Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi In His Own Voice

Read the transcript here.

What Really Happened? 

The Bomb, The FBI and The Media

by: Amina Chaudary

Since the tragic Boston bombings, the news media have been saturated with stories: about the victims, about the runners and about the bombers. But one important story still needs to be told: That of the Saudi man-or-suspect-or-person-of-interest identified in the immediate aftermath of the bombings who was eventually determined to be only a witness.

His name is Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi, a Saudi national who won a full scholarship from Saudi Arabia to study in America. He arrived here on a student visa in February 2012 to study English for a year before applying for college. He describes himself as shy and incredibly focused on his studies and he likes to stay out of the limelight. His friends in Boston also describe him as easy-going, good humored and good hearted.

He was on his way to meet friends for lunch when he was injured by the second explosion at the marathon finish line. The force of the explosion threw him to the street, tearing his jeans and covering him in the blood of other injured people around him. He suffered from burn wounds on his head, back and legs. He did not have burn marks on his hands as many news organizations reported that made bystanders suspect him. After interviewing Alharbi, we can now understand there to be two distinct versions of the story: what the media said about him referencing “sources” and “authorities,” and what he exclusively told The Islamic Monthly (TIM).

At 4:28 p.m. on Marathon Monday, less than two hours after the explosions, the New York Post was the first to announce that this individual was “a suspect” and “under guard.” The same report also erroneously stated that authorities said 12 people had been killed and up to 50 injured. The facts were clearly not available, but the media seemed far too excited about the potential suspect to temper itself. That evening, CBS correspondent and former FBI associate director John Miller stated that after the bombs went off, a spectator noticed that Alharbi was “acting suspiciously” and tackled him to the ground; other media reports continued this same narrative, citing these early, and what we now know to be erroneous, reports.

In this TIM exclusive, Alharbi responds: “No, no one arrested me, no one tackled me. All the people were trying to escape from what happened because they realized that there was something dangerous [at] the finish line.”

He said that no one looked at him suspiciously and that a runner noticed him walking in the street covered in blood and offered to help him walk. A police officer directed him, and all the other injured capable of walking, to the ambulances. The runner helped him on the emergency vehicle, but three other officers jumped on as well.

Within a few minutes of arriving at the hospital, the FBI and Boston Police surrounded his bed. “All the police officers and the FBI … and all the nurses and all the doctors were staring at me … I was looking [at] them like, is it because of the color of my skin or is it because of the name of my country?”

He was under guard and unable to communicate with any friends or family for the first 24 hours. His father, residing in Saudi Arabia, found out about his injury and subsequent questioning through Twitter. Abdulrahman remained cooperative with the FBI but reflects at his shock and confusion over how he was accused of the attack.

By Monday evening, the media discovered his full address and publicized it while filming the FBI search of his apartment. By early Tuesday, reports of his full name and photos from his Facebook account were circulated, some citing that it was first released by the conservative website Townhall. However, we found that it was first reported by Fox News, citing an unnamed source who released Alharbi’s name to them.

With regards to the questioning, Alharbi says of the FBI that “I still don’t blame them to this moment” but when watching the media report about him within 24 hours of the bombing he reflected that at the time he said “but what [am I] going to do… after I [am] discharged from the hospital? It was very scary moment.”

By the next day, it was clear that Alharbi was just a witness and among the injured. The Washington Post and New York Daily News exonerated him, and others soon followed, albeit with large photos of him published alongside their pieces. But the change in official status did not temper the media speculation. For days after he was discharged from the hospital media pundits incorrectly reported that he was put on a terrorist watch list and deported. Other accusations were also made referencing his name appearing in google searches as proof of his links to terrorism or a larger US-Saudi conspiracy (note: on linkedin.com alone there are 26 professionals with the exact same first and last name spelling as Abdulrahman Alharbi). In response, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated that Alharbi was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She confirmed that he was put on a terrorist watch list, but only while he was being questioned immediately after the bombing. When it was determined that he “had nothing to do with the bombings,” he was quickly removed from the list. “He was never a subject. He was never really a person of interest,” she said.

