Abderraouf Jdey
Encyclopedia
A Canadian citizen, Abderraouf bin Habib bin Yousef Jdey (also Farouk al-Tunisi) (born May 30, 1965) was found swearing to die as a shaheed on a series of videotapes found in the rubble of Mohammed Atef
's house in Afghanistan. The United States has issued three separate alerts that Jdey was about to attack inside the country, in January 2002, September 2003 and May 2004.
Although there is no firm evidence, some have suggested that he was responsible for the destruction of American Airlines Flight 587
in November 2001, or the anthrax attacks the month before. Three years later, the United States announced that he was one of a handful of terrorists actively plotting to attack the country, although none of their predictions ever panned out.
, using a false passport and seeking asylum
, from Tunisia
in 1991 and became a Canadian citizen
in 1995.
He rented a C$217 monthly apartment in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie
near Montreal, and studied biology
at the Université de Montréal
. In 1999, he wrote a pair of letters to unknown Muslims overseas, explaining how he found religion and speaking with contempt of the United States and United Nations
.
American authorities allege that he "may" have trained at Mes Aynak
alongside hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar
and Nawaf al-Hazmi
in Afghanistan, before being assigned to a second wave
of attacks. A letter written by Saif al-Adl, and later found by American forces, suggested that Jdey may have originally been slated to have participated in the original September 11th attacks
Jdey returned to Montreal
, Canada in early 2001. Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, while being harshly interrogated, said that Jdey then backed out of the plan. According to a 2010 Harvard report on al Qaeda by a former CIA officer, Jdey was detained in summer 2001 together with Zacarias Moussaoui
. Moussaoui was carrying textbooks on cropdusting; Jdey was carrying textbooks on biology. Jdey was evidently subsequently released. In November 2001 he left Canada, several months after obtaining a replacement passport for one he'd received two years earlier which he claimed to have lost. He was believed to be bound for Europe.
in Queens, New York, rumors were already suggesting that it had been destroyed by an unknown terrorist with a shoe bomb similar to the one found on Richard Reid
.
Four months later, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah
agreed to cooperate with American authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. A known colleague of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, he stated that Mohamed's lieutenant had told him that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to carry out identical plots as part of a "second wave" of attacks against the United States
.
, Abd Al-Rahim, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
vowing to die as martyrs. It was the first time authorities had reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing. NBC News
said the videos had been recorded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Three days later, the FBI released to the public the first "Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information" list in order to profile the five wanted terrorists about whom very little was known, but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks in martyrdom operations. Already under fire for issuing "excessive and somewhat alarmist" warnings about terrorists plotting against the United States, Attorney General
John Ashcroft
stated that Jdey and Faker Boussora were likely traveling together and should be considered "extremely dangerous".
A month after Jdey and Boussora were declared fugitives, the Republic of Turkey announced that the pair may be within their borders.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the only one of the five men on video ever found, was interrogated at an American black site
in 2003 about his knowledge of Jdey, and confessed that Jdey had recruited by al-Qaeda
. The following year Walid bin 'Attash, similarly interrogated under harsh circumstances at The Dark Prison
, confirmed that Jdey had been known to him.
and Karim el-Mejjati
.
and FBI Director Robert Mueller
announced that reports indicated that Jdey was one of seven al-Qaeda members who were planning terrorist actions for the summer or fall of 2004. The other six named were Shukrijumah, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
, Amer El-Maati
, Aafia Siddiqui
and Adam Yahiye Gadahn
. American Democrat
s labeled the warning "suspicious" and said it was held solely to divert attention from President Bush's plummeting poll numbers and to push the failings of the Invasion of Iraq off the front page. CSIS director Reid Morden
voiced similar concerns, saying it seemed more like "election year" politics, than an actual threat - and the New York Times pointed out that one day before the announcement, they had been told by the Department of Homeland Security that there were no current risks.
The day after the announcement, there was a reported sighting of Jdey and Shukrijumah at a Denny's restaurant
in Colorado
. The following year, another tip suggested that the pair had been seen driving a car with a Massachusetts
license plate in Maine
.
In April, 2005, the U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice Program
offered a reward of up to US$5 million for information leading to the capture of Jdey, even though he has not been indicted.
Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef was the alleged military chief of al-Qaida, although his role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years...
's house in Afghanistan. The United States has issued three separate alerts that Jdey was about to attack inside the country, in January 2002, September 2003 and May 2004.
Although there is no firm evidence, some have suggested that he was responsible for the destruction of American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, a borough of New York City, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12, 2001. This is the second deadliest U.S...
in November 2001, or the anthrax attacks the month before. Three years later, the United States announced that he was one of a handful of terrorists actively plotting to attack the country, although none of their predictions ever panned out.
Life
Jdey moved to CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, using a false passport and seeking asylum
Right of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
, from Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
in 1991 and became a Canadian citizen
Canadian nationality law
Canadian citizenship is typically obtained by birth in Canada, birth abroad when at least one parent is a Canadian citizen and was born or naturalized in Canada, or by adoption abroad by at least one Canadian citizen. It can also be granted to a permanent resident who lives in Canada for three out...
in 1995.
He rented a C$217 monthly apartment in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie
Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie
Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie is a borough in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located in the centre-east of the city.-Geography:...
near Montreal, and studied biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at the Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
. In 1999, he wrote a pair of letters to unknown Muslims overseas, explaining how he found religion and speaking with contempt of the United States and United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
American authorities allege that he "may" have trained at Mes Aynak
Mes Aynak
Mes Aynak is located 30 km southeast of Kabul, in a barren region of Logar Province; that is still considered a major transit route for insurgents coming from Pakistan. The mine could be a major boost for the Afghan economy...
alongside hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
and Nawaf al-Hazmi
Nawaf al-Hazmi
Nawaf Muhammed Salim al-Hazmi was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
in Afghanistan, before being assigned to a second wave
Second wave
Second wave may refer to:*Second Wave, a fictional terrorist group from the television series 24*Second-wave feminism, a period of feminist history lasting approximately from the late 1960s through the 1980s*2 Tone Ska, also known as Second wave Ska...
of attacks. A letter written by Saif al-Adl, and later found by American forces, suggested that Jdey may have originally been slated to have participated in the original September 11th attacks
Jdey returned to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada in early 2001. Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, while being harshly interrogated, said that Jdey then backed out of the plan. According to a 2010 Harvard report on al Qaeda by a former CIA officer, Jdey was detained in summer 2001 together with Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11 attacks...
. Moussaoui was carrying textbooks on cropdusting; Jdey was carrying textbooks on biology. Jdey was evidently subsequently released. In November 2001 he left Canada, several months after obtaining a replacement passport for one he'd received two years earlier which he claimed to have lost. He was believed to be bound for Europe.
December airline crash
Less than three months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 587American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, a borough of New York City, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12, 2001. This is the second deadliest U.S...
in Queens, New York, rumors were already suggesting that it had been destroyed by an unknown terrorist with a shoe bomb similar to the one found on Richard Reid
Richard Reid
Richard Reid may refer to:*Richard Reid , British man convicted of terrorism*Richard Reid , New Zealand cricketer*Richard Gavin Reid , Canadian politician...
.
Four months later, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah
Mohammed Mansour Jabarah
Mohammed Mansour Jabarah is a Kuwaiti convicted of terrorism-related offences. Jabarah was active in al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah circles, and was arrested in 2002....
agreed to cooperate with American authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. A known colleague of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, he stated that Mohamed's lieutenant had told him that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to carry out identical plots as part of a "second wave" of attacks against the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
United States 2002 claims
On January 14, 2002, a series of five videocassetes were recovered from the rubble of the destroyed home of Mohammad Atef outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. The tapes showed Jdey, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Muhammad Sa'id Ali HasanMuhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan
Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan was self-implicated on videotape as a possible terrorist in 2002, and has since then been wanted by the United States Department of Justice's FBI, which is seeking information about his identity and whereabouts...
, Abd Al-Rahim, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani was a Saudi member of al-Qaeda who appeared cradling a rifle, in a 2002 videotape in which he promised a "martyrdom" attack...
vowing to die as martyrs. It was the first time authorities had reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing. NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
said the videos had been recorded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Three days later, the FBI released to the public the first "Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information" list in order to profile the five wanted terrorists about whom very little was known, but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks in martyrdom operations. Already under fire for issuing "excessive and somewhat alarmist" warnings about terrorists plotting against the United States, Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
stated that Jdey and Faker Boussora were likely traveling together and should be considered "extremely dangerous".
