Mohammed Haydar Zammar
Encyclopedia
Mohammed Haydar Zammar (born in 1961 in Aleppo
, Syria
) is a Muslim
jihad
ist who served as an important al-Qaida recruiter.http://books.google.com/books?id=XiGooey3INkC&pg=PT218&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=5#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false He claims to have recruited many of the organizers
of the September 11, 2001 attacks
. He is detained in Far'Falastin
.
citizen, was born in Syria. At ten he moved to Germany with his family. Even among his very religiously conservative family, Mohammed Zammar impressed many with his extreme devotion at an early age. He became well-known at many of the mosque
s in Hamburg, Germany. While still in high school
, Zammar began to be associated with Jihadists through Mamoun Darkazanli
, a fellow Syrian and al-Qaeda financier.
Zammar attended a metalworking
college and planned to work for Mercedes-Benz
. He worked as a translator in Saudi Arabia
, and then took a job as a truck-driver back in Hamburg. But in 1991, he decided to make jihad his full-time job.
He flew to Afghanistan
by way of Pakistan
and underwent a training program for mujahideen
fighters. His training included weapons knowledge, use of explosives, and advanced tactics. He performed well and was moved to an elite training camp near Jalalabad. By the end of the year, he had "graduated" and returned to Hamburg.
Zammar travelled extensively over the next few years. While working as a mechanic
, he took long trips to Syria
, Jordan
, Turkey
, and Sweden
. In 1995, he traveled to Bosnia
to fight there. And in 1996, Zammar visited Afghanistan for a second time, this time to become a formal member of the group called al-Qaeda. He was reported to have been personally invited by Osama bin Laden
.
Mohamed Atta
, a very conservative Muslim, became friends with Zammar around 1998.http://books.google.com/books?id=IASlEi7rogIC&pg=RA1-PA174&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=3#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false (Atta would go on to lead the 9/11 hijackers
in their infamous attack
.) Zammar has reportedly boasted that he personally recruited Atta and other hijackers into al-Qaida, although this has not been confirmed. Zammar also met frequently with Mounir El Motassadeq
around this time.
In 1998 Germany intensified their surveillance of Zammar. He was occasionally trailed, his phone was tapped, and all his calls were recorded. German authorities shared much of this information with the CIA, including Zammar's phone conversations with hijackers Marwan al-Shehhi
, Mohamed Atta
, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Said Bahaji
.http://books.google.com/books?id=Awgp3H5mBXgC&pg=PA141&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false
Atta, Shehhi, and bin al-Shibh formed the Hamburg cell
in November 1998, and Zammar is reported to have been a frequent visitor.http://books.google.com/books?id=fNqdmUnqTJUC&pg=PA164&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=6#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false Atta became respected as the group's leader, and Zammar was seen more as a valuable conduit for international contacts. Zammar may not have been aware of plans for an attack within the United States.
In the Summer of 1999, U.S. intelligence discovered that Zammar was in direct contact with one of bin Laden's senior operational coordinators. The U.S. apparently did not share this information with German intelligence. Zammar is also known to have met frequently with Said Bahaji
in Germany in 2000.
Zammar was living in Boston with his wife and daughter (who was just under two years old) at the time of the September 11th attacks. According to some reports he was collecting welfare there and in Germany at the same time. He is said to have known how to milk the system. He flew out of Boston Logan airport on Swiss Air a week later, along with several other men with which he was acquainted. They gathered on the plane appearing giddy and excited. He and his wife toasted (with orange juice) once the plane took off. The first stop was Zurich airport.
. Not long afterwards, he was arrested by Moroccan police with the assistance of the U.S. Although he was a German citizen and under investigation by Germany, German intelligence only learned about the arrest from the newspapers in June 2002.
Instead of being deported to the U.S. or Germany, Zammar was secretly sent to Syria
for indefinite detention in the notorious Far'Falastin
detention center in Damascus
. Time Magazine reported: "U.S. officials in Damascus submit written questions to the Syrians, who relay Zammar's answers back. . . State Department officials like the arrangement because it insulates the U.S. government from any torture the Syrians may be applying to Zammar."
On December 15, 2005, it was officially confirmed that German Bundeskriminalamt
federal police officers had on at least one occasion participated in Zammar's interrogation in Syria; it was claimed that these officers were unaware of the conditions at the prison. This seems doubtful given that it was widespread knowledge in the intelligence/international politics community, but if referring specifically to the treatment of Zammar, it may or may not be true; it is not known whether Zammar's interrogation by Syria or other parties did or does involve torture and if so, to which extent.