TIM could not confirm from the FBI whether he was ever officially detained in the hospital or what his official status was during questioning. We could also not confirm from the FBI if it is standard protocol to add a person’s name, without completing the investigation, to a terrorist watch list in these types of crimes, only to be removed hours later. Nonetheless, several members of the media continued to write uncorroborated stories, based simply on the fact that the FBI questioned him for hours and that he was temporarily placed on the watch list.

The many discrepancies between Alharbi’s story and what the media reported raise a number of unsettling questions. How exactly was the media given access to his full address and name? Is the FBI investigating this? Why is his official status as a suspect or person of interest or in custody still unclear?

When I called the FBI, I specifically inquired about Alharbi but the first contact drew a complete blank. “A Saudi national? I don’t recall there ever being a Saudi national.” But when I asked in what instance do the authorities release a person’s name in an investigation of this nature, they responded that, in compliance with the Privacy Act, they would release a name only if the public could be of help in the investigation. But it’s unclear how and when that determination may be made. The media was able to report about him less than two hours after the bombing. The FBI had not yet searched his apartment or questioned him in full, yet shortly thereafter the media had complete details about him: in name, residence and photos. The FBI did not officially release his name asking for the public’s help in specific reference to him, but as for what happened unofficially, we may never know.

Several media networks fueled intense feelings of animosity and hatred toward Alharbi specifically and Arabs and Muslims in general, including focusing on Obama and Saudi conspiracy theories. Immediately after the bombings, the New Yorker and The Islamic Monthly published a defense of this innocent man, but that was about it. Everywhere else, racist commentaries, analysis and continued speculations expanded, and the defense of Alharbi was all but forgotten.

Perhaps we have also forgotten Richard Jewell, the security guard who spotted and reported a suspicious bag in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Acting fast, he cordoned off crowds and saved many lives before the bomb went off. But a few days after the bombing, the FBI described Jewell as fitting the profile of a typical lone bomber who wanted to receive public attention. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to report that he was the bomber, and for months other media outlets maintained this description. While he was later exonerated, he found it difficult to live with the stigma of that association, and he described the media “like piranha on a bleeding cow.” No doubt, his universe was upended and he had a difficult time returning to a normal life, despite the fact that the Justice Department formally cleared his name. He died at the age of 44.

Today, we see Alharbi suffering the effects of sensationalist (and often-times racist) media reports, enough to disturb him and prevent him from moving back to his home and resuming his normal life. He told us he received many hate messages, including one that read “sorry to hear about the powder burns on your hands from the bombs your friends set off in Boston. Also sorry to hear our government is wanting to deport your a$$. I would love to see your neck get stretched by a good ole fashion rope.”

“I lost my privacy,” Alharbi said, adding “I am double injured from the explosion and the media.”

It is not clear, nor might it ever be, whether the FBI released his name. A nurse, doctor, custodian or anyone else in the hospital may have given his information to the press had they come across it from a chart or notepad lying around. But what is certain is that there were no reporters in the hospital, and within two hours of the bombing but before the FBI could conduct a proper search of Alharbi’s background, the media were learning a lot about him. What is also certain is that his name and ID were initially only with the FBI and authorities questioning him.

The point is that this could happen to anyone, at anytime for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and looking the ‘wrong’ way. Given the Web’s permanence of information and the speed with which media can disseminate any information, however unverified, to drive its 24-hour news cycle, we must closely consider how we protect the innocent victims of these incidents, including people like Alharbi who was twice victimized through no fault of his own. He understood the importance of cooperating, but could not leave the hospital unidentified. The leak, regardless of where it came from, must be investigated and we must be sure this never happens again.

