Mohammed Mansour Jabarah
Encyclopedia
Mohammed Mansour Jabarah (محمد منصور جبارة) (born December 21, 1981) is a Kuwaiti convicted of terrorism-related offences. Jabarah was active in al-Qaeda
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...

 and Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiah , is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei...

 circles, and was arrested in 2002.

He agreed to cooperate with authorities, but is currently serving a life sentence in ADX Florence
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison for men that is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies...

 after he allegedly violated his release conditions.

Life

Jabarah was born in Al Sabah Hospital in Kuwait City
Kuwait City
-Suburbs:Although the districts below are not usually recognized as suburbs, the following is a list of a few areas surrounding Kuwait city:Al-Salam ""السلام"" -Economy:...

, and traveled to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and 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...

 with his parents as a child.

Jabarah moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 with his family on August 16, 1994 at the age of 12 and attended Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School
Holy Cross Secondary School (St. Catharines)
Holy Cross is a Catholic Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario. The school is administered by the Niagara Catholic District School Board.-History:Holy Cross was founded in 1985. Originally known as P.K...

 in St. Catharines, Ontario
St. Catharines, Ontario
St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in Ontario, Canada, with 97.11 square kilometres of land...

. He intended to become an ophthalmologist. Their father opened a gas station in St. Catharines.

In 1999, he graduated from high school and was accepted into St. Mary's University
Saint Mary's University (Halifax)
Saint Mary's University is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. The school is best known for having nationally lead programs in Business, Astronomy and International Development Studies as well, one of the best football and Men's hockey programs in Canada .The campus is situated in Halifax's...

 in Halifax, but decided not to pursue post-secondary education.

Both Jabarah and his brother returned to Kuwait every summer to visit relatives, where they met with Islamic teacher Sulaiman Abu Ghaith
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is a Kuwaiti Islamist regarded as one of Al-Qaida's official spokesmen.-Activities during the 1991 Gulf War:Abu Ghaith first gained attention during the 1990–1991 Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait...

, who would later become a spokesman for al-Qaeda
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...

. A childhood friend, Anas al-Kandari, introduced him to al-Qaeda and 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...

 during summers in Kuwait. He returned to Canada and began fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...

, raising C$3,500 which he gave to Ghaith for the First Chechen War
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...

.

Militant activity

In July 2000, Abdul Rahman left for 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...

, and the following month Mohammed flew to Kuwait where he met with Ghaith who paid his fare to Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

, from whence he traveled 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....

 and hiked on foot into Torkham
Torkham
Torkham is a border crossing town in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and the Khyber Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, right on the Durand Line border....

 where the two brothers met up, waiting for their promised camp to finish construction and hanging around the Sheik Shaheed Abu Yahya Training Camp near Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

 instead.

In early 2001, he was diagnosed by doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of al-Qaeda. He was previously the second and last "emir" of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zumar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zumar to life...

 with hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...

, and given a month's bedrest. While his brother went home to Canada, Mohammed attended a 10-week program at Al Farouq training camp
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....

, where he declined an offer to become a trainer, before moving into a guesthouse 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...

 where his brother later visited him.

He vowed allegiance to bin Laden in May or July 2001 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...

. Bin Laden sent him to Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who paired Jabarah with Ahmed Sahagi as a partner in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

.

After meeting with Hambali, Jabarah was given three eMail addresses; only Mohammed would send mail to "silver_crack2002@yahoo.com", while only Hambali would send eMails to Honda_civic12@yahoo.com - and Jabarah was to use the address bob_marley123@yahoo.com to respond to them.

On September 10, 2001 - at the urging of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Jabarah left Pakistan and flew to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 where he stayed in a hotel. Two days later, he flew to Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

, where he stayed in a hotel in the Indian district, while meeting with militant contacts at a McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 in the food court
Food court
A food court is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dining. Food courts may be found in shopping malls and airports, and in various regions may be a standalone development...

 of a local shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

.

In late September, he took a bus to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, where he met members of Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiah , is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei...

 anxious for him to give them al-Qaeda funds for their intended bombings. However the group was under surveillance, and arrested members confessed to meeting "Sammy", although Jabarah had fled the country. Authorities tracked down his identity through the landing card
Landing Card
A landing card is a form that non-EEA citizens are required to complete on entry to the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. The traveller must present the completed form at the immigration desk at the point of entry...

 he had filled out upon arriving in Singapore, where he gave his true name and Canadian address.

In October, Jabarah returned to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 to meet with Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi
Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi
Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi was a key operative and bomb-maker of the Islamic militant Jemaah Islamiya group...

 who had arrived in-country on October 7 himself, and together "Sammy" and "Mike" met with militants plotting to attack embassies in Singapore
Singapore embassies attack plot
The Singapore embassies attack plot was a plan in 2001 by Jemaah Islamiyah to bomb the diplomatic missions and attack personnel of the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Israel based in Singapore. There were also several other targets. The plot was uncovered in December 2001 and as...