According to Amnesty International, Muhammad Haydar Zammar is a victim of the US-led renditions programme who was convicted in February 2007 after an unfair trial before the Syrian Supreme State Security Court. Amnesty also alleges that he was held in pre-trial detention for almost five years, much of it in incommunicado and solitary confinement, at the notorious Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence in Damascus. During his detention he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated. In June 2007 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that Muhammad Haydar Zammar was detained arbitrarily and called upon the Syrian authorities to “remedy the situation”. Amnesty International is not aware of the authorities having taken any steps to do so.
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
) is a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
ist who served as an important al-Qaida recruiter.http://books.google.com/books?id=XiGooey3INkC&pg=PT218&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=5#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false He claims to have recruited many of the organizers
Organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers affiliated with al-Qaeda. The hijackers were organized into four teams, each led by a pilot-trained hijacker with four "muscle hijackers", who were trained to help subdue the pilots, passengers, and crew.The first hijackers to arrive in the...
of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. He is detained in Far'Falastin
Far'Falastin
Far' Falastin is a notorious Syrian prison located near Damascus.The United States used a process called extraordinary rendition to transport a number of terrorist suspects to Far' Falastin where they were subjected to interrogation that included torture. In addition, the participation of German...
.
Early history
Zammar, a GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
citizen, was born in Syria. At ten he moved to Germany with his family. Even among his very religiously conservative family, Mohammed Zammar impressed many with his extreme devotion at an early age. He became well-known at many of the mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s in Hamburg, Germany. While still in high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, Zammar began to be associated with Jihadists through Mamoun Darkazanli
Mamoun Darkazanli
Mamoun Darkazanli is a citizen of Germany and Syria who is wanted in Spain on terrorism charges....
, a fellow Syrian and al-Qaeda financier.
Zammar attended a metalworking
Metalworking
Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry. It therefore includes a correspondingly wide range of skills,...
college and planned to work for Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
. He worked as a translator in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, and then took a job as a truck-driver back in Hamburg. But in 1991, he decided to make jihad his full-time job.
He flew to 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...
by way of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and underwent a training program for 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...
fighters. His training included weapons knowledge, use of explosives, and advanced tactics. He performed well and was moved to an elite training camp near Jalalabad. By the end of the year, he had "graduated" and returned to Hamburg.
Zammar travelled extensively over the next few years. While working as a mechanic
Mechanic
A mechanic is a craftsman or technician who uses tools to build or repair machinery.Many mechanics are specialized in a particular field such as auto mechanics, bicycle mechanics, motorcycle mechanics, boiler mechanics, general mechanics, industrial maintenance mechanics , air conditioning and...
, he took long trips to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. In 1995, he traveled to Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
to fight there. And in 1996, Zammar visited Afghanistan for a second time, this time to become a formal member of the group called al-Qaeda. He was reported to have been personally invited by 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...
.
An al-Qaida recruiter
When Zammar returned to Hamburg he became a minor celebrity among the Islamic community. He frequently gave enthusiastic speeches on behalf of bin Laden and other Islamists. German police began to formally investigate him at this time. Zammar made frequent short trips to Afghanistan throughout this period.Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
, a very conservative Muslim, became friends with Zammar around 1998.http://books.google.com/books?id=IASlEi7rogIC&pg=RA1-PA174&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=3#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false (Atta would go on to lead the 9/11 hijackers
Organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers affiliated with al-Qaeda. The hijackers were organized into four teams, each led by a pilot-trained hijacker with four "muscle hijackers", who were trained to help subdue the pilots, passengers, and crew.The first hijackers to arrive in the...
in their infamous attack
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
.) Zammar has reportedly boasted that he personally recruited Atta and other hijackers into al-Qaida, although this has not been confirmed. Zammar also met frequently with Mounir El Motassadeq
Mounir El Motassadeq
Mounir el-Motassadeq was accused of being a member of al-Qaeda and of assisting some of the organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was initially convicted of involvement in the attack, but his sentence was set aside on appeal, then reinstated on further appeal...
around this time.
In 1998 Germany intensified their surveillance of Zammar. He was occasionally trailed, his phone was tapped, and all his calls were recorded. German authorities shared much of this information with the CIA, including Zammar's phone conversations with hijackers Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
, Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji was an alleged member of the Hamburg cell that provided money to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.-History:He is a German citizen, and was born to a Moroccan father and a German mother in 1975. The family moved to Morocco when he was nine years old. He came to Hamburg in...
