L'Houssaine Kherchtou
Encyclopedia
L'Houssaine Kherchtou was an early initiate in al-Qaeda
, joining the militant group in 1991. In 2000, he pled guilty to conspiracy to murder, but as he was the chief witness against four of his former colleagues, all of whom were subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment, his charges were withdrawn and he entered the witness protection program.
Testifying in New York in the summer of 2001, he noted that al-Qaeda had trained suicide pilots to fly planes into buildings. Together with Jamal al-Fadl
, his testimony forms the bulk of the information known about the early years of the Islamist group.
and eventually Italy as an illegal immigrant. Later, he found the Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan
, where he was encouraged by Anwar Shaaban to travel to Afghanistan. During his time in Italy, he managed to add Italian to his repertoire of languages, which included French, English, Arabic and Berber.
In 1991 he obtained a visa
to visit Pakistan, ostensibly to attend a Tablighi Jamaat
conference with his veterinarian
friend Abu Ahmed el Masri, through the embassy in Rome. He disembarked in Karachi and flew to Islamabad, and onward to Peshawar
; there he stayed in Bait al-Ansar before being spirited across the Afghan border through Mirahshah and enrolled in the al-Farouq camp. He later identified two trainers of the camp, Shuayb and Mushin Musa Matwalli Atwah.
to Osama bin Laden's fledgling new group, al-Qaeda. He fought in the Afghan Civil War for two months, before being moved to train new Mujahideen
at the Abu Bakr Siddique camp, which he has contradictingly placed in Hayatabad
, Pakistan and Khost
, Afghanistan.
In 1993, he was sent to Somalia, and then followed al-Qaeda to their base in Sudan.
In 1994, he was asked to attend a flight school in Nairobi
in preparation to become Osama bin Laden
's personal pilot. There, he met Anas al-Libi, who came to his apartment with two friends, two laptop computers and photography equipment. Kherchtou's apartment was transformed into a dark room where they developed photographs of potential Kenyan targets for bombing. After receiving his pilot license, he returned to the Sudan in December 1995, but was appalled to find that his wife, heavily pregnant and in need of $500 for a cesarean section, was begging on the streets for money to allow her entrance to Khartoum's general hospital. Kherchtou went to Sayyid al-Masri and asked him to cover his wife's medical bills, and was upset upon being informed there was no money to spare and al-Masri suggested he take her to a Muslim charitable hospital for free treatment. He angrily demanded to know "if it was your wife or your daughter, you would take her there", and later recounted that he was angry enough he would have shot al-Masri if he had a gun at the time.
Following the 1994 execution of the sons of Ahmad Salama Mabruk
and Mohammed Sharaf for betraying Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the militants were ordered to leave the Sudan. Kherchtou disobeyed orders to relocate to Afghanistan, claiming he was concerned about the education his children would receive in such a country, although he is also believed to have still felt snubbed after being refused financial compensation for his wife's operation, and subsequently "began to drift away" from al-Qaeda.
despite al-Qaeda's exodus, Kherchtou claims he decided to pursue an unrelated career in tourism. He moved back to Kenya and developed a relationship with Ali Mohammed and by happenstance, he claims he ran into "Haroun" and "Ahmed", both of whom he had known during his time in al-Qaeda. The three of them began to meet through the Mercy International Relief Agency offices. During this time, Kherchtou was being courted by MI6 and Moroccan intelligence to act as an informant. At the same time, however, he was bribing Kenyan border officials to allow him to smuggle large amounts of cash into the country for al-Qaeda. He also accompanied American double-agent Ali Mohamed
to Senegal, where the pair of them scouted French facilities as possible bombing targets.
He was arrested as he tried to leave Nairobi four days after the 1998 United States embassy bombings
, and handed over to the British. They dubbed him "Joe the Moroccan", and set him free with a promise to travel to Khartoum and be an informant
; although he went to Sudan, he never called them back or gave them any further information.
When Jack Cloonan of the FBI learned that the British had a firm grasp of Kherchtou's whereabouts, he concocted a plan to get him out of Sudan and back to his native Morocco, where he could be rendition
ed to the United States. He had the Moroccan government issue notice that the immigration status of Kherchtou's children had been called into question and he was needed in-person to resolve the issue. Kherchtou flew immediately to Rabat
, where he was met by authorities who took him to a "grand house with stables out back, gazelles bouncing in the background, palm trees, three-course meals..." and he dined with the FBI, cooperating fully and giving them all the information he had on al-Qaeda over ten days of questioning. He agreed to be flown back to the United States to testify against the four suspected al-Qaeda members in custody following the embassy bombings, after Cloonan suggested to him that he "pray on" the matter and then give his decision.
