Convicted terrorist’s son is rookie FDNY firefighter
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FDNY pushes back at New York Post article via social media
On the cover of today’s (Sunday) New York Post is the headline (above) “Son of convicted terrorist joins FDNY.” It’s a story about Omar Ahmed Sattar a rookie FDNY firefighter. Firefighter Satter, according to reporters Susan Edleman and Dan Balsamini, is the son of Ahmed Abdel Satter who is serving a 24 year prison term after a 2005 conviction in a conspiracy to murder Jews and soliciting crimes of violence.
The New York Post also reports the father used the Sattar home as a center of communications to “further the schemes of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Muslim cleric who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.”
Sattar is currently at Engine Co. 282 in Borough Park which the Post points out is a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
The article points out that Firefighter Sattar, then 18, wrote a letter to the judge asking for leniency in sentencing his father. The letter said in part:
I know that he did not commit any crimes or plan to. I feel that an injustice has been done. My father is a man of honesty and kindness, he wouldn’t attempt to hurt any one or even think about it.
Another graduate in the class with Sattar is John Palombo, whose father Frank was killed at the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.
Before getting the job as a firefighter Sattar worked in New York’s sanitation department. An FDNY spokesman pointed out that Sattar went through a comprehensive background check but would not say if FDNY knew about the father’s past.
Susan Edelman & Dan Balsamini, New York Post:
In a statement to The Post, the young fireman did not mention his father, but described how his new job is a dream come true.
“This is what I have always wanted to do. This is who I have always wanted to be. I have always admired firefighters,” he said.
“I remember being impressed and in awe of what just happened. … I respect FDNY members, and I am humbled to have this opportunity to be a part of this incredible Department. The FDNY is a family that always supports each other, and now I am living it. It means the world to me to be here. When I look back on my career as a firefighter, I want to know that I did the best I could with the opportunity I was given.”
