Amr Mohamed Hamed (عمرو محمد حامد) (also Amer Ahmed

Michelle Shephard Michelle Shephard (born 1972) is an independent investigative reporter (previously with the ''Toronto Star'' newspaper), author and filmmaker. She has been awarded the Michener Award for public service journalism and won Canada's top newspaper pri ...

, "Guantanamo's Child", 2008.) was a Canadian who died in the American bombing of an

Afghan training camp Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

on August 20, 1998, as retaliation for the African embassy bombings.

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

, "Dozens of Canadians join Jihad terror camps", October 22, 2003

Life in Egypt

While living in Egypt, Hamed had played for the

Egypt national basketball team The Egyptian national basketball team is organized and run by the Egyptian Basketball Federation ( ar, الاتحاد المصري لكرة السلة). Winning the title of the EuroBasket 1949 is its most celebrated achievement. In addition i ...

.Bell, Stewart.

, "A model life, a model operative", October 14, 2005 However, he immigrated to Canada, landing at

Lacolle, Quebec Lacolle () is a municipality in southern Quebec, Canada, located in the administrative area of the Montérégie, on the Canada–United States border. The population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 2,680. The Lacolle River runs eastward throug ...

and making his way westward to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Life in Canada

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. CBC,
B.C. refugee may have terrorist links
, November 15, 2001 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 The meaning of a spiritual retreat can be different for different religious communities. Spiritual retreats are an integral part of many Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian and Sufi communities. In Hinduism and Buddhism, meditative retreats are ...

to memorise the Quran. Considered to be "naive and inexperienced", he followed Marzouk seeking "the adventure of Afghanistan" and lived for a while with the

Khadr family The Khadr family ( ar, أسرة خضر) is an Egyptian-Canadian family noted for their ties to Osama bin Laden and connections to al-Qaeda.

in Pakistan, where he became known for his love of banana splits and sharing their ability to mix the Western world with his current life.

Death and legacy

On August 20, 1998,

Al Farouq training camp The Al Farouq training camp, also called ''Jihad Wel al-Farouq'', was a Taliban and Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training. Na ...

was bombed by American

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

s and Amr Hamed was killed. In November 2001, the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

investigated claims that the

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...

had discovered an "al-Qaeda office" in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

that contained

business card Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company or business aff ...

s reading ''4-U Enterprises - Amr H. Hamed'' with the address for a rented postal box in a B.C.

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

.Salopek, Paul.

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

, "A chilling look into terror's lair", November 18, 2001 The same search also yielded a number of documents belonging to

Amer el-Maati Amro Badr Eldin Abou el-Maati (born May 25, 1963 in Kuwait; also known as Amer el-Maati) is a Kuwaiti-Canadian alleged member of al-Qaeda. He is wanted for questioning by the FBI for having attended flight school and having discussed hijacking ...

, "FBI seeks terror suspect with Toronto ID", November 14, 2002 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".Bell, Stewart.

, "'A lot' of Canadians in al-Qaeda", August 1, 2004 In their 2008 report concerning

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.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 ...

(CSIS) misidentified Hamed and Essam Marzouk as being the same person.

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
February 22, 2008. p. 33

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamed, Amr 1998 deaths Basketball people from British Columbia Basketball people from Quebec People from Montérégie Basketball players from Vancouver Egyptian men's basketball players Egyptian emigrants to Canada Year of birth missing