In his testimony, he made the only known reference to an "Abu Ayub al-Iraqi" whom he claimed was the head of al-Qaeda's military branch until 1991, when the commonly presumed first chief Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri
took over. He also suggested that Khalid al-Fawwaz
was much more central than previously believed, claiming that "Abu Omar al-Sebai" had overseen the Abu Bakr Siddique camp. He also suggested that al-Qaeda relied on diamond smuggling to raise funds for their operations. He was accused of "contradicting" himself after he said he knew that Wadih el-Hage
was a member of al-Qaeda, but under cross-examination admitting he had told the British intelligence agents that he didn't know el-Hage's allegiance two years earlier, and telling the FBI the same thing only six months prior to the trial.
Some have questioned how honest he was about his own role in the bombings as he freely implicated everybody but himself.
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
, joining the militant group in 1991. In 2000, he pled guilty to conspiracy to murder, but as he was the chief witness against four of his former colleagues, all of whom were subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment, his charges were withdrawn and he entered the witness protection program.
Testifying in New York in the summer of 2001, he noted that al-Qaeda had trained suicide pilots to fly planes into buildings. Together with Jamal al-Fadl
Jamal al-Fadl
Jamal Ahmed Mohamed al-Fadl is a Sudanese militant and former associate of Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s. Al-Fadl was recruited for the Afghan war through the Farouq mosque in Brooklyn. In 1988, he joined al Qaeda and took an oath of fealty to Bin Laden...
, his testimony forms the bulk of the information known about the early years of the Islamist group.
Life
Following three years of catering school, Kherchtou spent three months in northwestern France in 1989, before making his way to CorsicaCorsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
and eventually Italy as an illegal immigrant. Later, he found the Islamic Cultural Institute in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, where he was encouraged by Anwar Shaaban to travel to Afghanistan. During his time in Italy, he managed to add Italian to his repertoire of languages, which included French, English, Arabic and Berber.
In 1991 he obtained a visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
to visit Pakistan, ostensibly to attend a Tablighi Jamaat
Tablighi Jamaat
Tablighi Jamaat is a religious movement which was founded in 1926 by Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi in India. The movement primarily aims at Tablighi spiritual reformation by working at the grass roots level, reaching out to Muslims across all social and economic spectra to bring them closer to...
conference with his veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
friend Abu Ahmed el Masri, through the embassy in Rome. He disembarked in Karachi and flew to Islamabad, and onward to Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
; there he stayed in Bait al-Ansar before being spirited across the Afghan border through Mirahshah and enrolled in the al-Farouq camp. He later identified two trainers of the camp, Shuayb and Mushin Musa Matwalli Atwah.
Joining al-Qaeda
Upon returning to Peshawar from al-Farouq, Kherchtou was approached and agreed to swear a bayatBayat
The surname Bayat or Baiyat is derived from clans in Iran and Afghanistan.-Clans:Bayat is the name of an originally Turkic clan in Iran which traces its origin to the 12th century...
to Osama bin Laden's fledgling new group, al-Qaeda. He fought in the Afghan Civil War for two months, before being moved to train new Mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
at the Abu Bakr Siddique camp, which he has contradictingly placed in Hayatabad
Hayatabad
Hayatabad is a posh, modern suburb on the south-western fringe of Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It was named after Hayat Sherpao late Governor of NWFP & notable leader of Pakistan Peoples Party...
, Pakistan and Khost
Khost
Khost or Khowst is a city in eastern Afghanistan. It is the capital of Khost province, which is a mountainous region near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan...
, Afghanistan.
In 1993, he was sent to Somalia, and then followed al-Qaeda to their base in Sudan.
In 1994, he was asked to attend a flight school in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
in preparation to become Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
's personal pilot. There, he met Anas al-Libi, who came to his apartment with two friends, two laptop computers and photography equipment. Kherchtou's apartment was transformed into a dark room where they developed photographs of potential Kenyan targets for bombing. After receiving his pilot license, he returned to the Sudan in December 1995, but was appalled to find that his wife, heavily pregnant and in need of $500 for a cesarean section, was begging on the streets for money to allow her entrance to Khartoum's general hospital. Kherchtou went to Sayyid al-Masri and asked him to cover his wife's medical bills, and was upset upon being informed there was no money to spare and al-Masri suggested he take her to a Muslim charitable hospital for free treatment. He angrily demanded to know "if it was your wife or your daughter, you would take her there", and later recounted that he was angry enough he would have shot al-Masri if he had a gun at the time.
