't believed the bull**** in the media they were released from the fire exit and not rescued.
"A few minutes later a firefight was taking place and he was shot and killed. ILWIAR. There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender.
"The FBI are due to fly into the UK later today so we don't have much else to share at the moment. Obviously our priority will be to get him back to the UK for his funeral prayers although we have been warned it could take weeks."
