Wadih el-Hage
Encyclopedia
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. He and some of his codefendants are currently in the supermax prison known as ADX Florence
.
Most of the following information comes from a PBS
story about el-Hage.
, Lebanon
on 25 July 1960 but grew up in Muslim Kuwait
, where he converted to Islam
. From 1978 he studied urban planning at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. El-Hage interrupted his schooling to travel to Afghanistan
via Pakistan
to participate in the fighting against the USSR. He was reportedly under Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
, an important figure in the early history of al-Qaeda
. El-Hage returned to his university in January 1985, graduating in 1986. Married by now, he relocated to Arizona
, where he held several low-wage jobs. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1989.
Over the next few years, the el-Hage family travelled repeatedly to Pakistan, initially taking
along his mother-in-law and her husband. In an interview with PBS
Frontline, el-Hage's mother-in-law said, "I was the matron surgical nurse at an Afghan surgical hospital. Wadih did not actually fight, but acted as an educator. My husband went with Wadih to deliver textbooks and Qur'ans to the young people. It was a Jihad, a fight for Islam."
in December 1989, el-Hage met Mahmud Abouhalima
, who was later convicted for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
. El-Hage's prosecutors say that Abouhalima told el-Hage to buy a .38 caliber revolver, that he did so, and that El Sayyid Nosair
used that revolver to kill Rabbi
Meir Kahane
.
Prosecutors have also suggested that el-Hage and Jamaat ul-Fuqra were involved in the murder of Dr. Rashad Khalifa
on January 31, 1990 in Tucson. They believe that el-Hage knows who killed Khalifa. And even if el-Hage was not himself involved, the prosecution asked why he had not told them what he knew. El-Hage's family says he was not in the country at the time of the murder.
At some later point el-Hage moved with his family to Arlington
, Texas
. He was called to the Brooklyn
charity Alkifah Refugee Center, by the group's office in Tucson, via el-Hage's mosque in Arlington. Family members acknowledge that he was in contact with the Alkifah group, and say that he was called in to mediate a dispute. A week later, the group's leader Mustafa Shalabi
was found stabbed to death in an apartment that he shared with Abouhalima. This murder is unsolved. El-Hage's family said that he cried when he heard that Shalabi was dead.
In January 1992, el-Hage was arrested for writing false checks. In the car with him was Marwan Salama, whose phone records show his contact with the conspirators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
.
Shortly thereafter, el-Hage moved his family to Sudan
and worked as a secretary for Osama bin Laden
, who operated a network of businesses and charities, some of them fronts, in East Africa at the time. El-Hage often travelled to Europe
in this capacity. Prosecutors believe that el-Hage became a key aide to Bin Laden. They also believe that he was trying to obtain chemical weapons for the terrorist group. Little public evidence has emerged from Sudan for these claims.
In 1994, his wife April convinced el-Hage to leave Sudan and stop working for Bin Laden's organization there. As his mother in law said, "April would have none of that. She is Muslim, but she is also American, and she wouldn't stand for it." But prosecutors believe that el-Hage continued to work for bin Ladin's organisation in Nairobi
, Kenya
. In Kenya, he became the director of Help Africa People, a Muslim charity organization, which Kenyan documents say helped control malaria
. El-Hage also made money off in the jewelry business. Prosecutors say that el-Hage was in contact in Kenya with Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri
, who was al-Qaeda's #2 member until his death in 1996. The badly wanted al-Qaeda suspect Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
moved in and worked at the house as a secretary. A letter, thought to be from Mohammed, suggests el-Hage was the "engineer" of this East African cell. Yet another al-Qaeda member, Mohammed Saddiq Odeh
admitted knowing el-Hage in Nairobi, and said that el-Hage attended his wedding.
The Nairobi house was raided on August 21, 1998. El-Hage's address book, captured at the time, contained the following names:
El-Hage himself was questioned two days later upon his return to Nairobi from Afghanistan. El-Hage's family says that he was told to leave Kenya. In September 1997 he returned to Arlington with his family; several accounts say that he sold all of his possessions to fund the trip. However, upon arriving in the United States, he was arrested on September 15, 1998.
Before a Grand Jury
, el-Hage denied knowing bin Laden and others accused of the embassy bombings. On 20 September he was arrested for perjury
, and has not been free since. The indictment for the bombings themselves was read on 7 October of that year.
