‘We will love him until we die’: Family of American-born ‘most wanted’ Al-Qaeda terrorist fighting in Somalia tell of their heartbreak

The family of an American jihadist who went to Somalia to wage holy war have spoken of their heartbreak at his transition from gifted student to terrorist, declaring: ‘We will love him until the day we die.’ Omar Hammami – a native of Alabama who is now on the FBI’s most-wanted list – moved from Alabama to Somalia in 2006 where he joined al Qaeda-linked group al Shabab. But fell out with the group last year and since then claims there have been numerous attempts made on his life, the most recent of which was last month when he was shot in the neck as he sat in a tea shop. Now his family have told of their shock at how Hammami – who now answers to the name Abu Monsour Al-Amriki, or The American – went from gifted high school student to alleged mastermind of at least one deadly suicide bombing. Shafik and Debra Hammami first heard their son was a terrorist when they sawhim on an Islamic propaganda video broadcast on television. ‘When I first saw the interview on TV, I knew that was the end of life as we knew it,’ said Shafik from his home in Daphne, Alabama, his voice breaking with emotion. ‘I knew we would never be the same again. It’s devastating for both of us. He is our only son. We only have one son. And now, we have none.’ Describing Omar as a ‘very sweet, intelligent child’, he told CNN he excelled in the classroom and on the sports field, adding: ‘I would have loved for him to be engineer or a doctor but that wasn’t in the cards.’ He said Omar showed no signs of radicalization at the University of Alabama – even as president of the Muslim Student Association he was vocal in his condemnation of the 9/11 attacks. But he married a Somali woman and moved to Egypt to deepen his study of Islam. But a few years later, the family received a phone call from his wife saying he had gone to Somalia to visit her relatives but not returned. The next time they heard of him he was decrying America and its corruption by sin on a jihadist video, flanked by masked Somali warlords. The U.S. then named Hammami on its Most Wanted terrorist list in March and is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. Al Shabab fighters are not eligible for the reward.  ‘Of course I tried my best, and so did my wife, to raise him the best we could [but] he chose the path he did, and I do not approve of it,’ added Shafik. ‘But there is nothing I can do to change it.’ They say the stigma of having a terrorist convert for a son is an uncomfortable truth in a town of 22,000 where Omar Hammami is known as ‘that terrorist from here’. Daphne, a Christian herself, said she has been abused in the street but remains strong through her faith in God and the support of ‘wonderful friends’. In a 127-page autobiography, posted online, Omar attempted to explain his relationship with the American dream: ‘The real fear that the Americans feel when they see an American in Somalia talking about Jihad, is not how skillful he is at sneaking back across the borders with nuclear weapons.  ‘The Americans fear that their cultural barrier has been broken and now Jihad has become a normal career choice for any youthful American Muslim. Trying to show them how serious I am about slaughtering Disbelievers is the side of me they would like to capitalize on to estrange the Muslims from our cause.’ Hammami is now one of the two most notorious Americans in overseas jihadi groups after moving from Alabama to Somalia around 2006.  He fought alongside the group for years while gaining fame for posting YouTube videos of jihadi rap songs in the hope of attracting young American Muslims. But he fell out with al Shabab and has engaged in a public fight with the group over the last year.  Since then, Hammami has been a thorn in the group’s side after accusing its leaders of living extravagant lifestyles with the taxes fighters collect from Somali residents. Shafik, who calls Al Shabaab ‘a bunch of thugs,’ says Al Shabaab’s top leadership who now want him dead because he disagrees with taking money from the poor to fund their lavish lifestyles and targeting civilians in suicide bombings. ‘He is against those things,’ said Shafik whose only way of staying in touch is by reading Omar’s frequent Twitter posts.  Another Hammami grievance is that the Somali militant leaders sideline foreign militants inside al Shabab and are concerned only about fighting in Somalia, not globally.  But despite what he has done, Omar’s family are still his family. ‘Even if I can’t see him, I just wish he stays safe,’ says Shafik. ‘And I wish… I wish he will know … that I will love him until I die.’ Al Shabab have criticized Hammami publicly in a December Internet statement, saying his video releases are the result of personal grievances that stem from a ‘narcissistic pursuit of fame’. The statement said al Shabab was morally obligated to stamp out his ‘obstinacy’. The U.S. named Hammami on its Most Wanted terrorist list in March and is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. Al Shabab fighters are not eligible for the reward.  Along with Adam Gadahn in Pakistan – a former Osama bin Laden spokesman – Hammami is one of the two most notorious Americans in jihad groups. Hammami has been releasing rap songs in English on the internet since 2009 even though music is forbidden in Al-Qaeda’s strict interpretation of Islam. Despite the threat against his life, Hammami said in an interview with Wired last month that he’s staying put and that he ‘believes in attacking U.S. interests everywhere. No turning back.’ From an undisclosed location in Somalia, he said he grows vegetables, helps his wives around the house, and trolls his one-time colleagues in al Shebab on Twitter. He also almost taunted his al Shabab enemies by boasting they could not come after him. He told Wired that he believes his Twitter campaign has trolled Shebab so successfully that it’s insulated him from retaliation.  ‘They know that the first bullets are the nail in their coffin now that everything is in the open, shabab would lose aq [al-Qaida] support and support of soldiers and middle level.’

Source: Dailymail