The Utah Marine of Lebanese origin who has garnered so much attention the past two months made a swift and private arrival in Utah Saturday afternoon.
Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun arrived, and quickly departed, Salt Lake International Airport after 4 p.m. with family members and headed to the West Jordan home of his older brother, Mohammed Hassoun, without saying anything to the media.
Family members said Hassoun did not plan to speak to reporters Saturday but did say Hassoun would participate in a press conference this afternoon.
Despite the tight grip of privacy, the family showed signs that they were joyful for Hasoun's safe return. One family member was seen bringing a cake into the house.
It does seem the hopes, thoughts and prayers of Utah Muslims and others in the community have been answered with the safe delivery of their brother, friend and neighbor.
News that Hassoun was arriving home Saturday from Camp Lejeune, N.C., was met with surprise, as well as smiles and well-wishes, among fellow Utah Muslims, as many had not heard of his homecoming.
"I'm very happy for his family," Anwar Arafat of the University of Utah Muslim Students Association said Saturday during the Salt Lake American Muslim Cultural Festival in downtown Salt Lake City. "It would be really good for his family to see him."
Hassoun has been undergoing a "repatriation process," since arriving at Camp Lejeune on June 20, according to military officials.
The Marine, once feared beheaded by militants in Iraq, is now said to have been placed on 30-day convalescent leave to spend time with his family. Officials said the leave was part of Hassoun's repatriation process. Military brass have said Hassoun will not be questioned about his apparent kidnapping until his repatriation is finished.
Speculation still surrounds the circumstances of Hassoun's safe return. After failing to report for duty on June 20 at a Marine camp in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, on June 27 Hassoun appeared in a video released to the Al Jazeera television network, blindfolded with a sword held above his head. His apparent captors threatened to kill Hassoun if prisoners in Iraq were not set loose.
In the following weeks, reports of Hassoun's beheading surfaced on the Internet but with no video confirmation. During that time, the Marines changed Hassoun's status from "deserted" to "captured."
On July 8, Hassoun contacted American officials in Beirut, Lebanon, some 500 miles away from where he was last seen, asking to be picked up.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has been looking into the case to determine if Hassoun was indeed captured.
During a brief statement outside the gates of the Marine base in Quantico, Va., on July 20, Hassoun said he was captured and held against his will.
"I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days," Hassoun said. The 24-year-old soldier also asked for time to be with his family.
Hassoun family spokesman Tarek Nosseir confirmed that Hassoun had arrived in Utah and that family members are also traveling from Hassoun's native city of Tripoli, Lebanon, for the occasion. Hassoun's parents live in Tripoli.
Meanwhile, on the day of Hassoun's long-anticipated arrival, others in Utah's Muslim community gathered at the downtown Gallivan Center to break a silence of sorts.
During Saturday's second-annual Salt Lake American Muslim Cultural Festival, local Muslims celebrated their diverse cultures and shared their celebration with the rest of the Salt Lake community.
Event organizer Ghulam Hasnain said that typically Muslims tend to keep private and to themselves, so to have a festival is something of a break from tradition.
"There is a vast amount of humanity in Muslims," Hasnain said. "This is an attempt to bring them out, to see and be seen."
Organizers also invited members of other Utah religious and minority groups to join in the celebration, including members of the Hispanic community.
Speakers representing Native Americans, Baptists, Sikhs and the Asian community discussed the importance of solidarity in such turbulent times.
"We need to stand together," Hasnain said, adding minorities all share a sense of struggle to assert their rights.
Regarding news of Hassoun's homecoming, Arafat and others said that after months of conflicting news reports and speculation, they are eager for the chance to have the Marine tell his story.
"If he comes back and has a story to tell, I'll listen to him," said fellow Muslim Otis Braboy, who attends the Khadeeja Mosque in West Valley City, which the Hassoun family also attends. "I'd rather hear it from him, personally, than from the media."
Some local Muslims have bristled at suggestions by some media outlets that Hassoun had deserted his post and fled to his native Lebanon, and that the kidnapping was perhaps a hoax. Even if that is the case, many say they will wait until the military investigates the matter.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com