Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, ‘person of interest’ in Boston bombing, still set to be deported on Tuesday
An expert on terrorism says the Saudi national who was the original “person of interest” in connection with Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing is going to be deported from the U.S. on Tuesday.
The foreign student from Revere, Mass., is identified as 20-year-old Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi.
“I just learned from my own sources that he is now going to be deported on national security grounds next Tuesday, which is very unusual,” Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism told Sean Hannity of Fox News Wednesday night.
Emerson echoed more details Friday on The Glenn Beck Radio Show, who says there are many more details to this situation and would be revealed on Monday.
The Reuters news agency reported President Barack Obama met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Wednesday, noting “the meeting was not on Obama’s public schedule.”
After that meeting was mentioned, Emerson told Hannity, “That’s very interesting because this is the way things are done with Saudi Arabia. You don’t arrest their citizens. You deport them, because they don’t want them to be embarrassed and that’s the way we appease them.”
Tuesday morning, a meeting Secretary of State John Kerry held with the Saudi foreign minister was abruptly closed to press coverage.
“The State Department initially provided no reason for the change, which was announced just 15 minutes before the scheduled 10 a.m. session,” reported Politico.
saudi-national-Abdul-Rahman-Ali-Alharbi-600Congressman Jeff Duncan asked DHS chief Janet Napolitano about the Saudi linked to the Boston bombings being deported for “national security” reasons.
Napolitano denied any knowledge of the man being deported. (MORE HERE)
Two Saudi nationals were reportedly injured in the bombings in Boston, with one, Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, initially put under armed guard at a hospital. Alharbi is reportedly studying in the U.S. on a student visa.
A large group of federal and state law enforcement agents reportedly raided Alharbi’s apartment in Revere, Mass.
CNN reported the search took place by consent, according to a federal law-enforcement source, meaning no search warrant was needed
Now the Saudi embassy in Washington has said Alharbi was no longer under detention and is not a suspect in the bomb blasts.
