Thursday, November 15, 2001

College Briefs

Three Pakistani OU students detained

NORMAN, Okla. (U-WIRE) — A federal law enforcement agency has detained three Pakistani University of Oklahoma students, including the president of the Pakistani Student Association.

Which agency arrested the three was not disclosed, but a source said the students were picked up Thursday because of immigration irregularities.

Electrical engineering junior Mohammad Yaseen Haider, business senior Nabeel Khalid and computer engineering senior Mohammad Imran Shaikh were all roommates at 207-B Wadsack Drive in Kraettli Apartments, an OU complex south of Lindsey Street.

Neighbors saw three law enforcement agents searching the apartment last week for about an hour.

The agents also searched the students’ computers.

In September, Haider, president of the Pakistani Student Association, said three men attacked him because he is Arab. Two were OU students, and President David Boren expelled one and brought student-code violation charges against the other.

The FBI would not confirm if it or the Immigration and Naturalization Service were involved in the students’ arrests.

“We’re not commenting on any aspect of the investigation,” said FBI spokesman Gary Johnson.

On Tuesday, Boren released a statement concerning the arrests.

“Details about the facts have not been released to us by law enforcement agencies, so we don’t know enough to comment at this time,” he said.

“It is important to remember that the vast majority of our international students are outstanding citizens of the university community who have the same concerns and values as Oklahomans and Americans.”

Two other men who lived in Kraettli Apartments, University College senior Hussein Al-Attas and Mukkaram Ali have been under arrest since the week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because of their friendship with suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, who is also a former Norman resident.

— Oklahoma Daily