Arab Informer in Bomb Plot--a Perilous Role

He kept medals from his days in the Egyptian army on his mantle, next to the Koran and a bulletproof vest. But five floors above Broadway, two continents and a decade removed from hostile fire in his native land, Emad Ali Salem still was a man in danger.

The man who told neighbors that he had been a bodyguard for Anwar Sadat when the Egyptian president was slain has been revealed as the FBI’s key informer in what could be the most audacious terrorist plot in the nation’s history.

Playing a potentially dangerous dual role as spy and confidant, Salem stood at the side of the militant sheik whose followers have emerged as principal suspects both in the World Trade Center bombing and in the latest alleged scheme of mass destruction.

Now under federal protection, Salem is being hailed as a hero by neighbors and television commentators, saying his efforts may have prevented horrific bloodshed in America’s largest city.

But in mosques and immigrant Arab neighborhoods, where many feel the sting of rising anti-Muslim sentiment, there is skepticism and even scorn.

Some are wondering if Salem’s background as an army colonel, black belt karate expert and one-time presidential security guard might fit the profile of a skilled intelligence operative who may have done more than observe progress of the abortive plan to blow up the United Nations, two Hudson River tunnels and the FBI’s Manhattan field office.

“Maybe this guy . . . worked for the Egyptian government,” said Moataz Adam, a friend of one of the suspects. “Maybe he’s doing this for his country. Maybe he’s doing this for money. We don’t know.”

And defense attorney William Kunstler declared: “I am utterly convinced that this so-called informant was an agent provocateur. “

One thing seems certain: Testimony by the 43-year-old unsuspected spy will provide central evidence in federal prosecutions of the accused terrorist ring.

According to court papers, Salem stood at the heart of the conspiracy. He rented the safehouse that FBI technicians turned into a virtual recording studio, videotaping and bugging the meetings of the alleged terrorists.

Salem went along on missions to scout potential bomb targets. He was present for tests of detonation devices. He traveled with the suspects when they reportedly sought to obtain guns and pretended on one occasion to conduct a sweep for hidden microphones in a Brooklyn apartment where bombing the United Nations was discussed.

And Salem, apparently wearing recording devices himself, met regularly with Siddig Ibrahim Siddig Ali, Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman’s translator and the reputed ringleader of the terrorist plot. According to the government’s affidavit, most of their conversations were recorded.

Finally, on the night of the mass arrests, Salem completed his insider role by seeing that a door was left slightly ajar to permit an FBI raiding team swift and easy access to the makeshift bomb factory in Jamaica, Queens.

During the previous weeks and months, even as he played the double agent, Salem had tried to live an otherwise ordinary life.

Diana Randall said that she had known Salem throughout the two years he was her neighbor in a 12-story apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

She recalled him as being an endearing family man who lived in a meticulous $800-a-month apartment with his German-born wife, a Zen Buddhist, and two young children, Noha, 13, and Sherif, 10.

She said Salem sometimes recounted details of the Sadat assassination. He told her that he was wounded in the head and leg.

To others, Salem displayed his military beret and showed photographs of himself as a young soldier on desert duty during the 1973 war with Israel.

Salem told neighbors that he was a private security officer, but he said little about his work. A former baby-sitter who declined to give her name said Salem never talked about politics or religion--caring instead to discuss his children and his latest diet.

The large, balding man worked out at neighborhood gyms and described his hobbies as bodybuilding, wrestling and target shooting.

Randall said she had seen him act troubled only once. That was in February, shortly after the World Trade Center bombing.

“He was extremely upset about that,” she said. “He said it was a horrible thing, and he worried and hoped that Americans would realize there are a lot of good Arabs here too.”

During that period, Salem conveyed similar sentiments to the numerous journalists he came to meet as an aide to the sheik, helping to arrange their interviews. He told a Newsday reporter: “Peace is the most important thing. That’s what Islam is about. All I want is peace.”

Randall, whose children were playmates of the Salem youngsters, recalled her neighbor as “a big sturdy man, quiet and a very sober kind of guy.”

“He was always very clear on everything. He never got silly or giddy. His political beliefs were that people have to get along, to stop all the bigotry and racism.”

She said his character was formed in the Egyptian army, and that he once described for her the tough discipline in the military.

Sharon Stan, another resident of the Upper West Side apartments, recalled how shortly after the trade center blast, she began to notice two sleek, black FBI cars parked around the corner from the building. Last week, shortly before the arrests, she spotted two plainclothes detectives sitting in unmarked cars out front.

The high-rise apartment building over the years has become home to a large group of African immigrants, and Stan, whose husband is in the security business, suspected that law enforcement was interested in the activities of their neighbors from Africa.

“But I never would have suspected they were watching (Salem),” she said. “Nobody would have thought he was leading a double life.”

An elderly man who manages a nearby restaurant said he was not surprised that Salem was willing to work against the alleged terrorists.

“He had good morals,” said the man, who requested that his name not be used. “The way he carried himself, you could tell he was a good man.”

Salem and his family disappeared the day the FBI made its round of arrests and seizures. Randall said she learned only hours before the arrests that the family was abruptly vacating its apartment. Even then, she did not know why.

Salem’s wife, Karen, was hurriedly packing the family’s belongings inside Apartment 525. “She seemed very nervous and upset,” Randall said.

Later that night, Salem suddenly gave Randall a hug.

“I got a sense he was saying goodby to me,” she said.

Now that they are gone, she said she will always remember Salem as a genuine American hero.

“I just hope the FBI is doing a good job of protecting him, wherever he is.”

Times staff writer John J. Goldman contributed to this story.

* NEW BREED OF TERRORIST: Latest threat appears to be loose groups of amateurs. A16