Questions have emerged as to how a Briton who took hostages at a Texas synagogue before being shot dead by police got a US visa after being banned from a UK court for bizarre 9/11 rants at staff.
Malik Faisal Akram had entered the Blackburn Magistrates building the day after 9/11 raving to an usher he “wished he would have died” on one of the New York planes which collided with the Twin Towers, killing 2,996 people.
A letter from the court, published by the Lancashire Telegraph, said: “In a clear reference to 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’,” the letter said.
“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.
“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.”
At the time, Akram told The Lancashire Post: “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.”
Akram, 44, from Blackburn, took over a morning service at the Congregation Beth Israel, in Colleyville, on Saturday.
He could be heard ranting on a livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill US Army officers in Afghanistan. He died during the incident.
Speaking to Sky News, the attacker’s brother Gulbar Akram questioned how the incident had been allowed to unfold.
“He’s known to police, got a criminal record,” he said. “How was he allowed to get a visa and acquire a gun?”
In a statement previously posted on Facebook, Mr Akram wrote: “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.”
Mr Akram suggested he had been present for negotiations near the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, and said: “Although my brother was suffering from mental health issues we were confident that he would not harm the hostages … there was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender.”
The rabbi at the synagogue who was taken hostage on Saturday described how he threw a chair at the gunman in order to escape.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and two other hostages were then able to get out “without a shot being fired”, following the 10-hour siege.
“When I saw an opportunity, when he wasn’t in a good position, I made sure the gentlemen were still with me, they were ready to go,” Rabbi Cytron-Walker recalled. “The exit wasn’t too far away, I told them to go.”
He then threw a chair at the gunman and headed for the door.
In a statement on Sunday, FBI special agent in charge Matthew DeSarno confirmed Akram was a British citizen and that “at this time there is no indication that other individuals are involved”.
US president Joe Biden branded the incident “an act of terror” and British police are working with authorities in America on the investigation.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “This was a terrible and antisemitic act of terrorism.
”The Prime Minister’s thoughts are with the Jewish community both in Texas and around the world and we stand with our American friends against those who seek to spread hate and fear around the world.”
