Khalid al-Fawwaz

Khalid al-Fawwaz
BornAugust 24 or 25, 1962 (age 62)
Kuwait
NationalitySaudi Arabian

Khalid Abd al-Rahman Hamd al-Fawwaz (Arabic: خالد عبد الرحمن حامد الفوز; kunya: Abu Omar al-Sebai (أبو عمر)‎; born 24 or 25 August 1962)[1] is a Saudi who was under indictment in the United States from 1998,[2] accused of helping to prepare the 1998 United States embassy bombings. He was extradited to the United States and arraigned in October 2012.[3]

Al-Fawwaz appeared on the UN 1267 Committee's list of individuals belonging to or associated with al-Qaeda,[4] and was embargoed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.[5]

According to the Treasury statement, al-Fawwaz was born on August 24 or 25, 1962. He moved to London in 1994. He was appointed by Osama bin Laden as the first head of the media organ called the Advice and Reform Committee in London, where he met Adel Abdel Bari and Abu Qatada, amongst others.[2] In 1995, while bin Laden was in Sudan, al-Fawwaz was said to be attempting to pave the way for bin Laden to move to Britain.[6]

He was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989, as part of Operation Challenge, which resulted in the arrest of seven UK-resident men, who were accused of links to al-Jihad.[7][8][9][10][11] One of the men was charged with possession of a weapon.[12][13] Six months after the arrests, British Muslims staged a demonstration in front of 10 Downing Street to protest against the continued incarceration of the seven men.[14]

L'Houssaine Kherchtou, testifying for the United States, claimed that al-Fawwaz had been the leader of an "Abu Bakr Siddique camp", which he contradictingly placed in Hayatabad, Pakistan, or Khost, Afghanistan.[1][15]

His trial, along with his co-defendant Abu Anas al Libi, also known as "Nazih al Raghie" or "Anas al Sebai", was scheduled to begin on 3 November 2014, before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.[16] At the same time, his co-conspirator, Abdel Bari, pleaded guilty.[17]

He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 15 May 2015 and currently located at USP Victorville.[18]

  1. ^ a b Daily Telegraph, Worldwide trail of bloodshed that leads to suburban London, September 19, 2001
  2. ^ a b Copy of indictment USA v. Usama bin Laden et al., Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies
  3. ^ Emily S. Rueb, "Extradited Muslim Cleric and 4 Other Terrorism Suspects Appear in American Courts", New York Times, Oct. 6, 2012.
  4. ^ UN 1267 Committee banned entity list Archived 2006-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ US Treasury banned entity list
  6. ^ "Profile:Khalid al-Fawwaz". Cooperative Research. 2006-03-03. Archived from the original on 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2006-09-11.
  7. ^ Hoge, Warren. New York Times, "Britain arrests 7 suspected of links to Bin Laden", September 24, 1998
  8. ^ The Guardian, "Police hold Islam cleric 'in fishing expedition'", March 16, 1999
  9. ^ Associated Press, "Police continue questioning of seven arrested in terrorism probe", September 24, 1998
  10. ^ Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Position of Fundamentalists in Britain, March 23, 1999
  11. ^ UPI, "Egypt Helps Britain Round Up Terrorists", September 25, 1998
  12. ^ Al-Sharq al-Awsat, "British Muslims cited on arrest of fundamentalists", September 29, 1998
  13. ^ Al-Sharq al-Awsat, "Egyptian Information said to have helped in UK arrests", September 28, 1998
  14. ^ al-Sharq al-Awsat, "Islamic fundamentalist groups planning 12th March Downing St. Protest", March 5, 1999
  15. ^ O'Neill, Sean. Daily Telegraph, The terrorist trained to fly bin Laden's plane, September 21, 2001
  16. ^ "International Terrorism Defendant Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court". 19 September 2014.
  17. ^ nypost.com: "Dad of 'John the Beatle' suspect admits Osama terror plot", 19 Sep 2014
  18. ^ James C. McKinley Jr (15 May 2015). "Bin Laden Aide Sentenced to Life in Prison in 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2015.