British intelligence chiefs closed an investigation into Texas hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram after agents recommended no further action after assessing whether he was a possible terrorist threat.
With the fallout gathering speed over the death of a man who had allegedly concealed his criminal record and vaccine status, his family said on Tuesday they were shocked to learn that he had left the UK.
Akram was shot dead by US police after a 10-hour stand-off at a synagogue in Dallas where he had taken four people hostage.
During the incident he demanded the release of Al Qaeda terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving a sentence at a Texas prison.
On Tuesday, Whitehall briefings revealed that Akram was known to Britain's internal security service MI5 and had been investigated in 2020 as a possible terrorism threat before officers decided to take no further action. It had spent four weeks making an assessment of Akram but concluded he posed no terror risk. There was therefore no reason to prevent him travelling abroad.
He was a petty criminal with a string of convictions dating back more than 20 years and had served three prison sentences. He had previously been labelled a “menace” after telling judicial officials he wished they had died on an Al Qaeda-hijacked plane on September 12, 2001.
Gulbar Akram, the dead man's brother, expressed incredulity that his brother was even allowed to fly to the US. He said his brother did not believe in Covid-19 vaccinations and questioned how he was able to enter the US because of his criminal past.
“A guy from Blackburn gets on a plane and doesn’t get questioned. He is also anti-vax. How did he get a visa?” he said.
British politician Bob Seely has called for the intelligence failings in the case to be examined, questioning how Akram's background was not picked up by the authorities.
“This is clearly a failure of intelligence sharing. It is absolutely dreadful that he has been allowed to go to the States and hurt people,” he told MailOnline. “Clearly something has gone wrong somewhere.”
Akram's time in jail included a stint in HMP Liverpool, a prison named as one of Britain’s worst by government inspectors during his incarceration, and it has been reported concerns were raised about his possible radicalisation. The prison has several extremist inmates, official data shows.
It has also been revealed he was a member of Tablighi Jamaat, an organisation banned by Saudi Arabia.
His family issued a statement on Tuesday in which they said they were not aware he had left the country.
“We are deeply saddened of the events of the past few days. We don’t want to make this about us. We think about what the victims went through. There were people who were fearful for their lives,” they said.
“We feel a great deal of pain for those who went through this. We hope nothing like this happens again in the future.
“As a family, it has been traumatic and devastating. Our brother has gone, but the victims didn’t choose to be in this situation and we can only feel for them. We were not aware that he had left the country. It has come as a complete shock to us.”
Akram arrived in the US on January 2 and authorities believe he bought a gun on the street and stayed in a homeless shelter before Saturday's events.
Later on Tuesday, Manchester Police annnounced that two teenagers arrested in south Manchester as part of an investigation into the siege have been released without charge, a police statement said.
“An address in north Manchester has been searched as part of the Counter-Terrorism Policing North West investigation," the statement read.
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Dominic Scally, of Counter-Terrorism Policing North West, said: “CTP North West is continuing to assist with the investigation which is being led by US authorities.
“Overnight, constructive meetings with colleagues from the United States have taken place.
“As part of our inquiries, we’re also working with colleagues in other forces and Lancashire Police are working with communities in the Blackburn area to put measures in place to provide reassurance.”
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Types of policy
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Anna and the Apocalypse
Director: John McPhail
Starring: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Mark Benton
Three stars
Company%C2%A0profile
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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INFO
Everton 0
Arsenal 0
Man of the Match: Djibril Sidibe (Everton)
GROUP RESULTS
Group A
Results
Ireland beat UAE by 226 runs
West Indies beat Netherlands by 54 runs
Group B
Results
Zimbabwe tied with Scotland
Nepal beat Hong Kong by five wickets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Premier League results
Saturday
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 1
Bournemouth 0 Manchester City 1
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Huddersfield Town 0
Burnley 1 Crystal Palace 3
Manchester United 3 Southampton 2
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Cardiff City 0
West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 0
Sunday
Watford 2 Leicester City 1
Fulham 1 Chelsea 2
Everton 0 Liverpool 0
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
