OU instructor among those detained during bombing investigation

Wednesday, October 12th 2005, 10:43 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- A University of Oklahoma instructor from Egypt says he and several others were handcuffed at gunpoint during an invesigation into the October 1st bombing at OU.

Hossam Barakat blames unfortunate timing and says he isn't bitter about being detained.

Also arrested was Pakistani student Fazal M. Cheema, the roommate of bombing victim Joel Henry Hinrichs the Third.

The Oklahoman reported today that Cheema took a polygraph test and later was released.

Barakat says the others detained were either born abroad or Americans of Middle Eastern descent.

The group were at an apartment in the same complex where Cheema and Hinrichs lived.

He says the others came under suspicion because Cheema had stopped by the apartment around midnight on October 1st.

The FBI says Hinrichs appears to have acted alone when he detonated a bomb outside the OU football stadium, killing himself.