American Airlines Mechanic Who Sabotaged Flight Has Ties To ISIS, Prosecutors Claim

Mike Norris, Co-Editor, The American Dossier

A federal judge cited evidence of ties to terrorism when denying bail for an American Airlines mechanic who tampered with a plane over the summer.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, is being held in pretrial detention, after U.S. Magistrate Judge Chris McAliley ruled that Alani posed a flight risk. “You may be very sympathetic to terrorists,” Judge McAliley told Alani at the hearing. “That’s very disconcerting.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) also disclosed that it had issued an emergency order earlier this week revoking Alani’s mechanic certificate with immediate effect.

Earlier this month, Alani was charged with willfully damaging, destroying, disabling or wrecking an aircraft after tampering with an "air data module" on a Boeing 737. The sabotage involved gluing a piece of Styrofoam inside the nose of the aircraft that disabled a sensor that measures the plane's airspeed and pitch.

The flight crew noticed an error related to the system and called off the flight from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas. A spokesman for American said the airline had an “unwavering commitment” to safety and security and had placed passengers on another plane to get to their destination.

After his arrest, Alani told law enforcement officials that he was upset over stalled contract negotiations between his union and American, which he said had affected him financially. Unions have claimed that American is trying to outsource maintenance jobs, a move American has said is necessary to cover increased wages.

Alani says he hoped “to cause a delay or have the flight canceled in anticipation of obtaining overtime work.” Alani did work overtime to help fix the plane.

A naturalized U.S. citizen from Iraq, Alani has worked as an airline mechanic for 30 years, with no prior criminal record. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for “willfully damaging, destroying or disabling” an aircraft used in commercial aviation, or trying to do so.

Although he is not currently charged with a terror-related crime, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Medetis said that Alani’s ties to the Islamic State (“ISIS”) give rise to the possibility that his actions were not what he claimed.

At the time of his arrest, Alani told agents, “Out of my evil side, I wanted to do something,” Medetis stated, adding that the statement was recorded by the FBI.

Evidence presented by prosecutors include that Alani has a brother in Iraq, who may be involved with ISIS.

An American Airlines coworker told prosecutors that Alani went to Iraq to visit a brother who was a member of ISIS. A roommate alleged Alani had to go because his brother was kidnapped.

Stored on Alani’s cellphone were numerous ISIS propaganda videos. After sharing one video, he expressed a desire for Allah to use his “divine powers” to harm non-Muslims.

Other evidence revealed that Alani recently sent a wire transfer to someone in Iraq and that he traveled to Iraq in March.

After the hearing, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) asked the FAA about the security breach and “what protocols will you put in place to prevent this type of lapse from occurring again in the future?”

The FAA said it would respond to Scott directly.