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Jordan releases uncle of Chattanooga gunman without filing any charges

Zachary Meadows stands next to Cheryl Jenkins as she waves a flag while standing by the side of Lee Highway on Sunday, July 19, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn., in the aftermath of a Thursday terrorist attack that killed four Marines and one member of the U.S. Navy.
Zachary Meadows stands next to Cheryl Jenkins as she waves a flag while standing by the side of Lee Highway on Sunday, July 19, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn., in the aftermath of a Thursday terrorist attack that killed four Marines and one member of the U.S. Navy. Zachary Meadows stands next to Cheryl Jenkins as she waves a flag while standing by the side of Lee Highway on Sunday, July 19, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn., in the aftermath of a Thursday terrorist attack that killed four Marines and one member of the U.S. Navy.

By Associated Press 1 min read

A lawyer says an uncle of the attacker who killed five U.S. servicemen in Tennessee last week has been released from custody in Jordan without charges.

The uncle, Asaad Ibrahim Asaad Haj Ali, had been questioned for nearly a week by Jordanian intelligence about the time his nephew Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez spent with him in Jordan last year. The 24-year-old Abdulazeez carried out attacks on two military sites last week that killed four Marines and a sailor in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Haj Ali’s lawyer, Abed al-Kader al-Khateeb, says his client was released Thursday. The lawyer says Haj Ali “is clean, that’s why they released him.”

The move confirms reports by a family spokesperson, who does not wish to be named out of fear that his business interests will be harmed, that the uncle was merely wanted for questioning, not on suspicion of any role in the Chattanooga attacks.