Jordanian-American detainee accused in Iraq

Local man denies brother's a terrorist

An American citizen who was captured in Iraq and is being held for trial there is a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was harboring foreign terrorists in Baghdad and was plotting kidnappings, according to documents filed in federal court by the Justice Department.

Shawqi Omar, a naturalized U.S. citizen who also has Jordanian citizenship, was captured in October 2004 and has been held in the U.S.-run detention system in Iraq while he awaits proceedings in Iraqi courts. Omar's lawyers last week filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Washington asking a judge to block his transfer to Iraqi custody for fear that he will be tortured. Judge Ricardo Urbina temporarily blocked the transfer Friday.

While Omar's attorneys argued that their client was a businessman seeking opportunity in Iraq after Baghdad fell, U.S. authorities wrote in court documents that Omar is suspected of working with foreign terrorists and aiding insurgents in Iraq. When he was captured, Omar was allowing four Jordanian foreign fighters and an Iraqi insurgent to live in his home and was found with several weapons and bomb-making materials, according to the documents.

Omar's younger brother, Essam "Sam" Omar, 41, a Raleigh convenience store manager, said Shawqi Omar is not a terrorist and had no ties to al-Qaeda or Zarqawi.

"Actually, I'm shocked with these charges," said Omar in a phone interview Wednesday. "I think 100 percent he's innocent of these charges. I believe and my family -- we believe -- he is really innocent."

Essam Omar, a Raleigh-area resident since 1992, said he last saw Shawqi Omar in May 2001, when the older brother traveled from Washington to Raleigh to be with him during knee surgery. At the time, Shawqi Omar was running two businesses in the nation's capital -- one importing furniture from the United Arab Emirates; the other focused on repairing appliances, installing restaurant equipment and general contracting.

Omar said he last talked to his brother by phone in May 2004, when Shawqi Omar was living in Baghdad, trying to win a contract for construction work. Shawqi Omar was arrested Oct. 29 of that year, one of 12 people charged with plotting a chemical attack in Jordan.

"He was like a thousand other Americans trying to get lucky with a contract," Essam Omar said of his oldest brother. "My brother's an energetic kind of guy. He has wild dreams and wants to make money. He's got to make money to support his family."

Some reports say Shawqi Omar attended N.C. State University, but Essam Omar doubts this; Shawqi Omar did attend Chowan College in Murfreesboro, N.C.

In court documents, Shawqi Omar's wife, Sandra, says the couple moved to Raleigh in April 1989 and stayed until moving to the Middle East in June 1995.

Sandra Omar said in a sworn affidavit that she and her husband moved to Amman, Jordan, in 1995 because they wanted their children "to learn Arabic and about Islamic and Middle Eastern culture." She said they have lived in the Middle East since.

Shawqi Omar, his four brothers and three sisters were born and raised in Kuwait and are all naturalized U.S. citizens, Essam Omar said. Their father, Ahmad, was born in the West Bank and now lives with his wife in Raleigh, his son said. A sister also lives in Raleigh, Essam Omar said.

Maj. Gen. John Gardner, who runs detention operations in Iraq, said in a written statement to the court that Shawqi Omar has links to the the terrorist network in Iraq headed by Zarqawi "and is believed to have acted as al-Zarqawi's personal emissary to insurgent groups in several cities in Iraq."

(Staff writer Jim Nesbitt contributed to this report.)