Guyanese father of terror suspect dies
Stabroek News
June 13, 2004
Gulshair El Shukrijumah, an internationally known Islamic scholar originally from Guyana, whose son was named a terror suspect by the FBI, has died at the age of 74.
An Associated Press report said El Shukrijumah died Friday at his Miramar Florida home, according to Sofian Abdelaziz, a family friend. He had suffered a series of strokes since his son, 28-year-old Adnan G El Shukrijumah, was labelled in March as a serious threat to United States' interests at home and abroad.
Relatives of El Shukrijumah have denied he had any connection to terrorism. Last month, Attorney General John Ashcroft named the son again as he warned of an increased risk of terrorist attacks this summer.
The family tried to keep the news from the elder El Shukrijumah, but he saw his son's picture on television.
"When he saw his son he started to cry and he kept crying. ... After that he had the stroke," said Abdelaziz, executive director of the Miami-based American Muslim Association of North America. El Shukrijumah went into a coma and never recovered. A native of Guyana, El Shukrijumah retired to Florida after leading a New York City mosque that was attended by at least one suspect from the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
Federal officials began exploring possible links between Adnan El Shukrijumah, who remains at large, and Jose Padilla, a former Floridian arrested last year for allegedly plotting to detonate a radioactive bomb. The men were originally supposed to be partners in a terrorist attack, but the partnership dissolved because they did not get along, Deputy Attorney General James Comey said.