Mustafa al-Hawsawi

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Mustafa al-Hawsawi
Mustafa al-Hawsawi photo exhibit from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui
Born: August 5, 1968(1968-08-05)
Detained at: CIA black sites, Guantanamo
Alias(s): Mustafa Ahmad Al-Hawsawi
ID number: 10011
Charge(s): Faces charges before a military commission, no conviction or appeal yet.
CSRT Summary allegations
CSRT Transcript transcript

Mustafa al-Hawsawi (Arabic: مصطفى الحوساوي, also transliterated in other ways, listed as Saudi, has used many aliases; born August 5, 1968 [1]) is a member of the militant Islamic organization al-Qaeda and an organizer and financer of the September 11, 2001 attacks. His alternate names and aliases include Mustafa Ahmed, Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad, Ahmad Mustafa, Isam Mansour, Mustafa Ahmed Al-Hisawi, Mr. Ali, and Hani (Fawaz Trdng). It has been suggested that al-Hawsawi may be the same person as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, or may be an alias of the Pakistani terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, although this is unclear.

Hawsawi was transferred from custody in an American black site to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, on September 6, 2006. He is currently represented by Major Jon S. Jackson.[1] [2][3] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 10011.

Contents

[edit] Pre-2001

Before the 9/11 attacks, al-Hawsawi had apparently worked in al-Qaeda's media committee in Kandahar. Then, along with al-Qaeda financer Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (or perhaps using that name), al-Hawsawi assisted the hijackers from the United Arab Emirates. He helped coordinate with Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the operation, to bring the "muscle hijackers" into the United States in 2001. He attempted to help bring the so-called "20th hijacker", Mohamed al-Kahtani, into the United States, but al-Kahtani was unable to enter the country.

Al-Hawsawi also sent funds to the hijackers. In the Summer of 2000, he appears to have sent a total of $109,910 to some of the 9/11 hijackers in a series of wire transfers under a variety of names. The New York Times has suggested that "Mustafa Ahmed" sent a total of $325,000 to the hijackers, but the 9/11 Commission was only able to verify $15,000 of this.

Just before the attacks, al-Hawsawi travelled to Pakistan. He was captured by authorities there March 1, 2003, reported taken to U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, unconfirmed by U.S. officials. [2]

In the indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui he is said to have been born in Jeddah on August 5, 1968.

Alongside Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Al-Hawsawi is one of three named and requested by Zacarias Moussaoui's defence team for questioning. However, although the U.S. Federal Government claims to be holding both men, it refused Moussaoui's request citing national security concerns.

[edit] Alleged to be "an al-Qaida financial manager"

The Summary of Evidence memos prepared for Abdullah Bin Omar's first and second annual Administrative Review Board hearings stated[4][5]:

  • The detainee's name appeared on a spreadsheet account of stipend assistance provided to al Qaida operative families covering a six-month period of May to October 2002. The spreadsheet was found on a 20-gigabyte laptop computer hard drive associated with al Qaida financial operative Mustafa Ahmad Al-Hawsawi.
  • Al-Hawsawi, an al-Qaida financial manager, was known to provide funds for the September 11 hijackers.

[edit] Combatant Status Review

CSRT notice being read to a Guantanamo internee
CSRT notice being read to a Guantanamo internee

Initially the Bush administration asserted they could withhold the protections of the Geneva Conventions from captives in the "War on Terror", while critics argued the Conventions obligated the United States to conduct competent tribunals to determine the status of prisoners. Subsequently, the US Department of Defense instituted Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to determine whether the captives met the new definition of an "enemy combatant".

The trailer where CSRTs were convened
The trailer where CSRTs were convened

From July 2004 through March 2005, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether each captive had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Mustafa al-Hawsawi was among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.[6]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. His memo accused him of the following: [7]

The Department of Defense announced on August 9, 2007 that all fourteen of the "high-value detainees" who had been transferred to Guantanamo from the CIA's black sites, had been officially classified as "enemy combatants".[8] Although judges Peter Brownback and Keith J. Allred had ruled two months earlier that only "illegal enemy combatants" could face military commissions, the Department of Defense waived the qualifier and said that all fourteen men could now face charges before Guantanamo military commissions.[9][10]


[edit] References

  1. ^ Indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui, with supporting conspirators, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
  2. ^ "Detainee Biographies". Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  3. ^ "Bush: CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons", CNN (September 7, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  4. ^ OARDEC (12 August 2005). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Omar, Abdullah Bin" pages 52-54. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  5. ^ OARDEC (25 April 2006). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Omar, Abdullah Bin" pages 89-91. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  6. ^ OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007
  7. ^ Summary of Evidence (.pdf), prepared for Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - February 8, 2007
  8. ^ Lolita C. Baldur (Thursday, August 9, 2007). "Pentagon: 14 Guantanamo Suspects Are Now Combatants", Time magazine.  mirror
  9. ^ Sergeant Sara Wood (June 4, 2007). "Charges Dismissed Against Canadian at Guantanamo", Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. 
  10. ^ Sergeant Sara Wood (June 4, 2007). "Judge Dismisses Charges Against Second Guantanamo Detainee", Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. 

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Hawasawi, Mustafa al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES مصطفى الحوساوي (Arabic); Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad (alias); Mansour, Isam (alias); Mustafa Ahmed Al-Hisawi (alternate spelling); Mr. Ali (alias); Hani (alias); Trdng Fawaz (alias)
SHORT DESCRIPTION al-Qaida leader
DATE OF BIRTH August 5, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Saudi Arabia
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH
v • d • e
High Value Captives in the War on Terror
Captives transferred to
Guantanamo Bay from CIA black sites
Unaccounted-for captives
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_al-Hawsawi"
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