Omar al-Bayoumi
Encyclopedia
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...
national who befriended two of the 9/11
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...
hijackers in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Some people suspect he was a Saudi agent and an accessory to the attacks. While Saudi Arabia firmly maintains that al-Bayoumi is not an agent of theirs, the FBI has concluded that he has several links to terrorism.
Income
Al-Bayoumi was probably born around 1959, but virtually nothing is known of al-Bayoumi's early life. Until 1994 he lived in Saudi Arabia, working for the Saudi Ministry of Defense and AviationMilitary of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's armed forces are mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense and Aviation. The Ministry also has responsibility for the construction of civilian airports as well as military bases, and for Meteorology departments...
, a department headed by Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.
In August 1994, al-Bayoumi moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and settled down in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, where he became involved in the local 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...
community. He was very inquisitive, and was known to always carry around a video camera
Video camera
A video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in...
. According to several sourceshttp://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20020914-9999_1n14connect.html
http://www.sandiego-online.com/issues/september03/featurec0903.shtml (Newsweek 11/22/03, 11/24/03)
http://msnbc.com/news/838867.asp, al-Bayoumi was strongly suspected by many residents of being a Saudi government spy. The man the FBI considered their "best source" in San Diego said that al-Bayoumi "must be an intelligence officer for Saudi Arabia or another foreign power," according to Newsweek Magazine.
At this time, al-Bayoumi was paid about $3,000 per month by Dallah Avco
Dallah Avco
Dallah Avco is an aviation-services company with extensive contracts with the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation, headed by Prince Sultan. A sister concern of Dallah Avco also conducts construction and maintenance contracts in the two holy cities of Makkah and Medina...
, a Saudi company closely tied to the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation, al-Bayoumi's former employer. The salary was officially for a project in Saudi Arabia, although he was living in the United States at the time and apparently did no work for them. For five years, the Saudi ministry reimbursed Dallah Avco for al-Bayoumi's salary, and he was considered a civil servant. When the company tried to fire al-Bayoumi in 1999, a Saudi government official replied with a letter marked "extremely urgent" that the government wanted al-Bayoumi's contract renewed "as quickly as possible."http://advancement.sdsu.edu/marcomm/news/clips/Archive/Aug2003/081103/081103wsj.html Al-Bayoumi was quickly rehired. Dallah Avco is currently being investigated by the FBI for ties to al-Qaida.
In June 1998, an anonymous Saudi philanthropist donated $500,000 to have a Kurd
Kürd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
ish mosque built in San Diego, on the condition that al-Bayoumi hired as maintenance manager with a private office. The donation was accepted, but because al-Bayoumi rarely showed up for work, the mosque's leadership became unhappy with him. Eventually, they moved to fire him.
Some time in late 1999 or early 2000, Omar al-Bayoumi began receiving another monthly payment–this one from Princess Haifa bint Faisal, the wife of Bandar bin Sultan
Bandar bin Sultan
Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is a prince of the Saudi royal family and was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. He was appointed Secretary-General of the National Security Council by King Abdullah on 16 October 2005...
, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Checks for between $2,000 and $3,000 were sent monthly from the princess, through two or three intermediaries, to al-Bayoumi.http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,846881,00.html The payments continued for several years, totaling between $50,000 and $75,000.
Al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar
In January 2000, al-Bayoumi drove to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, saying he was going "to pick up visitors", according to an FBI source.http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2003/congressreportparta072403.html First, al-Bayoumi visited the Saudi consulate there in LA and had a closed-door meeting with Fahad al Thumairy, according to Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
. (After 9/11
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...
, al Thumairy was barred entry into the U.S. due to his links to terrorism.http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6898-2003Nov22?language=printer) It was only afterward that al-Bayoumi met his visitors.
On January 15, 2000, future 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi
Nawaf al-Hazmi
Nawaf Muhammed Salim al-Hazmi was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
and Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
flew to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
from Bangkok, Thailand, just after attending the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The final 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
Report noted:
- Hazmi and Mihdhar were ill-prepared for a mission in the United States. . . Neither had spent any substantial time in the West, and neither spoke much, if any, English. It would therefore be plausible that they or [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] would have tried to identify, in advance, a friendly contact for them in the United States. . . We believe it unlikely that Hazmi and Mihdhar. . . would have come to the United States without arranging to receive assistance from one or more individuals informed in advance of their arrival."
Al-Bayoumi met the hijackers at a restaurant after their landing; he claims he met them by accident. He invited the two hijackers to move to San Diego with him, and they did. Al-Bayoumi found them an apartment, co-signed the lease, and gave them $1500 to help pay for their rent. Al-Bayoumi also helped the two obtain driver's licenses, rides to Social Security, and information on flight schools. Al-Bayoumi says he was being kind to fellow Muslims in need, and had no idea of their plans. But according to Newsweek magazine a former top FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "We firmly believed that he had knowledge [of the 9/11 plot], and that his meeting with them that day was more than coincidence."
Al-Hazmi and al-Mihdar's neighbors later reported that the two struck them as quite odd. They had no furniture, they constantly played flight simulator games, and limousines picked them up for short rides in the middle of the night.http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wplot.html
http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2002/national-reporting/works/093001.html During this time, al-Bayoumi lived across the street from them. Throughout this period, the payments from Dallah Avco
Dallah Avco
Dallah Avco is an aviation-services company with extensive contracts with the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation, headed by Prince Sultan. A sister concern of Dallah Avco also conducts construction and maintenance contracts in the two holy cities of Makkah and Medina...
, his titular employer, greatly increased. Al-Hazmi and al-Mihdar later moved into the house of Abdussattar Shaikh
Abdussattar Shaikh
Abdussattar Shaikh is an FBI informant who was called "The FBI's Best Chance to Uncover September 11th Before it Happened" by the Joint Congressional 9.11 Intelligence Committee....
, a friend of al-Bayoumi's, who was secretly working as an FBI informant at the time.http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/07/25/news/top_stories/7_25_035_34_23.txt
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2003/congressreportparta072403.html
Arrest and release
In July 2001, Omar al-Bayoumi moved to EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to pursue a PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
at Aston University
Aston University
Aston University is a "plate glass" campus university situated at Gosta Green, in the city centre of Birmingham, England.Established in 1895 as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School, Aston was granted its Royal Charter as Aston University on 22 April 1966...
. Ten days after the September 11 attacks he was arrested by British authorities working with the FBI. He was held on an immigration charge while the FBI and Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
investigate him. His phone calls, bank accounts, and associations were researched, but the FBI says they found no connections to terrorism. He was released, and went back to studying at Aston,http://www.time.com/time/nation/printouth/0,8816,393590,00.html and later moved to Saudi Arabia. Anonymous British officials suggest al-Bayoumi must have been protected by the FBI, because "giving financial aid to terrorists is a very serious offense and there is no way [the FBI] would have let him go scot-free."http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/sundaymercury102101.html
The issue was reopened when the potential links between al-Bayoumi and the Saudi Embassy were reported in the press. Under pressure from Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, the FBI re-examined the case. They concluded that the allegations were "without merit," and they "abandoned further investigation."http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A51669-2003Sep9¬Found=true But contemporary news accounts reported that "countless intelligence leads that might help solve [the case] appear to have been under investigated or completely overlooked by the FBI."http://www.sandiego-online.com/issues/september03/featurec0903.shtml
The final 9/11 Commission reports stated "we have seen no credible evidence that he believed in violent extremism, or knowingly aided extremist groups."