.http://books.google.com/books?id=Awgp3H5mBXgC&pg=PA141&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false
Atta, Shehhi, and bin al-Shibh formed the Hamburg cell
Hamburg cell
The Hamburg cell was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks...
in November 1998, and Zammar is reported to have been a frequent visitor.http://books.google.com/books?id=fNqdmUnqTJUC&pg=PA164&dq=Mohammed+Haydar+Zammar&cd=6#v=onepage&q=Mohammed%20Haydar%20Zammar&f=false Atta became respected as the group's leader, and Zammar was seen more as a valuable conduit for international contacts. Zammar may not have been aware of plans for an attack within the United States.
In the Summer of 1999, U.S. intelligence discovered that Zammar was in direct contact with one of bin Laden's senior operational coordinators. The U.S. apparently did not share this information with German intelligence. Zammar is also known to have met frequently with Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji was an alleged member of the Hamburg cell that provided money to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.-History:He is a German citizen, and was born to a Moroccan father and a German mother in 1975. The family moved to Morocco when he was nine years old. He came to Hamburg in...
in Germany in 2000.
Zammar was living in Boston with his wife and daughter (who was just under two years old) at the time of the September 11th attacks. According to some reports he was collecting welfare there and in Germany at the same time. He is said to have known how to milk the system. He flew out of Boston Logan airport on Swiss Air a week later, along with several other men with which he was acquainted. They gathered on the plane appearing giddy and excited. He and his wife toasted (with orange juice) once the plane took off. The first stop was Zurich airport.
Capture
On October 27, 2001, Zammar traveled to MoroccoMorocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. Not long afterwards, he was arrested by Moroccan police with the assistance of the U.S. Although he was a German citizen and under investigation by Germany, German intelligence only learned about the arrest from the newspapers in June 2002.
Instead of being deported to the U.S. or Germany, Zammar was secretly sent to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
for indefinite detention in the notorious Far'Falastin
Far'Falastin
Far' Falastin is a notorious Syrian prison located near Damascus.The United States used a process called extraordinary rendition to transport a number of terrorist suspects to Far' Falastin where they were subjected to interrogation that included torture. In addition, the participation of German...
detention center in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
. Time Magazine reported: "U.S. officials in Damascus submit written questions to the Syrians, who relay Zammar's answers back. . . State Department officials like the arrangement because it insulates the U.S. government from any torture the Syrians may be applying to Zammar."
On December 15, 2005, it was officially confirmed that German Bundeskriminalamt
Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)
The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany is a national investigative police agency in Germany and falls directly under the Federal Ministry of the Interior...
federal police officers had on at least one occasion participated in Zammar's interrogation in Syria; it was claimed that these officers were unaware of the conditions at the prison. This seems doubtful given that it was widespread knowledge in the intelligence/international politics community, but if referring specifically to the treatment of Zammar, it may or may not be true; it is not known whether Zammar's interrogation by Syria or other parties did or does involve torture and if so, to which extent.
According to Amnesty International, Muhammad Haydar Zammar is a victim of the US-led renditions programme who was convicted in February 2007 after an unfair trial before the Syrian Supreme State Security Court. Amnesty also alleges that he was held in pre-trial detention for almost five years, much of it in incommunicado and solitary confinement, at the notorious Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence in Damascus. During his detention he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated. In June 2007 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that Muhammad Haydar Zammar was detained arbitrarily and called upon the Syrian authorities to “remedy the situation”. Amnesty International is not aware of the authorities having taken any steps to do so.
See also
- Abu Hamza al-MasriAbu Hamza al-MasriAbu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
- Khalid El-MasriKhalid El-MasriKhalid El-Masri is a German citizen who was kidnapped in the Republic of Macedonia, flown to Afghanistan, allegedly beaten, stripped, raped, and interrogated and tortured by the CIA for several months as a part of the War on Terror, and then released...
- George GallowayGeorge GallowayGeorge Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
- Imam Rapito affairImam Rapito affairThe Abu Omar Case refers to the abduction and transfer to Egypt of the Imam of Milan Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar...
External links
- Hamburg's Cauldron of Terror - from the Washington Post
- TERRORBEKAEMPFUNG: Der vergessene Gefangene (by HOLGER STARK) - from Der SpiegelDer SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, 47/2005, November 21, 2005 - The Kidnapping of Muhammad Al-Zammar - A Document Archive