The20th hijacker is a possible additionalterrorist in theSeptember 11 attacks of 2001 who, for unknown reasons, was unable to participate. The 20th hijacker, though not present during the actual attacks, is said to have been deeply involved in the preparations.[1] There were many variations of the 9/11 plot, with the number of terrorists fluctuating with available resources and changing circumstances. In the end, there were19 hijackers: three of the planes were taken over by five members each and the fourth was hijacked by four people. The latter plane,United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field nearShanksville, Pennsylvania, due to the resistance from passengers before it could reach its target inWashington, D.C.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh allegedly meant to take part in the attacks and may have been the intended hijacker-pilot ofAmerican Airlines Flight 77, but he was repeatedly denied avisa for entry into the US.[2] His role as one of the four hijacker-pilots precededHani Hanjour.
Zacarias Moussaoui, aFrench citizen ofMoroccan origin, has widely been referred to as the 20th hijacker. Moussaoui may have been considered as a replacement forZiad Jarrah, who at one point threatened to withdraw from the scheme because of tensions amongst the plotters. Plans to include Moussaoui as a "muscle hijacker" were never finalized, as the al-Qaeda hierarchy had doubts about his reliability. Ultimately, Moussaoui did not play a role in the hijacking scheme. He was arrested about four weeks before the attacks.[1] Moussaoui is now serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 9/11 attacks. He pleaded guilty in 2005 to collaborating with the other hijackers.[3]
Fawaz al-Nashimi. According to theBBC, al-Nashimi claimed to have been the "20th hijacker". An al-Qaeda video has been released from a US intelligence organization, showing al-Nashimi justifying attacks on the west. The U.S dismissed al-Nashimi's claims as propaganda.[5] He was also known as Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry and took part in aMay 29, 2004, attack on oil facilities in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. He was killed in a June 2004 shootout with Saudi Arabian security forces.[6]
The Saudi Arabian novelistAbdullah Thabit wrote a 2006 novel titledTerrorist Number 20 that became a bestseller. The book recalls his teenage years as a religious extremist and was inspired in part byAhmed al-Nami, one of the 9/11 hijackers and a fellow resident ofAbha who was vaguely familiar to Thabit. In April 2006, three months after the release of the book, Thabit was forced to move from Abha toJeddah with his family after receiving death threats.[8]
