Terrorist Ayman Abu Aita, who previously threatened to sue for being identified as a terrorist in the Bruno movie, has reportedly followed through.

The Palestinian grocer and peace activist from Bethlehem says the depiction of him in the movie has ruined his life. In Bruno, Cohen’s gay character claims to travel to the Ein El-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon to meet a leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades. A caption describes Abu Aita as ‘Terrorist group leader, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade’.
In fact, the scene was filmed at a well-known hotel on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the West Bank in an area under Israeli control, next to an Israeli army base.
On American TV last July Cohen told talkshow host Letterman his production team found this ‘real terrorist’ through a CIA contact.
Abu Aita has filed a suit against Cohen, NBC Universal Studios and Letterman demanding £70 million [$114 million] – equal to half the movie’s gross box office takings.
The father of four says says he has since received death threats, he is a firm opponent of terrorists, and that he was tricked into meeting Cohen, thinking he was a German producing a film about the Palestinian cause. [DailyMail]

Zee Germans, of course, it’s always their fault.  Anyway, that’s the part of the story most news outlets and blogs are covering.  But keep in mind, Aita was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade from 2000 to 2003 and even did two years in Israeli prison.  So his claims that’s he’s not a terrorist, just a mild-mannered Christian now are pretty much like any other criminal who says he’s a Christian now.  Plus, look at that mustache, of course he’s a terrorist.

It’s a sad commentary on the state of terrorism when a former member of a group whose mission statement includes suicide bombing calls someone a liar and threatens with a lawsuit.

Ayman Abu Aita, who is labeled in the Brüno movie as a “terrorist group leader,” slammed Sacha Baron Cohen as a “big liar” who “made up stories” when describing to CBS’s David Letterman last week [above, via WarmingGlow] the way he met Aita at an undisclosed location. Aita said he is pursuing legal action.

Apparently Aita is offended at being labeled a “terrorist”, because although he served in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades from 2000 until 2003, he says he’s reformed after a two-year stint in Israeli prison, and is currently a representative in the Palestinian Authority, in President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

“I thought I needed security,” Baron Cohen told Letterman. “It was in the West Bank. The guy picks this secret location. … The terrorist comes in with his bodyguard.”  Aita, however, says the interview took place at a private section of a popular restaurant called Everest in the town of Beit Jala, which is in a section in the West Bank under Israeli control. [WND via /Film]

Let’s not split hairs here: Cohen called him a terrorist, and clearly, he used to be a terrorist.  Does that mean he can’t still be called a terrorist?  Try telling Danny Trejo he’s not gangster.  He’ll cut your belly open, I’ve seen him do it.  As for calling the restaurant a “secret location,” to be fair, Zagat did call it “the West Bank’s best-kept secret.”  Though they weren’t huge fans of the Falafel, which they called “decent, but nothing to blow yourself up for.”