A month after Jdey and Boussora were declared fugitives, the Republic of Turkey announced that the pair may be within their borders.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the only one of the five men on video ever found, was interrogated at an American black site
Black site
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It...
in 2003 about his knowledge of Jdey, and confessed that Jdey had recruited by al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. The following year Walid bin 'Attash, similarly interrogated under harsh circumstances at The Dark Prison
The Dark Prison
The dark prison is the informal name used by some Guantanamo Bay detainees for a secret prison they claim they were detained in near Kabul, Afghanistan...
, confirmed that Jdey had been known to him.
United States 2003 claims
In September 2003, the FBI issued an alert for four people they alleged "pose a threat to U.S. citizens", including Jdey, Adnan G. El Shukrijumah and the previously unknown Zubayr al-RimiZubayr Al-Rimi
Al-Rimi's wife was arrested in the beginning of June along with the wife of al-Faqasi and two other women. She was turned over to his father for safekeeping, who sought to return her to Morocco....
and Karim el-Mejjati
Karim el-Mejjati
A French citizen born in Morocco, Karim Thami el-Mejjati was a Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group militant claimed to have aided the Riyadh compound bombings, the 2003 Casablanca bombings, the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the 2005 London bombings.He was killed, along with his 11-year-old son, by...
.
United States 2004 claims
On May 26, 2004, Attorney General John AshcroftJohn Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
and FBI Director Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III is the 6th and current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life:...
announced that reports indicated that Jdey was one of seven al-Qaeda members who were planning terrorist actions for the summer or fall of 2004. The other six named were Shukrijumah, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is a conspirator of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization convicted for his role in the bombing of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was indicted in the United States as a participant in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He was on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list from its...
, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was a member of al-Qaeda, and the leader of its presence in East Africa as of November 2009. Mohammed was born in Moroni, Comoros Islands and had Kenyan as well as Comorian citizenship...
, Amer El-Maati
Amer el-Maati
Born in Kuwait, Amro Badr Abou el-Maati is a Canadian citizen who the United States has alleged is a member of Al-Qaeda who attended flight school and discussed hijacking a Canadian plane to fly into American buildings...
, Aafia Siddiqui
Aafia Siddiqui
Aafia Siddiqui is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison; in September 2010, she was sentenced by a United States district court to 86...
and Adam Yahiye Gadahn
Adam Yahiye Gadahn
Adam Yahiye Gadahn is an American who is a senior operative, cultural interpreter, spokesman and media advisor for the Sunni islamist group Al-Qaeda. Since 2004, he appeared in a number of videos produced by Al-Qaeda as "Azzam the American"...
. American Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
s labeled the warning "suspicious" and said it was held solely to divert attention from President Bush's plummeting poll numbers and to push the failings of the Invasion of Iraq off the front page. CSIS director Reid Morden
Reid Morden
Reid Morden was the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from 1988-1992.A graduate of Dalhousie University from which he received a law degree and later an Honorary Doctorate of Law, Morden started his career with the Canadian Department of External Affairs. His first posting was...
voiced similar concerns, saying it seemed more like "election year" politics, than an actual threat - and the New York Times pointed out that one day before the announcement, they had been told by the Department of Homeland Security that there were no current risks.
The day after the announcement, there was a reported sighting of Jdey and Shukrijumah at a Denny's restaurant
Denny's
Denny's is a full-service coffee shop/family restaurant chain. It operates over 1,500 restaurants in the United States , Canada, Curaçao, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan , Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.Denny's is known for always being...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. The following year, another tip suggested that the pair had been seen driving a car with a Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
license plate in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
.
In April, 2005, the U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice Program
Bureau of Diplomatic Security
The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, more commonly known as Diplomatic Security, or DS, is the security and law enforcement arm of the United States Department of State. DS is a world leader in international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, security technology, and...
offered a reward of up to US$5 million for information leading to the capture of Jdey, even though he has not been indicted.