Amr Hamed
Amr Mohamed Hamed | |
|---|---|
| عمرو محمد حامد | |
| Died | August 20, 1998 Al Farouq training camp, Afghanistan |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Other names | Amer Ahmed |
| Occupation(s) | Basketball player, Co-founder of 4-U Enterprises |
Amr Mohamed Hamed (Arabic: عمرو محمد حامد) (also Amer Ahmed[1]) was a Canadian who died in the American bombing of an Afghan training camp on August 20, 1998, as retaliation for the African embassy bombings.[2][3]
Life in Egypt
[edit]While living in Egypt, Hamed had played for the Egypt national basketball team.[4] However, he immigrated to Canada, landing at Lacolle, Quebec and making his way westward to Vancouver, British Columbia.[4]
Life in Canada
[edit]In 1998, he co-founded an import-export business named 4-U Enterprises with his "best friend", former Egyptian Essam Marzouk who shared his love of sports.[4][5] The two shared their faith, Islam, openly, and would sometimes disappear into the forests of the coastal mountains for days at a time as a spiritual retreat to memorise the Quran.[4]
Considered to be "naive and inexperienced", he followed Marzouk seeking "the adventure of Afghanistan" and lived for a while with the Khadr family in Pakistan.[1]
Death and legacy
[edit]On August 20, 1998, Al Farouq training camp was bombed by American cruise missiles and Amr Hamed was killed.[1]
In November 2001, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigated claims that the Northern Alliance had discovered an "al-Qaeda office" in Kabul that contained business cards reading 4-U Enterprises - Amr H. Hamed with the address for a rented postal box in a B.C. convenience store.[3][5] The same search also yielded a number of documents belonging to Amer el-Maati.[6]
In 2003, he was referred to by Abdurahman Khadr, who told authorities that "a lot" of Canadians had trained at Khalden, including "a Vancouver man he knew as Amer, who was killed in a 1998 U.S. missile strike".[7]
In their 2008 report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) misidentified Hamed and Essam Marzouk as being the same person.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Michelle Shephard, "Guantanamo's Child", 2008.
- ^ National Post, "Dozens of Canadians join Jihad terror camps", October 22, 2003
- ^ a b Salopek, Paul. Chicago Tribune, "A chilling look into terror's lair", November 18, 2001
- ^ a b c d Bell, Stewart. National Post, "A model life, a model operative", October 14, 2005
- ^ a b CBC, "B.C. refugee may have terrorist links", November 15, 2001
- ^ National Post, "FBI seeks terror suspect with Toronto ID", November 14, 2002
- ^ Bell, Stewart. National Post, "'A lot' of Canadians in al-Qaeda", August 1, 2004
- ^ Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah[permanent dead link], February 22, 2008. p. 33
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