UK, US authorities investigating circumstances surrounding hostage-taking by Malik Akram LONDON: One of two men arrested last week in connection with the taking of five hostages in a Texas synagogue has been released without charge. UK counterterror police are continuing to support US authorities in their investigation into the attack, carried out on Jan. 15 by British citizen Malik Faisal Akram. A police spokesperson announced on Monday that one man arrested in the British city of Manchester in connection with the attack has been released. Another was released last Thursday, a day after both men were arrested. Akram flew to New York on Dec. 29 before traveling to Texas and entering the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue. He was shot dead after a 10-hour standoff with police and FBI agents. Four people he held hostage were released unharmed. FBI Director Christopher Wray called it an antisemitic incident, while US President Joe Biden said it was an “act of terror.” Akram is understood to have had a criminal record, and was known to British security services years before he attacked the synagogue. In 2020, MI5 deemed him not to be a threat to national security and stopped monitoring him.