July 15, 2005

Open Source Intelligence on London Bombing Suspect

So I was doing some research on Magdy Mahmoud Elnashar who was nabbed in Egypt today as a 7/7 suspect and I found his e-mail at Leeds University. Since he's now experiencing the pleasures of the Egyptian penal system and is no longer at Leeds University where he just earned his Ph. D. I figure I won't post it. I mean, he probably won't ever get to read it so what possible value could e-mailing the man who's apartment was used to construct the bomb that killed 52 innocents and mamed hundreds more?

Oh, right. There is that.

So, if you think there might be some theraputic value in e-mailing this son-of-a-bitch and telling him just what you think of him, here you go.

UPDATE: Try this e-mail address, instead: m.elnashar@chem.leeds.ac.uk

7/7 terrorist Dr. Magdy Mahmoud Mostafa Elnashar's e-mail address: bmbmmme@leeds.ac.uk

UPDATE: *sigh* e-mail is dead. Which is odd since most universities don't kick you off their e-mail systems until long after you graduated. But Dave's quip in the comments section may explain why his e-mail is down. It is currently being looked at by British intelligence.

I wonder if he still has voice-mail? Those take a little longer to change. Here is his telephone number if you're a Brit and this is local:

+44(0) 113 3433162

Here is a cached version of his bio.

Also, have you ever wanted to read a peer reviewed scientific paper published by a terrorist? Well, here's your chance to read Novel Matrix for Biocatalyst Production. You mean to say that terrorists might be as ordinary as the guy next door? They go to work, come home, and are generally good neighbors until the day they blow people up? They don't roam the streets yelling death to America all day long? I don't believe it.

Another Update: It looks like the terrorist in question was on a fellowship sponsored by the European Union. These kinds of fellowships are routinely given out to anybody that applies and meets the general qualifications--including foreigners. In fact, if the fellowship that Elnashar received was anything like fellowships in the US, his status as an Egyptian national would only help him--after all, diversity before all other considerations!

So, all indications are that Elnashar was a good student who had received some amount of recognition at Leeds University. The only sign that he was a terrorist was that he enjoyed talking about his religion. Isn't that odd? A religious man becoming a terrorist?

Yet another update: Looks like Andrew Cochran knows how to do a Google search too.

Mike Pechar, a co-author here, makes this important point at his own blog:

It needs to be noted that Elnasher has been reported to be a chemistry student, a chemistry lecturer, a biochemistry researcher, and a chemistry professor. Right now, it's not really clear what he is, but it has something to do with chemistry.

What bothers me is the possibility that he is a biochemist. If so, and he's found to be a terrorist, there is the likelihood that he may have been working on biological weapons

Yet another update: Dread Pundit Bluto finds that the grant he recieved was worth about $60k.