Mustafa Hamid also known as Abu Walid al Masri (أبو وليد المصري) and Hashim al-Makki (هاشم المكّي), was an Islamic jihad volunteer during the Soviet war in Afghanistan

Soviet war in Afghanistan

The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...

. He is often described as a member or advisor of Al Qaeda, though he has disclaimed this description. He was Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...

's correspondent in Kandahar

Kandahar

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...

, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, from 1998 to 2001, and is believed to currently be under house arrest in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

In 2009 al Masri conducted an extended e-mail dialogue with Australian counterterrorism scholar Leah Farrall.

External links

• His blog (Arabic)
• Biographical article in Asharq Al-Awsat
• US Treasury designates Hamid an al Qaeda associate