Abdulrahman Alharbi: Everything was normal. After I passed the finish line I heard an explosion or something. I looked behind me and I saw smoke. I thought that it was … fireworks, so I just wanted to continue walking. Then suddenly in just 6 seconds, the second explosion just, I don’t know if it was in front of me or behind me. And it threw me to the middle of the road. So I was really shocked for what happened to me.

I realized that my legs were a little bit hurt because all my jeans were [bloody]…I was bleeding a little bit in my legs but all my back was all [bloody] not because of my body but because of other people’s body.

AA: Yeah.

AA: I couldn’t see anything but I remember I saw, after the explosion, I saw a little part of, I don’t know if it was a little part of a body or a dog in front of me, but I don’t remember because it was really smoky around me.

I [was] really scared because I heard the first bomb, then the second bomb hurt me, then, I was really scared because there might be another one. Then, I just was walking and the people were crying “What happened, what happened?” I told them “I don’t know there was an explosion or something.”

AA: No, no one arrested me, no one tackled me, no. All the people were trying to escape from what happened because they realized that there was something dangerous in the finish line.

AA: No. I talked to two police officers. The first one told me, while he was walking, “Go down [the] street, go down [the] street! You’re gonna find [an] ambulance there.” Then, one of the runners realized that I am injured. He just tried to help me to walk to the police officer, and I told him “Talk to the police officer. He is going to help us. Where should I go.”He told me “Okay, okay, calm down. Everything is going to be fine, everything is going to be fine.” He told the ambulance he is injured from what happened.

Few police man officers came with me from the event to the hospital.

AA: Three.

AA: Yeah. They were really scared of me. I am injured, I don’t have anything and they asked me “What you have in your hand!” I told them “Nothing, it’s just a napkin!” and I throw it to them and they were like “ahh!”

They asked me couple of questions then I asked them “What happened?” They told me “We don’t know, but if you can tell us what happened?”

I had no idea for what happened and what they were thinking about me. And I was just looking to my body and I was really shocked and trying to stop the bleeding in my nose.

AA: All the police officers and the FBI and other guys, which I don’t know where they are from, and all the nurses and the doctors were staring at me.

AA: Yeah, I was looking to them like is it because of the color of my skin or is it because of the name of my country? They were staring at me without anything, like they just guessing.

While the nurses stop my bleeding, two minutes after I arrived at the hospital, after two minutes, the FBI came and other people, I don’t know who are they, but I realized that there are a lot. They were like in the line asking me “Where are you from?” “What’s your address?” “Where are you from?” “What’s your name?” “What’s your address?” I gave it to him. [But I was thinking], “Just wait a second they are helping me, the nurses, so just wait, I am injured.” So, they should have wait a little bit because I don’t know if I broke one of my bones. It was really scary. They were writing everything. I was trying to help them. I gave them everything I can.

AA: They were asking me about my Facebook account.

AA: Yeah.

AA: They took everything.

AA: All around the bed and in front of, they just was treating me like I did all these stuff.

I just said I should give my life to them.

AA: The whole night and the whole day even if I was sleeping, they were just in front of me.

AA: Yeah. In the beginning there were a lot, but after four hours, only the FBI and the SWAT. It was really scary.

AA: On the second day, before they left the hospital, they [asked] me: “Do you have a lawyer?” I told them I don’t have, no, because I couldn’t talk to any one, even my friends or my family. And my father just knew about me from Twitter.

AA: They got it from the news, the American news, and they translated it to my language.

AA: That there is a Saudi national and his name is Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi.

My friends asked the FBI, “What about our friend [Abdulrahman], we need to talk to him,” [and] they asked them if I am really injured badly. They [the FBI] said, “Your friend [is] just injured.” And they said, “Can we call him?” They said “No.” “Where is he?” “We cannot tell you where he is.” So, they really scared them. They thought that I am really injured.

