FlyDubai attacker called women ‘rotten flesh’ in misogynistic social media posts: report
The flydubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed a flight captain to hijack a plane en route to Israel referred to women as “rotten flesh” in a series of misogynistic social media posts in the years before his arrest, according to a report.
Hamam Al-Hammami, 29, is accused of attempting to crash the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September after attacking the pilot with a crash axe.
But he was stopped when passengers broke into the cockpit and tied him up with headphone wires, before a reserve flydubai pilot travelling on the flight landed the aircraft at a regional airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The Omani national was subsequently arrested and transferred to Abu Dhabi, where he is being questioned.
A Financial Times investigation into over 3,000 of Hammami’s tweets reveals that he often spoke in the misogynistic language of the online “manosphere”. He derided women for being primarily concerned with money, saying that a woman’s “only obligation is to lift her legs”.
In a review of the then 25-year-old’s tweets between November 2021 and October 2022, the outlet found violent messaging and objectifying language. The account has since been disabled.
Hammami is alleged to have used popular manosphere terms such as “simp”, used to ridicule men who show their affection for women, and “Alpha” for a dominant personality. He is said to have regularly interacted with accounts that promoted a sexist ideology.
Posts analysed by the FT suggest Hammami had little success using an online matchmaking platform for Muslims, and blamed this on the fact that most women “care primarily about money” and were “skilled at pretence”.
He said his mother had “raised us on religion, morals, and virtue”, boasting in January 2022: “I have never touched a girl in my life, even though I swear I have many opportunities… God has protected us from temptations”.
He added that he would not “chase after cheap, rotten flesh”.
However, he went on to post in a derogatory manner towards women on a regular basis. Commenting on a woman seeking a divorce over a disagreement about posting pictures online, he wrote: “She needs a good thrashing”.
Tweeting dozens of times a day in Arabic, he appeared positive about his career and proclaimed that flying was the “safest means of transportation”.
The incident has sparked concern across various countries after it appeared that the pilot had studied in New Zealand and had completed courses at UK-affiliated educational institutions, although he never physically entered the UK.
Describing his time in the West, Hammami said that the five years he spent abroad were the “golden years of my religious commitment” and that he struggled with his religious observance upon returning to the Middle East.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that the attacker called out to the crew “Kill me, kill me!” after he was restrained.
