Adel Mohammed Abdel Magid Abdel Bari ( ar, عادل محمد عبد المجيد عبد الباري; born 24 June 1960) is an Egyptian terrorist. He was, together with fellow Egyptian citizen Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous until the latter's death, in custody in the United Kingdom from 1999,"Two Arrested in U.S. Embassy Bombings"
, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', 12 July 1999. fighting extradition to the United States, where they were wantedCopy of indictment
USA v. Usama bin Laden et al., Center for Nonproliferation Studies,

Monterey Institute of International Studies The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly known as the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is an American graduate school of Middlebury College, a private college in Middlebury, Vermont. Established ...

in connection with the

1998 United States embassy bombings The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African cities, one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. Both men were extradited to the United States in October 2012. He pled guilty in 2014. His son,

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary ( ar, عبد المجيد عبد الباري; born 16 June 1991) is a British former rapper and Islamist militant from Maida Vale, West London. He is the son of Adel Abdel Bari. After circulation of video footage relate ...

, was radicalised and joined

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

Biography

Bari came to the attention of Egyptian authorities as early as 1981, when he was imprisoned and tortured following the murder of President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

on 6 October of that year. Brittain, Victoria
"Life as the spouse of a suspected al-Qaida terrorist"
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 20 February 2013. On a return trip from the United States to Egypt via the UK in 1991, Abdel Bari applied for political asylum in Britain. It was granted by the

Second Major ministry John Major formed the second Major ministry following the 1992 general election after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to begin a new administration. His government fell into minority status on 13 December 1996. Formation The change of ...

in 1993.UNHCR information on Abdel Bari and other Egyptians
, originally from the Government of Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2014. He used his contacts at

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, which he obtained by virtue of his torture in the Sadat affair, to gain support for his causes in London. While at large in London he worked for

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

's Advice and Reform Committee under al-Fawwaz and alongside Eidarous; his indictment says he leased a premises on Beethoven Street, just off London's Kilburn Lane, that was transformed into

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

's "media information office", which he named the "International Office for the Defence of the Egyptian People" in an effort to seduce weak-minded Brits. During this time, the family frequented the Regent's Park mosque. Bari contacted

Mahmoud Jaballah ) is an Egyptian who has been detained in Canada without charge on a "security certificate" since August 2001 due to his association with members of al-Jihad.Thirwat Shehata.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...

"Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah"
22 February 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2014. Bari was sentenced to death ''in absentia'' in Egypt in 1995 for his part in the 1995 plot to blow up

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

's Khan el-Khalili market, along with

Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar was a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist terrorist group active since the 1970s. The ADL dubbed him the "propaganda chief" of the militant organisation. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordi ...

and

Ahmad Salama Mabruk Ahmad Salama Mabruk ( ar, الشيخ أحمد سلامة مبروك; 1956 – 3 October 2016), known as Abu Faraj al-Masri ( ar, أبو الفرج المصري), was a senior leader in the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and was previ ...

.Egypt's most wanted
, ''al-Ahram Weekly'', 18 October 2001. Bari was, in 1997 and 1998, reputedly the head of the London-based terrorist cell for the EIJ. In 1998, Bari advised Naggar to request asylum in the UK, so Naggar could help convince Hani Sibai to support the Algerian

GIA ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth M ...

in media communiques. He was arrested in September 1998 in the UK as part of Operation Challenge, which arrested seven men living in Britain through use of the

Prevention of Terrorism Act 1989 The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 was one of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts of the United Kingdom related to The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Powers contained in the Acts The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provi ...

, accusing them of links to al-Jihad,Hoge, Warren. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', "Britain arrests 7 suspected of links to Bin Laden", 24 September 1998. because of the Embassy bombings in East Africa. Bari spent on that occasion roughly 10 days in confinement. The British police found there was no terrorism case to charge Abdul Bary with. He was charged with possession of gas canisters, bailed, and then acquitted in a jury trial. An official letter from the anti-terrorism police at the time stated that after nine months of exhaustive investigation, they found that he and the other Egyptian men arrested with him had no connection with al-Qaida, nor any connection with terrorism in Britain. According to an article in ''

'', a 1999 extradition request by the US was the result of evidence that "had been sent by the UK to the US as part of the great fishing net of shared intelligence in the war on terror. His lawyers began to fight the extradition in a process that soon took on the character of

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

Jarndyce v Jarndyce ''Jarndyce and Jarndyce'' (or ''Jarndyce v Jarndyce'') is a fictional probate case in ''Bleak House'' (1852–53) by Charles Dickens, progressing in the English Court of Chancery. The case is a central plot device in the novel and has become a ...

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...