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...
member who is serving life imprisonment in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for his part in 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...
. He was indicted and arrested in 1998, and convicted on all counts and sentenced to life without parole
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
in 2001. He and some of his codefendants are currently in the supermax prison known as 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...
.
Most of the following information comes from a PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The 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....
story about el-Hage.
Aliases
Wadih el-Hage is also known as "Abd'al Sabur" or "Abdel Saboor", both different transliterations of Abdus Sabur, and "the Manager".Life
El-Hage was born to a Maronite Christian family in SidonSidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
on 25 July 1960 but grew up in Muslim Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, where he converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. From 1978 he studied urban planning at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. El-Hage interrupted his schooling to travel 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...
via 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...
to participate in the fighting against the USSR. He was reportedly under Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam was a highly influential Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and theologian, who preached in favor of defensive jihad by Muslims to help the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet invaders...
, an important figure in the early history of 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...
. El-Hage returned to his university in January 1985, graduating in 1986. Married by now, he relocated to Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, where he held several low-wage jobs. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1989.
Over the next few years, the el-Hage family travelled repeatedly to Pakistan, initially taking
along his mother-in-law and her husband. In an interview with PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The 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....
Frontline, el-Hage's mother-in-law said, "I was the matron surgical nurse at an Afghan surgical hospital. Wadih did not actually fight, but acted as an educator. My husband went with Wadih to deliver textbooks and Qur'ans to the young people. It was a Jihad, a fight for Islam."
Militancy
At an Islamic conference in OklahomaOklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
in December 1989, el-Hage met Mahmud Abouhalima
Mahmud Abouhalima
Mahmud Abouhalima is a convicted perpetrator of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. His red hair earned him the nickname Mahmud the Red.-Life:...
, who was later convicted for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
. El-Hage's prosecutors say that Abouhalima told el-Hage to buy a .38 caliber revolver, that he did so, and that El Sayyid Nosair
El Sayyid Nosair
El Sayyid Nosair is an Egyptian-born American citizen, convicted of involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing...
used that revolver to kill Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Meir Kahane
Meir Kahane
Martin David Kahane , also known as Meir Kahane , was an American-Israeli rabbi and ultra-nationalist writer and political figure. He was an ordained Orthodox rabbi and later served as a member of the Israeli Knesset...
.
Prosecutors have also suggested that el-Hage and Jamaat ul-Fuqra were involved in the murder of Dr. Rashad Khalifa
Rashad Khalifa
Rashad Khalifa was an Egyptian-American biochemist, closely associated with the United Submitters International. He was assassinated in 1990.-Life:Khalifa was born in Egypt on November 19, 1935...
on January 31, 1990 in Tucson. They believe that el-Hage knows who killed Khalifa. And even if el-Hage was not himself involved, the prosecution asked why he had not told them what he knew. El-Hage's family says he was not in the country at the time of the murder.
At some later point el-Hage moved with his family to Arlington
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. He was called to the Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
charity Alkifah Refugee Center, by the group's office in Tucson, via el-Hage's mosque in Arlington. Family members acknowledge that he was in contact with the Alkifah group, and say that he was called in to mediate a dispute. A week later, the group's leader Mustafa Shalabi
Mustafa Shalabi
Mustafa Shalabi was a founder of several charities alleged to have links to terrorism who was found murdered on February 25, 1991.Shalabi was an early associate of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, after Abdel-Rahman's arrival in the United States....
was found stabbed to death in an apartment that he shared with Abouhalima. This murder is unsolved. El-Hage's family said that he cried when he heard that Shalabi was dead.
In January 1992, el-Hage was arrested for writing false checks. In the car with him was Marwan Salama, whose phone records show his contact with the conspirators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
.
Shortly thereafter, el-Hage moved his family to Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and worked as a secretary for 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...
, who operated a network of businesses and charities, some of them fronts, in East Africa at the time. El-Hage often travelled to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in this capacity. Prosecutors believe that el-Hage became a key aide to Bin Laden. They also believe that he was trying to obtain chemical weapons for the terrorist group. Little public evidence has emerged from Sudan for these claims.