After 15 hours, or at 12 o’clock on Monday,

AA: Yup, I realized that they knew that I am not a suspect. I saw the media because I had a T.V. in my room. I saw that they wrote that: “21 [-year-old] Saudi national questioned.” I was asking myself and looking to the FBI and looking to the nurses. “Look! Why? Ok, I don’t blame you, about your questions, I don’t blame you. You are protecting your country but why did you show to the media that I am a suspect?” They [the media] said, Saudi man, suspect. Why? Did I do anything wrong? Do you have any evidence? Because as I heard from the media, that I was trying to escape. I wasn’t. And they said that the police officer arrested me because I was behaving suspiciously. No. All these lies. I don’t know from where did they get all these lies. But, I was really shocked and I saw all the nurses and the FBI were watching the T.V. and they just watched the T.V. And I realized that all the media in my apartment. They showed that and they did an interview with my roommate. And I was asking them: “You told me you were going to just search my apartment and I gave them the permission!” I still don’t blame them, to this moment. But what I’m going to do after I [am] discharged from the hospital? It was a really scary moment. I looked to them they didn’t say anything.

AA: They told me, “don’t look [at] the media.”

AA: If my embassy didn’t help me out to rent a hotel, to eat, and all this stuff, I would be homeless or something. They took my wallet when I was in the hospital, so they took my credit card and everything I have. Everything. My laptop my iPad, my, even my camera. I couldn’t take my exams because I didn’t have any I.D.

AA: I got from somewhere, I don’t know from where, the Saudi flag and the American flag together and I wrote down in my language, “Thank God, I arrived [in] the U.S. after [a] long trip.” They [the media] translated that I said, “God is coming to the U.S.”

AA: They are still reporting about me that I am [a] suspect, I am trying to disappear from the people. Many, many lies. I can’t imagine.

AA: Yeah. There are a lot. I lost my privacy.

I have been trying to just forget it and all these stuff. … But I couldn’t forget, I am double injured from the explosion then from the media. So, it’s not easy to forget. Because you just going to write my name and search about [me], you are going to think I am from Al-Qaeda and, like terrible things.

AA: I’m just wondering from where, from where did they get all these lies? From where? But some of them said, “From our own sources.” Say it. “From our own documents.” Show it. Til this moment, show it. I need it, I hope to meet one of them just to show me where is your document that I am a suspect, that I am a terrorist.

I read a lot of articles that talked about me very badly, and all the comments they said, “Get out from our country, you are a terrorist.” Actually it’s not easy to study at the U.S. You [have to first] get good grades in my high school and the other exams. So almost all of them really want to study at this country. It’s an amazing country. But I don’t know why they thought that Saudian are the terrorists. We really hate the terrorist people. They don’t compare between old man or a boy or 8 years old or 20 years old. They don’t care they just killed everyone. Why they thought that we are thinking with the terrorist. We really hate them. They are killing everyone. They don’t care. Why? Like what happened at the event [marathon]. Eight years old killed. Because of what? He didn’t do anything. He just one of the children. It’s really crazy. They killed in my country many people. They killed children and innocent lives. They are not Muslims. …

I don’t know if I’m going to continue my studies. I came in to study my bachelor’s, I have full scholarship from my country, I don’t know if I am gonna be safe from other people. Because, I lost my privacy. So that’s why I am really scared. So it’s not [an] easy thing to just forget.

Emad Burnat is co-director of the Palestinian documentary “5 Broken Cameras”, a film about his village, Bil’in and the community’s non-violent resistance of the Israeli occupation. The film was nominated for an Oscar this year. In February, Emad Burnat, his wife and son, Gibreel, who is featured in the film, attended the Oscars ceremony. As they were traveling to the Oscars, the family was detained and questioned by customs officials at Los Angeles International Airport. Two months later, Emad Burnat returned to the United States, without incident, to accept a Media Award by the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

“[W]e must ask a question only Muslims can answer.”

“What is going on in your community that a critical number of your youth believes that every American military action in the Middle East is intolerable and justifies a violent response, and everything Muslim extremists do to other Muslims is ignorable and calls for mostly silence?”