The released suspect also lived at the Detroit apartment where four men were arrested in the first major terrorism prosecution after Sept. 11. Al-Marabh's name was still on the rental unit when agents raided it. The men were found with false IDs and documents describing alleged terror plots.
Al-Marabh also figured in several large deposits, withdrawals and overseas wire transfers in 1998 and 2000 that were flagged as suspicious by a Boston bank. The Customs Service first identified al-Marabh in 2001, citing possible terrorist ties to Hijazi.
FBI documents said al-Marabh denied being affiliated with al-Qaida. But he acknowledged receiving "security" training to handle rifles and rocket-propelled grenades in Afghan mujahedeen camps, sending money to his friend Hijazi, using a fake address to get a truck-driving license and buying a phony passport for $4,000 in Canada to sneak into the US shortly before Sept. 11.
Al-Marabh's attorney, Mark Kriger, said Wednesday he had never seen the Jordanian informant report and still doesn't believe his client had anything to do with terrorism. He said his client broke ties with Hijazi years ago after a falling-out.
Kriger said he found it unbelievable "that the government, if it believed Ashwas, would have deported Mr. al-Marabh rather than indict him."
The Justice Department's criminal division chief, Chris Wray, expressed concern to Congress last month that some suspects were being deported to freedom. "It may be more difficult than people would expect" to make a case against a suspect, even when he trained at terror camps, he said.
"We may be able to deport the person under the immigration laws," Wray added. "And while that should give us some comfort, the fact is, if we go that route, the person is removed to another country and turned loose there, and we have no ability to make sure that they're not engaged in further terrorist activity."
At one point in late 2002, US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago drafted an indictment against al-Marabh on multiple counts of making false statements in his interviews with FBI agents. Justice headquarters declined to prosecute.
Fitzgerald then tracked down Ashwas, the Jordanian who because of minor immigration problems had spent time with al-Marabh in a federal detention cell in 2002.
Fitzgerald had the man flown to Chicago and oversaw his debriefing along with FBI agents from Chicago and Detroit. When contacted for this story, Fitzgerald declined to comment on the case.
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