Jaber A. Elbaneh
Encyclopedia
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
i-American who was labeled a suspected terrorist by the United States after it emerged that he had attended al-Farooq
Al Farouq training camp
The Al Farouq training camp, also known as "the airport camp", was an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training....
alongside the Lackawanna Six, and remained on at the camp after they returned home. He fled to Yemen, where he worked as a cab driver before turning himself in to authorities.
As Yemeni officials squabbled over his US$5 million reward, he escaped in a mass breakout along with a number of other high-profile prisoners, and was added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted Terrorists is a list of fugitives who have been indicted by sitting Federal grand juries in the United States district courts, for alleged crimes of terrorism. The initial list was formed in late 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks...
list. When Yemen convicted him in absentia for conspiracy in a plot against oil facilities, he again turned himself in to the police, and is currently serving a 10-year sentence.
He is related to Susan Elbaneh, the only American victim of a terrorist attack against the U.S. Embassy in Yemen
2008 American Embassy attack in Yemen
The 2008 American Embassy attack in Yemen in Sana'a, Yemen on September 17, 2008 resulted in 19 deaths and 16 injuries. Six attackers, six Yemeni police, and seven civilians were killed. This attack was the second occurring in the same year, after a mortar attack earlier in 2008 on March 18...
in September 2008.
Life in the United States
Born in Yemen, Elbaneh lived in the United States where he maintained a "spotty work history", with his longest stint being at a New York cheese factory. He is married, with seven children.Elbaneh was closely associated with the Lackawanna Six, a group of American friends living in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
who had attended an Afghan training camp
Afghan training camp
An Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in pre-2002 Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 training camps operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, run by a variety of...
together prior to the outbreak of the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. When the group went to Galyan's Sporting Goods in Cheektowaga to outfit themselves for the trip, purchasing boots, flashlights, books, diarrhea medication and other essentials, he laughed that he would just add it all onto his credit card account, bringing his total debt to $145,000.
Elbaneh was also indicted in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
in a federal criminal complaint unsealed on May 21, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York
United States District Court for the Western District of New York
The United States District Court for the Western District of New York is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises only a part of New York....
, Buffalo, New York. All of them attended get-togethers at the apartment of Kamal Derwish, and Elbaneh and Yahya Goba
Yahya Goba
Yahya Goba is a Yemeni-American who grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York. In 2002, he was arrested and charged as part of the War on Terror together with the other members of the "Lackawanna Six", based on the fact the group of friends had attended an Afghan training camp together years...
tended to "compete" for the attention and favour of Derwish, who spoke of his travels abroad and ostensible history fighting in Palestine.
In October, FBI consultant Paul Williams wrote a book Dunces of Doomsday in which he claimed that Amer el-Maati
Amer el-Maati
Born in Kuwait, Amro Badr Abou el-Maati is a Canadian citizen who the United States has alleged is a member of Al-Qaeda who attended flight school and discussed hijacking a Canadian plane to fly into American buildings...
, Elbaneh and Anas al-Liby
Anas al-Liby
Nazih Abdul-Hamed Nabih al-Ruqai'i alias Anas al-Liby , a Libyan, is under indictment in the United States for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. He worked as a computer specialist for al-Qaeda.His aliases in the indictment are Nazih al Raghie and Anas al Sebai...
had all been seen around Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
the previous year, and that Shukrijumah had been seen at McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
where he "wasted no time in gaining access to the nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
and stealing more than 180 pounds of nuclear material for the reation of radiological bombs". He was subsequently sued by the University for libel, as there had been no evidence to suggest any part of his story was true. The publisher later apologised for allowing Williams to print statements which "were without basis in fact".
By June 2003, Elbanehhad been added to the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list
FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list
The FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list is the third major "wanted" list to have been created by the United States Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation to be used as a primary tool for publicly identifying and tracking down suspected terrorists operating against...
Arrest and escape
Cabbie
Cabbie may refer to:* A taxicab driver* A Lee C Kearns, a.k.a The Cabbie the stand up comedian and vantriloquist* Lee Mroszak, a.k.a. Crazy Cabbie, deejay and former regular guest on The Howard Stern Show* Cabbie Richards, Canadian TV personality...
in San'a for months, before turning himself in to Yemeni authorities. He was sent to a maximum-security prison run by the Political Security Office, while authorities argued with the United States over the substantial $5 million reward, and who should receive it. Some suggested that if they refused to turn Elbaneh over immediately, the United States might increase the reward.
Elbaneh was named as one of 23 people who escaped from a Yemeni jail on February 3, 2006. Prisoners had banned guards from entering the prison basement, as they dug a 143' tunnel using a broomstick and a sharpened spoon, which exited in the women's washroom of a nearby mosque. They had masked the sounds of their escape by playing soccer to distract guards.
Initially hoping the escape was just a Yemeni ploy to allow Elbaneh to be turned over to American authorities for an increased reward, the FBI confirmed the escape was genuine on February 23, as they issued a national press release naming Elbaneh as one of the first new additions, since inception in 2001, to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list. They also stated that they believed the escaped prisoners, which included Jamal al-Badawi who had a previous successful escape from custody, had likely received help from female sympathisers attending the mosque, who may have helped digging the tunnel from their end.
2007 conviction
In 2007, a Yemeni court convicted Elbaneh in absentia for the 2002 oil facilities plot and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment. In December 2007, Elbaneh surrendered himself but he was not returned to prison. Reported on May 19, 2008, Elbaneh was jailed in Yemen after an appeals court upheld his 10-year prison sentence.External links
- 'Lackawanna Six' Plead Not Guilty, CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, October 22, 2002 - Final 'Buffalo Six' Member Pleads Guilty, Fox News, May 19, 2003
- Buffalo terror suspect admits al Qaeda training, CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, May 20, 2003 - Terror-Cell Bail Hearing Continues, Fox News, May 20, 2003
- Frontline: Chasing the Sleeper Cell, PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
- An interview with Sahim Alwan, PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, July 24, 2003 - Profiles of members, PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, October 16, 2003 - 2nd member sentenced