Suicide hijacker's will banned women from his funeral

Suicide pilot Mohamed Atta, who crashed the first airliner into New York’s World Trade Centre, left a will barring women from his funeral and asking mourners to

‘‘pray for my forgiveness,’’ it was reported today.

In the document, found in a piece of luggage left behind at Boston’s Logan Airport, the 33-year-old terrorist gives a list of 18 instructions on how his death should be handled, said reports.

‘‘No one should cry for me, scream or tear his clothes and beat his face - those are foolish gestures,’’ he wrote.

‘‘Everyone should call God’s name and testify that I died as a Muslim, believing in God’s religion. All who take part in my burial should pray for my forgiveness,’’ he added.

Some instructions in the will, made five years ago, reveal his attitude to women.

One says, ‘‘I don’t want a pregnant woman or a person who is not clean to come and say goodbye to me.’’

Another says, ‘‘I don’t want any women to go to my grave at all during my funeral or any occasion thereafter.’’

Atta and four other hijackers took over American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston and crashed it into the trade centre, killing more than 5,000 people.

His body has not been found and is likely to have been incinerated in the explosion and fire that followed the crash.

In the will, Atta asks that mourners stay at his grave for an hour ‘‘so that I can enjoy their company. An animal should then be sacrificed and the meat be distributed among the needy.’’

First on the list of Atta’s 18 instructions is that those who bury his body be good Muslims. They should also ‘‘pray that I will go to heaven.’’

Number 8 reads: ‘‘Those who wash my body must be good Muslims, and I do not want a lot of people to wash my body unless it is necessary.

Number 9 says: ‘‘The person who will wash my body near my genitals must wear gloves so that I am not touched there.’’

Atta says that his funeral clothes should be three pieces of white material - ‘‘but not silk or any other expensive material.’’

And he requests that during his burial, earth should be thrown on his body three times with the words: ‘‘You come from dust, you are dust and you return to dust.

And from the dust a new person will be created.’’