." Between 2002 and 2008, successive UK secretaries of state in the Blair ministry spent six years coming to a decision to extradite him. Representations for judicial reviews and appeals were made by his lawyers, including several medical reports, which over the years warned of his serious depression and risk of suicide in prison. During this time, his family always "felt hostility towards them – for being foreign and the stigma of visiting a Category-A prisoner." According to the U.S. indictment, Abdel Bari communicated by satellite phone with

Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death. Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with ...

, Zawahiri invited Abdel Bari into the British component of

Egyptian Islamic Jihad The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...

(EIJ), and Abdel Bari accepted, promising to obey the EIJ leadership. Abdel Bari and Eidarous are also accused of issuing statements to several press organizations shortly after the embassy bombings, in which they claim to represent the perpetrators. He received an additional life sentence ''in absentia'' in the 1999 case of the

Returnees from Albania The case of the Returnees from Albania was a massive criminal trial in an Egyptian military court from February to April 1999. The trial is one of the principal sources of information about Sunni terrorist groups in the 1990s, especially al-Gama'a ...

, in which he was convicted of being a media agent of EIJ and the head of EIJ's London component. His final appeal against extradition to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

was refused in autumn 2012. and on 5 October 2012 the United States extradited Bari from the UK to New York to face charges including "murder, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction". He was ultimately charged with 213 counts of premeditated murder for the Nairobi bombing and 11 more for the attack in Dar es Salaam, as well as conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and several lesser charges. These attacks left more than 5,000 others wounded. Said the indictment: the "media office" in London (see above) was also set up "to provide a cover for activity in support of al Qaeda's "military" activities, including the recruitment of military trainees, the disbursement of funds and the procurement of necessary equipment (including satellite telephones) and necessary services. In addition, the London office served as a conduit for messages, including reports on military and security matters from various al Qaeda cells, including the Kenyan cell, to al Qaeda's headquarters. Bari made efforts to facilitate the delivery of fake travel documents to co-conspirators who were members or associates of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Holland and Albania." On 19 September 2014, Bari pled guilty to three counts of the indictment before federal Judge

Lewis A. Kaplan Lewis A. Kaplan (born December 23, 1944) is a United States district judge serving on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He took senior status on February 1, 2011. Education, career, personal life Born in St ...

. Charges to which he pled guilty were cited as including conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, conspiring to make a threat to kill, injure, intimidate, and damage and destroy property by means of an explosive, and making such a threat. According to the indictment, Bari transmitted, via international telephone calls to the media, the contents of al Qaeda's claims of responsibility for the 7 August 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in

Nairobi, Kenya Nairobi ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows throug ...

, and

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, which killed 224 people. The next day, he transmitted threats of future attacks by the same terrorists, to media organizations in France, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Bary additionally arranged for messages to be transmitted to and from members of the media to his co-conspirators, including

and his successor

. Judge Kaplan did not immediately accept the plea deal and gave the lawyers for the government and Bari one week to submit letters why he should accept the plea deal. A prosecutor said Bari engaged in no overt acts which resulted in the murders themselves. Two co-defendants, Khalid al Fawwaz and

Abu Anas al Libi Nazih Abdul-Hamed Nabih al-Ruqai'i, ar, نزيه عبد الحميد نبيه الرقيعي Libyan pronunciation: known by the alias Abu Anas al-Libi ( ; ar, ابو أنس الليبي Libyan pronunciation: ; 30 March 1964; or 14 ...

, were scheduled to commence trial on 3 November 2014 before Judge Kaplan. On 6 February 2015, Bari was sentenced to 25 years in prison as a result of a plea bargain."Father of one-time Jihadi John suspect is jailed in US over Africa embassy bombings"
,''The Telegraph'', 9 February 2015. Bari was released on 9 October 2020. He later returned to live in London.

Personal life

Adel Abdel Bari and his wife Ragaa, a British citizen since 2009, are the parents of British rapper

, who, in August 2014, was described as a "key suspect" in the hunt for

Jihadi John Mohammed Emwazi (born Muhammad Jassim Abdulkarim Olayan al-Dhafiri; ar, محمد جاسم عبد الكريم عليان الظفيري; 17 August 1988 – 12 November 2015) was a British militant of Kuwaiti origin believed to be the pers ...

, an

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(also known as ISIL or ISIS) member of a cell known as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

."Dad of ‘John the Beatle’ suspect admits Osama terror plot"
, ''New York Post'', 19 September 2014.
, thestar.com. Retrieved 2 September 2014. They have together six children. Bari arranged from prison the marriage of the eldest daughter to a cousin of hers. He is a grandfather to babies that were born during his UK prison stay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bari, Adel Abdel 1960 births Living people Islamist mass murderers Egyptian al-Qaeda members Egyptian expatriates in the United Kingdom Egyptian Islamic Jihad People extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States People imprisoned on charges of terrorism Egyptian people imprisoned abroad