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Did the FBI Murder Ibragim Todashev?

May 30, 2013


Ibragim Todashev was shot during a late-night interrogation session by the FBI at his home in Orlando. Why was the FBI conducting an interrogation at Todashev's home in the middle of the night? Why was he shot in the back of the head? Was he executed?

Ibragim was indeed unarmed when he was shot seven times - what appears to be once in the back of the head.
- Hassan Shibly, Council on American-Islamic Relations, May 29, 2013

Like so many of the false claims made by the FBI and law enforcement agencies about the Tsarnaev brothers and the Boston Marathon bombing, we now learn that Ibragim Todashev was not armed when he was shot - 7 times.

One week after he was killed, ABC News reported that Ibragim Todashev was not armed when he was shot to death in his Orlando apartment. The FBI, along with two members of the Massachusetts State Police, had been interviewing Todashev for about 5 hours before he was shot after midnight on May 22, 2013.  A friend (or friends) of Todashev had been present during most of the interrogation but was sent away by the FBI shortly before the shooting. If the FBI really suspected Todashev of serious crimes, like murder, why was he not being interrogated at a police station or office of the FBI?  Why was this interrogation being done in the middle of the night in an apartment complex?

According to Hassan Shibly of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the un-armed Todashev had been shot 7 times, once apparently in the back of the head. CAIR is requesting a civil rights investigation into the shooting.

A CBS/AP article of May 30, entitled “Ibragim Todashev's father:  FBI killed my son ‘execution-style’" reported that photographs of Todashev’s body indicated he had been shot in the back of the head: 

At a news conference in Moscow, Abdul-Baki Todashev showed journalists 16 photographs that he said were of his son, Ibragim, in a Florida morgue. He said his son had six gunshot wounds to his torso and one to the back of his head and the pictures were taken by his son's friend, Khusen Taramov… "I'd only seen and heard things like that in the movies — they shoot somebody and then a shot in the head to make sure," Todashev said. "These just aren't FBI agents, they're bandits," he added.

It may be that Todashev was shot in the back of the head first and that the shots to his heart and torso followed. What is very clear is that Todashev was murdered. With several armed police officers and FBI agents present in the building there is no logical explanation why lethal force was applied first - rather than non-lethal methods - if in fact there was a need to subdue Todashev.

The use of force continuum requires that if a suspect poses a threat the police should first use non-lethal methods before resorting to lethal force. Shibly's claim that Todashev was shot in the back of the head, if true, suggests that he was executed - murdered in cold blood.

The Washington Post reported that the FBI agent who shot Todashev may have been alone with Todashev when he was killed. If so, this may indicate that the murder was premeditated and the others were asked to leave the room so that they could not be called as witnesses:

An official said that according to one account of the shooting, the other law enforcement officials had just stepped out of the room, leaving the FBI agent alone with Todashev, when the confrontation occurred.

The shooting followed hours of questioning by the law enforcement officials that had begun the night before.

Todashev’s father said after the shooting that he didn’t believe the FBI’s account of why they killed his son.

“My son could never commit a crime, I know my son too well,” Abdul-Baki Todashev, who lives in Chechnya, told the Daily Beast Web site. “He worked helping disabled people in America and did sports, coached other sportsmen. The FBI made up their accusations.”

What is also quite obvious is that the FBI lied to the media about Todashev being armed. This is similar to the false claims that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been armed when he was found in the boat. The source of these lies is the same FBI who has been caught telling lie after lie about the whole murky saga that began with the Boston bombings. The news reports from May 22 all said that Todashev had been armed with a knife and had attacked an FBI agent, cutting his head. The fact that this was not the case at all indicates that the FBI agents had concocted a false story to cover up the truth about what had led to the killing of Todashev. Is there any part of the FBI story that is true? Is the FBI a completely rogue agency?

The FBI is an agency of the Department of Justice. If the FBI is as rogue as it appears to be, the real rot lies at the center of the Department of Justice, which has become what can only be called the "Department of Injustice." It should be remembered that the FBI is the agency that failed to properly investigate 9-11, then under the guidance of Michael Chertoff.

Sources:

“Advocacy group demands civil rights probe into death of Boston bombing suspect’s Fla. Friend,” Associated Press, May 30, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/advocacy-group-demands-civil-rights-probe-into-death-of-boston-bombing-suspects-fla-friend/2013/05/30/df2e7664-c8ec-11e2-9cd9-3b9a22a4000a_story.html

“Group wants civil rights probe into Ibragim Todashev's killing,” BostonHerald.com, May 30, 2013
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/05/group_wants_civil_rights_probe_into_ibragim_todashevs_killing  

“Ibragim Todashev's father: FBI killed my son ‘execution-style’” CBS/AP, May 30, 2013
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57586893/ibragim-todashevs-father-fbi-killed-my-son-execution-style/

“Man Linked to Boston Bombing Suspect Was Unarmed When Shot in Violent Encounter With FBI,” ABC News, May 29, 2013
http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-linked-boston-bombing-suspect-unarmed-shot-violent/story?id=19284007&google_editors_picks=true#.Uac4kNjDuZR

“Muslim civil-rights group calls for DOJ investigation into Todashev shooting,” WFTV.com, May 30, 2013
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/muslim-civil-rights-group-calls-doj-investigation-/nX6T4/   

“Officials: Man who knew Boston bombing suspect was unarmed when shot,” by Sari Horwitz and Peter Finn, Washington Post, May 30, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/officials-man-who-knew-boston-bomber-was-unarmed-when-shot/2013/05/29/21f05b74-c8a8-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html

“Why Did the FBI Kill an Unarmed Man and Clam Up?” by Conor Friedersdorf, TheAtlantic.com, May 30, 2013
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/why-did-the-fbi-kill-an-unarmed-man-and-clam-up/276369/