U.S. investigators are in Jordan to interrogate the Jordanian-American uncle of a suspect in the fatal shooting of five U.S. servicemen in Tennessee last week, the uncle's lawyer said on Wednesday.
The suspected gunman, 24-year-old Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, was killed in a gunfight with police on July 16 after he sprayed gunfire at a military recruitment center in Chattanooga and then at a nearby Naval Reserve Center.
The engineer's family say he had long-standing psychological and substance abuse issues and was taken to stay with his uncle, Assad Ibrahim Abdulazeez Haj Ali, in Amman for a short visit last year to help his recovery.
But investigators have evidence he had been searching forjihadist material that may have inspired the attack, a source close told Reuters on Monday.
Jordanian authorities arrested Haj Ali on Friday and he was being interrogated by both Jordanian and U.S. investigators, his lawyer Abdul Qader al Khatib said by telephone.
A Jordanian security source confirmed U.S. investigators had arrived in Jordan and said they were involved in questioning Haj Ali, who is being held at a high security facility in the Jordan's intelligence headquarters.
"We are gathering clues and we need to establish whether this was a sole act or one that is linked to a wider terror network," the source said.
"At this stage of the interrogation we cannot rule out anything."
Khatib called on the Jordanian authorities to allow him to attend their interrogations, saying he feared his client could be forced to testify under duress.
"I fear he may be tortured to extract a confession," he said. He had been told he could meet with his client next Sunday, but said this was not soon enough.
Jordan regularly denies claims by human rights activists that it tortures confessions out of security detainees.
Khatib said there was nothing to indicate that uncle or nephew were militant Islamists.
"They (the investigators) are focusing on whether my client had influenced (his nephew) and if he had motivated him. There is no basis to this as both do not adhere to any religious ideology," he said.
COMMENTS