Fiery protester worked for FBI

2004-11-16 10:46

Washington - A man who set himself alight outside the White House was a Yemeni national who informed United States authorities on terrorism activities and who was protesting how the FBI was handling his case, The Washington Post said on Tuesday.

The man, a 52-year-old father of six, was identified as Mohamed Alanssi. Secret Service agents posted at the White House on Monday doused the flames in time to save his life, but Alanssi is now in hospital in critical condition with burns over 30% of his body, the daily said.

Witnesses said Alanssi shouted "Allah" as the flames were being extinguished at approximately 14:00 on Monday.

The Post said Alassi telephoned the newspaper on Monday saying he would give a 10-minute warning before his suicide attempt.

In his first two calls he did not indicate where the attempt would take place, the daily said, and the last call was placed only two minutes before he said he was going to do it outside the White House.

Wanted to see his sick wife

The daily said it alerted the police, who in turn called the authorities at the White House.

Alanssi, said the daily, had complained in a series of recent interviews that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had not kept the promises he was made in exchange for his co-operation.

The promises, according to Alanssi, included an unspecified amount of money, US citizenship and protection of his identity.

For his work as an informant that began soon after the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States, Alanssi said, he was paid $100 000 dollars in 2003, but he claimed that recently he had no money left to visit his ailing wife in Yemen and that the FBI was keeping his passport.

In a letter to FBI agent Robert Fuller, a copy of which Alanssi gave to the newspaper, Alanssi said "I must travel to Yemen to see my sick wife (stomach cancer) and my family before I testify at the court or any other places ...Why you don't care about my life and my family's life?"

The FBI, the newspaper said, declined to comment on Alanssi's identity and claims that he was working with them.

Alanssi claimed he informed the FBI on alleged financers of al-Qaeda working in Yemen and that in January 2003 he helped set up a sting operation in Germany that led to the arrest of Mohammed Ali Hassan Moayad, a Yemeni cleric slated to go on trial in New York in January on charges of providing support to al-Qaeda.

The Yemeni claims his identity was leaked as a result of the sting operation and that he and his family - who live in Yemen - have been harassed and threatened ever since.

- AFP