Said Bahaji | |
|---|---|
سعيد بحجي | |
| Born | (1975-07-15)15 July 1975[1] |
| Died | September 2013(2013-09-00) (aged 38) |
| Citizenship | German,Moroccan |
| Alma mater | Technical University of Hamburg[2] |
| Occupation(s) | Electrical engineer[3] Computer technician al-Qaeda facilitator terrorist |
Said Bahaji (Arabic:سعيد بحجي, alsotransliterated asSaeed Bahaji, also known asZuhayr al-Maghribi,[4] 15 July 1975 inHaselünne,Lower Saxony – September 2013),[5] was acitizen ofGermany,electrical engineer, and an alleged member of theHamburg cell that provided money and material support to the perpetrators of theSeptember 11 attacks.
Bahaji was a German citizen, born in 1975 to aMoroccan father and aGerman mother. Raised in a small town inLower Saxony, he moved with his family when he was nine years old to Morocco, where he completed his education.[6] He came toHamburg in 1995. He enrolled in anelectrical engineering program at a technical university in 1996. He spent five months in the German army and then received amedical discharge. He lived in a student home during the weekdays and he spent weekends with his aunt, Barbara Arens. Both of them loved computers, and he called her his "high-tech aunt". She saw that he was secular until other students introduced him to radical Islam. She later put an end to the weekend visits.
On November 1, 1998, he moved into an apartment in Germany with future hijackersMohamed Atta andRamzi bin al-Shibh. TheHamburg cell was born at this apartment.[6][7][8] They met three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American feelings and plot possible attacks. Many al-Qaeda members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijackerMarwan al-Shehhi,Zakariya Essabar, and others. He served as the group'sInternet expert.
He had already been under investigation by German intelligence for his connections withMohammed Haydar Zammar, a radicalIslamic cleric. Through this, German intelligence was able to learn some of the activities of Atta and others, but the investigation was eventually dropped for lack of evidence.
In October 1999, he got married at the Al-Quds Mosque in Hamburg. Atta, Jarrah, Shehhi, Zammar, and bin al-Shibh all attended his wedding.
In late 1999, Atta, Shehhi, Jarrah, and bin al-Shibh decided to travel toChechnya to fight against theRussians, but were convinced byKhalid al-Masri andMohamedou Ould Slahi at the last minute to change their plans. They instead traveled toAfghanistan to meet withOsama bin Laden and train for terrorist attacks. There are conflicting reports as to whether he went with them; some news reports say that he went, but the 9/11 Commission Report says he stayed in Germany and helped cover for them in their absence. When the group returned to Germany, he was put on a border patrol watch list.
He told his employer in June 2001 that he was going to an internship for a software company inPakistan. His aunt, Barbara Arens, says that she was suspicious and that she went to the police and pleaded to them "to do something." She says that police took no action against him. Al-Qaeda leaderKhalid Sheikh Mohammed told him in August that if he wanted to go to Afghanistan, he should go in the next few weeks, because it would soon become more difficult. He leftGermany on September 4, 2001, just a week before the attacks,[6] and flew toKarachi viaIstanbul.
He and Ramzi bin al-Shibh were charged with 5,000 counts of murder by German officials.[citation needed] Bin al-Shibh was arrested on 11 September 2002, but Bahaji was still at large at the time.
During the October 2009, Pakistanmilitary operation against terrorists inSouth Waziristan, his German passport was found in a captured militant town.[6][9][10] This region, part of the tribal areas, had become a sanctuary for al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups following the collapse of theTaliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001.[6]
In mid-2010, Bahaji reunited with Ahmad Wali Sidiqi and Naamen Meziche, longtime acquaintances from Hamburg. According toDer Spiegel, the meeting was described as a joyful gathering of old veterans.[6]
In August 2017, theAssociated Press reported that al-Qaeda leaderAyman al-Zawahiri announced in an audio message that Bahaji (referring to him by his alias "Zuhayr al-Maghrebi") had died but did not say when or how he died.[11] In a list published by the United Nations Security Council of people and entities against whom there are sanctions, Bahaji is said to be "reportedly deceased in September 2013 in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area."[5]
However, the GermanBKA still maintains an active wanted notice for Bahaji, which was last updated in June 2024.[12]
People listed initalics have died. | |
| Allegedal-Qaeda members | |
| Hamburg cell(September 11 attacks) | |
| Held inGuantanamo Bay | |
| Wrongly accused | |
| 2006 train-bombing plot | |
| 2007 bomb plot |
|
1 Currently imprisoned. 2 Released after serving sentence. | |
