Mustafa al-Hawsawi

Mustafa al-Hawsawi
Born	August 5, 1968 (1968-08-05) (age 43) Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Detained at	CIA black site Guantanamo Bay
ISN	10011
Charge(s)	Faces charges before a military commission, no trial yet.

Mustafa al-Hawsawi (Arabic: مصطفى الهوساوي‎, Muṣṭafā al-Ḥawsāwī; born August 5, 1968^[1]) 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 sites on March 27, 2004 as they feared he could gain access to a lawyer in Guantanamo.^[2]

Hawsawi was transferred from custody in an American black site to Guantanamo, on September 6, 2006. He is currently represented by lawyer Jon Jackson.^[3][4]

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)".^{[citation needed]}

Pre-2001

Before the 9/11 attacks, Hawsawi had allegedly worked in al-Qaeda's media committee in Kandahar.^{[citation needed]} Then, along with al-Qaeda financer Ammar al-Baluchi, Hawsawi allegedly assisted the hijackers from the United Arab Emirates.^{[citation needed]} He helped coordinate with Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the operation, to bring the "muscle hijackers" into the United States in 2001.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

Allegedly sharing a credit card account with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,^[5] 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 transfers 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. [1]

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.

Questions from Salim Ahmed Hamdan's defense attorney

On 23 April 2008 attorneys working on behalf of Salim Ahmed Hamdan requested permission to meet with Abdulmalik Mohammed and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.^[6] 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.

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 terrorism.^[7][8] 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.^[8]

In May 2009 Al Arabiya reported that Montasser al-Zayyat had been invited to defend Hawsawi.^[9] Al Zayat described suspecting, at first, that he was the target of a hoax.

References

1. ^ Indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui, with supporting conspirators, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
2. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wirestory?id=11339130&page=1
3. ^ "Detainee Biographies" (PDF). Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Archived from the original on date=2009-08-31. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.odni.gov%2Fannouncements%2Fcontent%2FDetaineeBiographies.pdf+&date=2009-08-31. 
4. ^ "Bush: CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons". CNN. September 7, 2006. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/06/bush.speech/index.html. Retrieved 2007-08-10. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Los Angeles Times, Document links al Qaeda paymaster, 9/11 plotter, September 27, 2002
6. ^ Andrea J. Prasow (2008-04-23). "U.S. v. Hamdan - Special Request for Relief - Supplement". Office of Military Commissions. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Hamdan%20AE%27s%20166-175.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-25.  mirror
7. ^ "Guantanamo 9/11 suspects on trial". BBC News. June 6, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7437164.stm. Retrieved December 8, 2008. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Top 9/11 suspects to plead guilty". BBC News. December 8, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7770856.stm. Retrieved December 8, 2008. 
9. ^ Khaled Mahmoud (2009-05-11). "US appoints Islamist lawyer to Gitmo detainee". Al Arabiya. Archived from the original on 2009-05-27. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alarabiya.net%2Farticles%2F2009%2F05%2F11%2F72592.html&date=2009-05-27. 

External links

• Information on Hawsawi and 13 other detainees, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
• The Final 9/11 Commission Report
• Alleged al Qaeda paymaster in custody - CNN
• Indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui
• Pentagon charges 6 in 9-11 attacks
• 'Clean team interrogated 9-11 suspects

Persondata
Name	Hawasawi, Mustafa al-
Alternative names	مصطفى الهوساوي (Arabic); Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad (alias); Mansour, Isam (alias); Mustafa Ahmed Al-Hisawi (alternate spelling); Mr. Ali (alias); Hani (alias); Trdng Fawaz (alias)
Short description	al-Qaida leader
Date of birth	August 5, 1968
Place of birth	Saudi Arabia
Date of death	living
Place of death