In 1994, his wife April convinced el-Hage to leave Sudan and stop working for Bin Laden's organization there. As his mother in law said, "April would have none of that. She is Muslim, but she is also American, and she wouldn't stand for it." But prosecutors believe that el-Hage continued to work for bin Ladin's organisation 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...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. In Kenya, he became the director of Help Africa People, a Muslim charity organization, which Kenyan documents say helped control malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. El-Hage also made money off in the jewelry business. Prosecutors say that el-Hage was in contact in Kenya with 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....
, who was al-Qaeda's #2 member until his death in 1996. The badly wanted al-Qaeda suspect Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was a member of al-Qaeda, and the leader of its presence in East Africa as of November 2009. Mohammed was born in Moroni, Comoros Islands and had Kenyan as well as Comorian citizenship...
moved in and worked at the house as a secretary. A letter, thought to be from Mohammed, suggests el-Hage was the "engineer" of this East African cell. Yet another al-Qaeda member, Mohammed Saddiq Odeh
Mohammed Odeh
A Palestinian, Mohammed Saddiq Odeh is one of the four former al-Qaeda members sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 for their parts in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. He is in a supermax prison known as ADX Florence....
admitted knowing el-Hage in Nairobi, and said that el-Hage attended his wedding.
Arrest
- Ali MohamedAli MohamedAli 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....
, the al-Qaeda double agent living in California. - Essam MarzoukEssam MarzoukAn Egyptian resident of British Columbia, Essam Hafez Mohammed Marzouk arrived in Vancouver, Canada in 1993 as a refugee fleeing persecution in Pakistan...
- Mamoun DarkazanliMamoun DarkazanliMamoun Darkazanli is a citizen of Germany and Syria who is wanted in Spain on terrorism charges....
, Syrian-born businessman living in Hamburg, Germany, who had contacts with Mohamed AttaMohamed AttaMohamed 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...
’s al-Qaeda cell in the same city. Darkazanli’s name and phone number are listed, and el-Hage even has a business card listing el-Hage’s address in Texas and Darkazanli’s address in Hamburg. - Ghassan Dahduli, an associate of el-Hage's from Tucson, AZ. Dahduli was affiliated with the Illinois-based Islamic Association for Palestine, suspect at one time of being a Hamas front organization, and the commercial web-hosting service InfoCom CorporationInfoCom CorporationInfoCom Corporation was a Web hosting service company founded by five brothers in 1992. It was initially based in Dallas, Texas, and before its dissolution it was based in Richardson, Texas....
which would later be raided by the US Joint Terrorism Task Force. Though Dahduli himself is apparently quite innocuous, the INS would have him deported to Jordan in late 2001. - Saleh bin Abdul Aziz Al RajhiSaleh bin Abdul Aziz Al RajhiSaleh Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi was the founder of, and owner of the second largest individual stake in, the Al-Rajhi Bank, which has consistently reported the most profitable operations amongst all of Saudi Arabia's banking groups....
, a brother of Saudi billionaire Sulaiman Abdel Aziz al-RajhiSulaiman Bin Abdul Al RajhiSheikh Sulaiman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Rajhi is a Saudi Arabian corporate figure and billionaire. He is the chairman of Al Rajhi Bank, one of the largest companies in Saudi Arabia and the largest Islamic bank in the world...
who founded of a Herndon, VA-based network of charities and businesses known as the SAAR FoundationSAAR FoundationThe SAAR Foundation was a flagship corporation representing charities, think tanks, and business entities named after its founder, Saudi patriarch Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi. The SAAR Foundation achieved prominence as the key subject of a March 20, 2002 raid by federal agents, as a part of... - Ihab Ali NawawiIhab Ali NawawiAn Egyptian-American cab driver, Ihab Mohamed Ali Nawawi became a personal pilot to Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s.-Life:Nawawi moved to the United States as a youth with his family, and attended an Orlando high school before traveling to fight in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.He trained...
, American cab driver who worked as a pilot for Bin Laden
El-Hage himself was questioned two days later upon his return to Nairobi from Afghanistan. El-Hage's family says that he was told to leave Kenya. In September 1997 he returned to Arlington with his family; several accounts say that he sold all of his possessions to fund the trip. However, upon arriving in the United States, he was arrested on September 15, 1998.
Before a Grand Jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
, el-Hage denied knowing bin Laden and others accused of the embassy bombings. On 20 September he was arrested for perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
, and has not been free since. The indictment for the bombings themselves was read on 7 October of that year.