Shadi Abdalla
An individual named Shadi Abdalla has been described as an associate of Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and has having knowledge of some of al Qaeda's most important Afghan training camps.[1][2][3]
Peter Bergen quoted Shadi Abdalla's description of the al Farouq training camp in his book The Osama bin Laden I Know.[1]
According to the Kashmir Telegraph Shadi Abdalla and four other men were arrested by German security officials on April 23, 2002.[2]
On September 24, 2003, the United States Treasury designated Shadi Abdalla and the same four other men who had been captured in Germany as "members of Zarqawi’s German-based terrorist cell Al Tawhid".[3] The other four men asserted to be members of the German cell were: Mohamed Abu Dhess, Aschraf Al-Dagma, Ismail Shalabi and Djamel Moustfa.
Shadi Abdellah was listed by the United Nations 1267 Committee on its list of individuals whose assets should be seized.[4] He was removed from the list on December 23, 2004, after agreeing to testify against other individuals suspected of being members of al Qaeda, pleading guilty to lesser charges, whereupon he was enrolled in Germany's witness protection program. Removal from the list was required for him to receive German assistance while in the witness protection program.
The BBC News reported that Shadi Abdellah acknowledged serving as one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards.[4]
References
- ^ a b Bergen, Peter. "The Osama bin Laden I Know", 2006. p. 262
- ^ a b
B. Raman (May 2004). "After Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg". Kashmir Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2010-02-18.
The German authorities arrested on April 23, 2002, Shadi Abdalla, Mohamed Abu Dhess, Aschraf al-Dagma, Ismail Shalabi and Djamel Moustfa on charges of belonging to al-Tawhid and planning to carry out acts of terrorism in Germany.
- ^ a b
"Treasury Designates Six Al-Qaida Terrorists". United States Treasury. 2003-09-24. Archived from the original on 2010-02-18.
Also designated are members of Zarqawi's German-based terrorist cell Al Tawhid, an organization with close links to al-Qaida. The German government has established that Zarqawi serves as the operational leader of the cell.
- ^ a b
"Bin Laden 'guard' off terror list". BBC News. 2005-01-05. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
However, the US - which could have blocked Mr Abdellah's delisting - was initially sceptical when Germany first raised the issue of possible rehabilitation of the informant in autumn last year. But Washington later gave its go-ahead, after Berlin had allowed US officials to question Mr Abdellah about his links with top al-Qaeda suspects.