Airline Traveler Is Arrested After Watching Violent Video

By Mike Wells, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Mar. 2–TAMPA — A man watching gruesome torture scenes on his laptop computer while on a Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix was arrested Wednesday at Tampa International Airport.

Iyad Abuhajjha, 36, appeared to be watching disturbingly violent scenes while he rode to Tampa, TIA spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said.

This prompted the flight staff to call for assistance at the gate, according to a police report. The report described Abuhajjha as acting suspiciously, but it did not provide details.

Geoghagan said airport police would describe the video only as extremely graphic and considerably inappropriate to watch in a public setting.

When officers met with Abuhajjha, they discovered he was wanted on a 2002 felony warrant in Okaloosa County. They arrested him at 5 p.m., and he remained at Orient Road Jail on Thursday without bail.

Abuhajjha was born in Palestine and lives in San Jose, Calif., according to police. He is employed as a health worker, according to his jail report.

The arrest warrant stems from a 2002 allegation that Abuhajjha harassed a Fort Walton Beach woman over the Internet and on the phone and used her AOL Internet account without her permission, according to an Okaloosa County sheriff’s report.

Abuhajjha met the woman in an online chat room in July 2002 and engaged her in friendship before he began calling her repeatedly, the report said.

The woman told authorities Abuhajjha threatened to kill her and her family if she didn’t do what he told her. The report did not indicate what his instructions to her were.

Later that month, Abuhajjha gained access to the woman’s AOL account and caused it to be closed by the company because he sent excessive e-mails with it, the report said.

The woman and her sister briefly went into hiding because they thought Abuhajjha was going to Okaloosa County to carry out his threats, the report said.

Okaloosa officials notified police in Hayward, Calif., where Abuhajjha lived at the time. They also contacted federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement before closing their investigation, the report said.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 657-4534 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:LUV, NYSE:TWX,