(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Seung-wook = CNN reported on the 3rd (local time) that posts related to Islamic extremist terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda were found on the social media account of the first officer who attempted a terrorist attack on a FlyDubai airliner bound for Israel.
According to reports, about 9 hours after the incident, a series of posts praising the terrorist organization were posted on the LinkedIn and Instagram accounts of Omani co-pilot Hamam Alhammami (29), a suspect in this incident.
The posted video included images of Israeli El Al aircraft at Dubai International Airport taken from the cockpit in October 2023, as well as a photo of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the former head of al-Qaeda and successor to Osama bin Laden.
In addition, a photo of Humam Khalil Abu Mural al-Balawi, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist who killed nine people, including a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent, in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in 2009, was also posted.
Al Qaeda is a Sunni Islamic extremist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden, and was responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks targeting the U.S. mainland.
At the end of the video, images of the three holiest sites in Islam were created using artificial intelligence (AI), along with the phrase 'I will protect my dignity without fear of death' in audio.
It has not been confirmed whether this post was posted by Alhammami himself, a pre-scheduled post, or someone else posted it on his behalf.
As a result of CNN's analysis of nearly 3,000 Twitter posts previously written and deleted by Alhammami through an AI search model, it was found that religious extremism and misogynistic tendencies continued to appear.
Alhammami also spoke about the difficulties his mother had in finding a bride-to-be who would accept her conditions of wearing a niqab, a face covering, and withdrawing from social life after marriage.
In addition, he criticized the mixed working environment of men and women and argued that such an environment leads to the degradation of women.
Previously, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prosecution, which is investigating this incident, officially announced that Al-Hammamy committed a terrorist act by attacking the captain with an emergency ax and attempting to take the aircraft.
The incident occurred on the Fly Dubai flight departing Dubai, UAE, for Tel Aviv, Israel, on the 30th of last month.
The captain, who was of Indian nationality, was seriously injured after being hit with a weapon wielded by Alhammami, but unlocked the cockpit door so that he could open it, and three Israeli passengers and crew entered the cockpit and subdued Alhammami.
There were about 180 people on board the plane that crashed, many of them Israelis. Passengers were in fear of death as the plane plunged due to Alhammami's rampage.
Al-Hammami reportedly attempted to take control of the plane's controls and made statements to UAE investigative authorities that he intended to bring down the plane in Israel.
Alhammami was found to have been born in the UAE to an Omani father and Syrian mother.
Alhammami's LinkedIn page says he studied at Buckinghamshire New University in England. The university confirmed to CNN that the man by that name completed a three-year distance learning course and earned a degree in aviation management in 2023.
It is known that Alhammami previously worked at Oman Air for about seven years.
It is understood he was removed from flying duties last year due to concerns about his extremist views and then transferred to another role. Afterwards, he worked for Royal Air Morocco, Morocco's national airline, and appears to have joined Fly Dubai this year, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, it is being pointed out that this incident left a serious hole in Israel's aviation security system. This is because although an Omani pilot, who does not officially recognize Israel as a country, was in charge of operating a passenger flight to Israel, no prior verification was conducted.
A spokesperson for Israel's Ministry of Transport acknowledged in a briefing that 'there is nothing in the Ministry's security regulations to verify terrorist threats from foreign airline pilots.'
