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Beirut: The Lebanese suspect arrested in the alleged New York City terror plot is a university professor of economics and not an Al Qaida militant, his family has said
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Lebanese officials have said that the detainee, Assem Hammoud, who was arrested in April, had confessed to plotting to attack New York City tunnels on orders from Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden
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But Hammoud's mother disputed the accusations, saying her son drinks alcohol, has girlfriends, has travelled abroad and enjoys social life. "Do we look like Al Qaida people?" asked Nabila Qotob at the family's home in Beirut's Clemen-ceau neighbourhood. Since her son's arrest, she has visited him every three days at a police station where he is being held. "His morale is high because he is confident he is innocent," she said of her son, who turned 31 on Thursday.
"Don't make up accusations. My son is innocent. What Al Qaida? He never left his father's side. He loves life and fun. I am fully confident that my son has nothing to do with Al Qaida," she said of her son. Leafing through photo albums, she pointed out his picture with women she identified as girlfriends in Canada, Germany and Belgium. He did not pray regularly at home, but occasionally went to a mosque for prayers with his father, who passed away last year.
Hammoud, who is single, studied finance and economics in Canada in the late 1990s. He speaks English, French and German besides his native Arabic and taught economics at the Lebanese International University. He had planned to compete in a car rally in Lebanon this summer before he was arrested on April 27 near the university, his mother said.
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