. Shortly after, Jabarah and al-Ghozi travelled to Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 and were taken to see the American and Israeli embassies, which were dismissed as too difficult to attack, since the American establishment was set too far back from the road, and the Israeli was too well-guarded. After ten days in the Philippines, Jabarah flew back to Singapore.

In November, Jabarah returned to Kuala Lampur and met with an al-Qaeda agent at the City One Plaza, where he was given $10,000 on each visit to take back to the militants planning the bombings. The following month, he received an eMail titled "Problem", which informed him that Singaporean colleagues had been arrested, which led him to flee to Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

 where he met with Hambali, who urged him to escape back to the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 as quickly as possible. Hambali also informed him that the $70,000 he has passed on to JI militants would be used to hit "soft" targets like nightclubs in the region.

Jabarah flew to Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

 in January 2002. There, Jabarah met with his brother Abdul Rahman Jabarah
Abdul Rahman Jabarah
Abdul Rahman Jabarah was a Canadian killed in a July 2003 firefight with Saudi Arabian officials who believed he was involved in the Riyadh compound bombings by al-Qaeda.-Life:...

, when both were already wanted al-Qaeda
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...

 suspects; largely because Mohammed's Canadian passport had been found on December 8–9 in a raid by Singaporean authorities.

In March, he moved to Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

, where Mohammed ordered him to set up an Omani al Qaeda safe house.

Arrest

Jabarah was arrested by Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

 authorities (mistakenly, but incidentally referred to as Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

 authorities by the American government) in February or March 2002. Not wishing to turn him over to American authorities ostensibly fearing they would mistreat him, Oman advised Canada to dispatch two Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...

 agents to come pick up their wayward citizen However, it has been suggested that Omani authorities "perhaps" made Jabarah the "subject of some interrogation which was improper".

His brother phoned their father Mansour, and was warned that Canadian authorities were looking for him as well.

Jabarah was returned to Canada on April 18, after a stopover in London, England and was interrogated by CSIS for four days. He claims to have seen an internal document left in the interrogation room which said "There is no evidence or not enough evidence to find Jabarah guilty. We did our best to convince the Omanis to convict him, but they said there is no evidence against Jabarah".

Meanwhile, CSIS agent Mike Pavlovic had managed to gain Jabarah's trust during a number of meetings at The Brass Rail strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....

 in Toronto and began trying to convince him to turn himself over to the Americans. However, he was reticent until presented with a slip of paper which he signed, after CSIS promised him he just had to visit the United States for a few hours and would be back in Canada before the end of the day. It was a lie, and Jabarah later referred to it as "betrayal", as he was handed over to American authorities who otherwise had no legal basis to prosecute him. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association or CCLA, is Canada's leading national organization devoted to the defence of civil liberties and constitutional rights, both inside and outside the courts. The organization's work focuses on constitutional litigation, law reform, advocating on civil...

 subsequently demanded an investigation into the handling of the situation.

Release, cooperation and later arrest

In May Jabarah agreed to cooperate with U.S. authorities and was turned over to them. He lived in a series of safe house
Safe house
In the jargon of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, a safe house is a secure location, suitable for hiding witnesses, agents or other persons perceived as being in danger...

s, working as a double agent for the Americans, and helped them track both Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 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...

 as part of what he was told was a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...

.

Less than three months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, a borough of New York City, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12, 2001. This is the second deadliest U.S...

 in Queens, New York, rumors were already suggesting that it had been destroyed by an unknown terrorist with a shoe bomb similar to the one found on Richard Reid
Richard Reid (shoe bomber)
Richard Colvin Reid , also known as the Shoe Bomber, is a self-admitted member of al-Qaeda who pled guilty in 2002 in U.S. federal court to eight criminal counts of terrorism stemming from his attempt to destroy a commercial aircraft in-flight by detonating explosives hidden in his shoes...

. Four months later, Jabarah stated that Mohamed's lieutenant Abu Abdelrahman had told him that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to carry out identical plots as part of a second wave of attacks against the United States, and that Jdey had blown up the flight.

He was re-arrested in the autumn, after a Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 search of his house found a list of American agents and prosecutors, a knife and rope in his luggage and bomb-making instructions. He was held in the Manhattan Detention Center
Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City is a Federal Bureau of Prisons remand center in downtown Manhattan in New York City, located on Park Row behind the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse at Foley Square....

 until he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment by judge Barbara S. Jones
Barbara S. Jones
Barbara Sue Jones is a United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.-Early life and education:Born in Inglewood, California, Jones received a Bachelor of Arts from Mount St...

.

His oldest brother, Abdullah, later stated that he believed Mohammed was "a crazy bastard, fucking mad".
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