Mustafa al-Hawsawi
Encyclopedia
Mustafa al-Hawsawi is a member of the militant Islamic organization al-Qaeda
and allegedly an organizer and financer of the September 11 attacks.
Hawsawi was captured on March 1, 2003 in Pakistan and was transferred from the Salt Pit
to Guantanamo on September 23, 2003. The CIA
moved him back to one of their black site
s on March 27, 2004 as they feared he could gain access to a lawyer in Guantanamo.
Hawsawi was transferred from custody in an American
black site
to Guantanamo, on September 6, 2006. He is currently represented by lawyer Jon Jackson.
. Then, along with al-Qaeda financer Ammar al-Baluchi, Hawsawi allegedly assisted the hijackers from the United Arab Emirates
. He helped coordinate with Mohamed Atta
, the ringleader of the operation, to bring the "muscle hijackers" into the United States in 2001. He allegedly attempted to help bring the so-called "20th hijacker
", Mohammed al Qahtani, into the United States, but al Qahtani was unable to enter the country.
Allegedly sharing a credit card
account with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Hawsawi also allegedly sent funds to the hijackers. In the Summer of 2000, he appears to have sent a total of $109,910 to some of the 9/11 hijackers in a series of wire transfer
s under a variety of
names. The New York Times has suggested that "Mustafa Ahmed" sent a total of $325,000 to the hijackers, but the 9/11 Commission was only able to verify $15,000 of this.
Just before the attacks, Hawsawi travelled to Pakistan
. He was captured by authorities there on March 1, 2003, reported taken to U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, unconfirmed by U.S. officials. http://www.cageprisoners.com/prisoners.php?id=1375
In the indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui
he is said to have been born in Jeddah
on August 5, 1968.
Alongside Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
, Hawsawi is one of three named and requested by Zacarias Moussaoui
's defence team for questioning. However, although the U.S. Federal Government claims to be holding both men, it refused Moussaoui's request citing national security concerns.
requested permission to meet with Abdulmalik Mohammed
and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.
Hamdan's attorneys had previously requested permission to get the "high-value detainees" to answer written questions, which would confirm that if Hamdan played a role in al Qaeda it had been a peripheral one.
Abdul Malik and Mustafa al-Hawsawi declined to answer the questions, because they said they had no way to know that the questions purporting to be from Hamdan's attorneys was not a ruse.
Andrea J. Prasow
requested permission for Lieutenant Commander
Brian Mizer to meet in person with the two men to try to assure them that the questions were not a ruse, and would not be shared with their interrogators.
. The judge ordered Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh to undergo mental competency hearings
. On December 8, 2008, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the judge that he and the other four indictees wished to confess and plead guilty; however, the plea would be delayed until after the competency hearings for Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh so that all five men could make their plea together.
In May 2009 Al Arabiya
reported that Montasser al-Zayyat had been invited to defend Hawsawi.
Al Zayat described suspecting, at first, that he was the target of a hoax.
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...
and allegedly an organizer and financer of the September 11 attacks.
Hawsawi was captured on March 1, 2003 in Pakistan and was transferred from the Salt Pit
Salt Pit
The Salt Pit is the codename of an isolated clandestine CIA black site prison, and interrogation centre in Afghanistan. It is located north of Kabul and functioned as a brick factory prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan...
to Guantanamo on September 23, 2003. The CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
moved him back to one of their 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...
s on March 27, 2004 as they feared he could gain access to a lawyer in Guantanamo.
Hawsawi was transferred from custody in an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
to Guantanamo, on September 6, 2006. He is currently represented by lawyer Jon Jackson.
Aliases
His alternate names and aliases include "Mustafa Ahmed", "Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad", "Ahmad Mustafa", "Isam Mansour", "Mustafa Ahmed Al-Hisawi", "Mr. Ali", and "Hani (Fawaz Trading)".Pre-2001
Before the 9/11 attacks, Hawsawi had allegedly worked in al-Qaeda's media committee in KandaharKandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
. Then, along with al-Qaeda financer Ammar al-Baluchi, Hawsawi allegedly assisted the hijackers from the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
. He helped coordinate with Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
, the ringleader of the operation, to bring the "muscle hijackers" into the United States in 2001. He allegedly attempted to help bring the so-called "20th hijacker
20th hijacker
20th hijacker is a numeric metaphor concerning a possible additional terrorist in the September 11, 2001, attacks who was not able to participate....
