Iyman Faris

Iyman Faris (a.k.a. Mohammad Rauf;[1] born June 4, 1969) is a Pakistani (formerly American) citizen[2][3] who served for months as a double agent for the FBI before pleading guilty in May 2003 of providing material support to Al Qaeda. A United States citizen since 1999, he had worked as a truck driver and lived in Columbus, Ohio. As of September 2003, Faris was the "only confessed al Qaeda sleeper caught on U.S. soil."[4] In 2003 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for providing material support to Al-Qaeda.[5] In February 2020 an American federal court revoked Faris' US citizenship.[6][7] In August 2020, he was released from a federal prison in Illinois.[8]

Faris was detained in Ohio two weeks after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan on March 1, 2003. While installed as a double agent for the U.S. government, Faris sent messages to his terrorist commanders by mobile phone and email from an FBI safe house in Virginia. A senior Bush administration official said, "He was sitting in the safe house making calls for us. It was a huge triumph."[9]

  1. ^ "Ohio trucker joined al Qaeda jihad", CNN
  2. ^ "Iyman Faris". globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  3. ^ McPhee, Michelle (20 June 2003). "BROOKLYN BRIDGE PLOT Al Qaeda, Ohio trucker sought to destroy span". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 16 June 2011.[dead link]
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference EVALUATION was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Judge strips terrorist of citizenship at government request". AP NEWS. 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  7. ^ "Justice Department Secures Denaturalization of Convicted Terrorist Who Sought to Help al Qaeda Destroy the Brooklyn Bridge". www.justice.gov. 2020-02-04. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  8. ^ "Convicted terrorist who used to work in Columbus released from federal prison". wkyc.com. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  9. ^ "Daily Telegraph". Telegraph.co.uk. June 23, 2003. Archived from the original on November 1, 2005.