Bomber tried to radicalize wife
The Midtown bomber was influenced by the sermons and writings of a radical Muslim preacher, and tried to have his wife, too, brainwashed by the man, Bangladeshi officials revealed on Wednesday.
The news came as Akayed Ullah, 27, made his first appearance before a judge in New York — via a video feed from his Bellevue Hospital bed, where he’s recovering from burns sustained in Monday’s failed suicide bombing in a subway passageway near the Port Authority Bus Termlnal.
Covered by a white blanket with tubes sticking out of his right arm and two attorneys by his side, Ullah stared into the camera with glazed eyes through the 10minute presentation, but briefly turned his head away as Judge Katharine Parker read the charges.
He will remain held without bail.
The Bangladeshi-born Brooklyn cabby had asked his wife, Jannatul Ferdous Jui, to read the writings and listen to the sermons of Moulana Jasimuddin Rahmani, the imprisoned leader of Islamic extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, Bangladesh’s coun- terterrorism chief. The group has been tied to killings and attacks on secular academics and atheist bloggers in Bangladesh.
Jui, 25, told law enforcement that she was “surprised to find out what her husband did” — despite speaking to him just 30 minutes before he tried to blow himself up, Bangladeshi police told CNN.
Jui — who remained in Bangladesh after she married Ullah last year, and gave birth to a baby boy six months ago — said he “never mentioned radicalization or planning these types of activities,” a Bangladesh police spokeswoman said.