Following the 1994 execution of the sons of Ahmad Salama Mabruk
Ahmad Salama Mabruk
Ahmad Salam Mabruk was the alleged leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad's Azeri cell. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA prior to the 2001 declaration of a War on Terror.-Life:...
and Mohammed Sharaf for betraying Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the militants were ordered to leave the Sudan. Kherchtou disobeyed orders to relocate to Afghanistan, claiming he was concerned about the education his children would receive in such a country, although he is also believed to have still felt snubbed after being refused financial compensation for his wife's operation, and subsequently "began to drift away" from al-Qaeda.
Move to Kenya, arrest, testimony
In June 1998, still living in KhartoumKhartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
despite al-Qaeda's exodus, Kherchtou claims he decided to pursue an unrelated career in tourism. He moved back to Kenya and developed a relationship with Ali Mohammed and by happenstance, he claims he ran into "Haroun" and "Ahmed", both of whom he had known during his time in al-Qaeda. The three of them began to meet through the Mercy International Relief Agency offices. During this time, Kherchtou was being courted by MI6 and Moroccan intelligence to act as an informant. At the same time, however, he was bribing Kenyan border officials to allow him to smuggle large amounts of cash into the country for al-Qaeda. He also accompanied American double-agent Ali Mohamed
Ali Mohamed
Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed, is a double agent who worked for both the CIA and Egyptian Islamic Jihad simultaneously, reporting on the workings of each for the benefit of the other....
to Senegal, where the pair of them scouted French facilities as possible bombing targets.
He was arrested as he tried to leave Nairobi four days after the 1998 United States embassy bombings
1998 United States embassy bombings
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The date of the...
, and handed over to the British. They dubbed him "Joe the Moroccan", and set him free with a promise to travel to Khartoum and be an informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
; although he went to Sudan, he never called them back or gave them any further information.
When Jack Cloonan of the FBI learned that the British had a firm grasp of Kherchtou's whereabouts, he concocted a plan to get him out of Sudan and back to his native Morocco, where he could be rendition
Rendition
Rendition may refer to:*Rendition , a legal term meaning "handing over"*Extraordinary rendition by the United States, the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another*"Rendition" , an episode of Torchwood...
ed to the United States. He had the Moroccan government issue notice that the immigration status of Kherchtou's children had been called into question and he was needed in-person to resolve the issue. Kherchtou flew immediately to Rabat
Rabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
, where he was met by authorities who took him to a "grand house with stables out back, gazelles bouncing in the background, palm trees, three-course meals..." and he dined with the FBI, cooperating fully and giving them all the information he had on al-Qaeda over ten days of questioning. He agreed to be flown back to the United States to testify against the four suspected al-Qaeda members in custody following the embassy bombings, after Cloonan suggested to him that he "pray on" the matter and then give his decision.
In his testimony, he made the only known reference to an "Abu Ayub al-Iraqi" whom he claimed was the head of al-Qaeda's military branch until 1991, when the commonly presumed first chief Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri
Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri
Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri was the nom de guerre of Ali Amin al-Rashidi , one of the "most capable and popular leaders" of al-Qaeda....
took over. He also suggested that Khalid al-Fawwaz
Khalid al-Fawwaz
Khalid Abdulrahman al-Fawwaz kunya: Abu Omar al-Sebai is a Saudi who has been under indictment in the United States since 1998, accused of helping to prepare the1998 United States embassy bombings...
was much more central than previously believed, claiming that "Abu Omar al-Sebai" had overseen the Abu Bakr Siddique camp. He also suggested that al-Qaeda relied on diamond smuggling to raise funds for their operations. He was accused of "contradicting" himself after he said he knew that Wadih el-Hage
Wadih el-Hage
Wadih el-Hage is a former al-Qaeda member who is serving life imprisonment in the United States for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. He was indicted and arrested in 1998, and convicted on all counts and sentenced to life without parole in 2001...
was a member of al-Qaeda, but under cross-examination admitting he had told the British intelligence agents that he didn't know el-Hage's allegiance two years earlier, and telling the FBI the same thing only six months prior to the trial.
Some have questioned how honest he was about his own role in the bombings as he freely implicated everybody but himself.