Malik Akram
Malik Faisal Akram (died 15 January 2022) was a British-Pakistani Islamic terrorist responsible for the 2022 Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis. Akram, a Sunni militant, took four people hostage in the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, demanding the release of Al-Qaeda member Aafia Siddiqui from prison. After eleven hours police stormed the synagogue and shot Akram dead. None of Akram's hostages were harmed.
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| “ | If anyone tries to enter this building, I'm telling you... everyone will die. | „ |
| ~ Akram while negotiating with authorities. |
Biography edit
Akram, a British national from a Pakistani family, was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. He was expelled from school for getting into fights with other children and was subsequently sent to a military school in Pakistan. According to his brother, he had multiple mental health issues and was converted to radical Islam in the early 2000s after consuming extremist material online.
On 12 September 2001 Akram was banned from Blackburn magistrate's court after threatening a court usher and saying he should have been killed in the September 11 attacks the previous day. This was after a history of threats against court staff, including on days when he was not due in court and went there specifically to harass the staff. He had a criminal record for a drug-related assault and violent disorder and had served at least one prison sentence prior to the hostage crisis.
On 27 December 2021 Akram flew to the United States and illegally bought a handgun from an acquaintance in a Dallas homeless shelter. On 15 January 2022 he arrived in Colleyville, Texas, and entered the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue at 10:00 a.m. by pretending to be a homeless person. During Sabbath prayer at 10:41 a.m., Akram produced his gun and took four of the congregants hostage. One of the hostages, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, secretly dialled 9-1-1 on his phone, alerting police to the situation. A SWAT team was deployed to the synagogue, alongside a team of 70 FBI hostage negotiators.
Akram took advantage of a livestream of the synagogue services to issue his demands; he wanted Aafia Siddiqui, an alleged Al-Qaeda operative serving an 86-year prison sentence, to be released from prison. Akram's brother was brought in by the police to assist in the negotiations and urged him to surrender, but Akram replied that he intended to die in Jihad and go to Jannah (Islamic heaven). During the crisis, Akram ranted against America, Israel and the Jews, delivered a rambling criticism of American military intervention and the War on Terror and occasionally lapsed into Arabic. He also falsely claimed that he had a bomb and would detonate it if the police entered the synagogue.
After six hours Akram released one of the hostages in return for Siddiqui's release. When Siddiqui had still not been released after ten hours, Akram became increasingly belligerent. Cytron-Walker and another hostage, synagogue trustee Jeffrey Cohen, noticed that Akram was out of position and remembered there was an exit nearby. Cytrom-Walker distracted Akram by giving him a drink before throwing a chair at him and Cytrom-Walker, Cohen and the third hostage ran for the exit and escaped. Afterwards an FBI Hostage Rescue Team surrounded the synagogue. At 9:22 p.m., eleven hours after the standoff began, the FBI team stormed the synagogue, disorientated Akram with a stun grenade and shot him multiple times, killing him.