", Mohammed al Qahtani, into the United States, but al Qahtani was unable to enter the country.
Allegedly sharing a credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
account with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Hawsawi also allegedly sent funds to the hijackers. In the Summer of 2000, he appears to have sent a total of $109,910 to some of the 9/11 hijackers in a series of wire transfer
Wire transfer
Wire transfer or credit transfer is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or institution to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account or through a transfer of cash at a cash office...
s under a variety of
names. The New York Times has suggested that "Mustafa Ahmed" sent a total of $325,000 to the hijackers, but the 9/11 Commission was only able to verify $15,000 of this.
Just before the attacks, Hawsawi travelled to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. He was captured by authorities there on March 1, 2003, reported taken to U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, unconfirmed by U.S. officials. http://www.cageprisoners.com/prisoners.php?id=1375
In the indictment of 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...
he is said to have been born in Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
on August 5, 1968.
Alongside Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a Kuwait-born militant in U.S. custody in Guantánamo Bay for alleged acts of terrorism, including mass murder of civilians....
, Hawsawi is one of three named and requested by 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...
's defence team for questioning. However, although the U.S. Federal Government claims to be holding both men, it refused Moussaoui's request citing national security concerns.
Questions from Salim Ahmed Hamdan's defense attorney
On 23 April 2008 attorneys working on behalf of Salim Ahmed HamdanSalim Ahmed Hamdan
Salim Ahmed Hamdan is a Yemeni man, captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. He admits to being Osama bin Laden's personal driver claiming he needed the $200 monthly salary that came with the job....
requested permission to meet with Abdulmalik Mohammed
Abdulmalik Mohammed
Abdulmalik Mohammed is a citizen of Kenya currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.Abdulmalik was captured in February 2007, on suspicion of leading a terrorist bomb-plot in Mombassa...
and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.
Hamdan's attorneys had previously requested permission to get the "high-value detainees" to answer written questions, which would confirm that if Hamdan played a role in al Qaeda it had been a peripheral one.
Abdul Malik and Mustafa al-Hawsawi declined to answer the questions, because they said they had no way to know that the questions purporting to be from Hamdan's attorneys was not a ruse.
Andrea J. Prasow
Andrea J. Prasow
Andrea J. Prasow is an American lawyer whose work particularly focuses on the rights of individuals detained in the "War on Terror". When she was with the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Prasow represented Saudi detainees in their petition for habeas corpus.Later as a defense...
requested permission for Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Brian Mizer to meet in person with the two men to try to assure them that the questions were not a ruse, and would not be shared with their interrogators.
Military commission trial
In June 2008, Hawsawi and four other "high-value detainees" (Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ammar al-Baluchi and Walid Bin Attash) were charged in a military commission trial. The charges included 2,973 individual counts of murder, one for each person killed in the September 11 attacks, as well as conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, terrorism and providing material support for terrorismProviding material support for terrorism
Providing material support for terrorism is a provision of the USA PATRIOT Act which prohibits material support to groups designated as terrorists. The four types of support described are “training,” “expert advice or assistance,” “service,” and “personnel.” In June 2010 the United States Supreme...
. The judge ordered Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh to undergo mental competency hearings
Competency evaluation (law)
In the United States criminal justice system, a competency evaluation is an assessment of the ability of a defendant to understand and rationally participate in a court process....
. On December 8, 2008, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the judge that he and the other four indictees wished to confess and plead guilty; however, the plea would be delayed until after the competency hearings for Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh so that all five men could make their plea together.
In May 2009 Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya is a Pan-Arabist Saudi-owned Arabic-language television news channel. Launched on March 3, 2003, the channel is based in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates, and is majority-owned by the Saudi broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Center ....
reported that Montasser al-Zayyat had been invited to defend Hawsawi.
Al Zayat described suspecting, at first, that he was the target of a hoax.