Khalfan Khamis Mohamed ( ar, خلفان النعيمي) (born 5 March 1974), a
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
n national, is one of numerous
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 ...
suspects who were indicted in 1998,Copy 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 ...
and one of the four who were convicted and sentenced to
life without parole
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
in 2001, for their parts in 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, ...
. Convicted along with Mohamed were
Wadih el Hage
Wadih Elias el-Hage ( ar, وديع الحاج, ''Wadī‘ al-Ḥāj'') (born July 25, 1960) is Lebanese people, Lebanese, and naturalized American citizen, who is serving life imprisonment in the United States based on conspiracy charges for the 19 ...
Mohamed Rashid al-Owhali
Muhammad was an Islamic prophet and a religious and political leader who preached and established Islam.
Muhammad and variations may also refer to:
*Muhammad (name), a given name and surname, and list of people with the name and its variations
...
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pris ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
.
Background and arrest
Khalfan Mohamed allegedly received training in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. It is believed that Mohamed assembled the bomb used against the embassy in the
Dar es Salaam
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 ...
, Tanzania, and flew to
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
shortly after the bombing. He was arrested in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
on October 5, 1999, after he was discovered to still be using the same
alias
Alias may refer to:
* Pseudonym
* Pen name
* Nickname
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film
* ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006
* ''Alias the ...
he had used during the bombings.Benjamin, Daniel & Steven Simon. "The Age of Sacred Terror", 2002 After interrogation, South African immigration authorities handed him over to
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
agents and he was flown to
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
on the following day. (This extradition subsequently became the subject of a landmark decision of the
Constitutional Court of South Africa
The Constitutional Court of South Africa is a supreme court, supreme constitutional court established by the Constitution of South Africa, and is the apex court in the South African judicial system, with general jurisdiction.
The Court was fi ...
, ''
Mohamed v President of the Republic of South Africa
''Mohamed v President of the Republic of South Africa'', 001ZACC 18, is a 2001 decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa dealing with the legality of the South African government's actions in handing over Khalfan Khamis Mohamed to U ...
'', which determined that the South African government cannot extradite suspects who may face the death penalty.)
In June 2014, he successfully sued the US government for violating his Freedom of Speech by prohibiting his communications with all but a few immediate family members.MOHAMMED v. HOLDER /ref>
Failed escape
On November 2, 2000, Mohamed and
Mamdouh Mahmud Salim
Mamdouh Mahmud Salim ( ar, ممدوح محمود سالم, ''Mamdūḥ Maḥmūd Sālim''; b. 1958 in Sudan) is a Sudanese co-founder of the Islamist terrorist network al-Qaeda. He was arrested on 16 September 1998 near Munich. During the sentencing phase of his trial, prosecutors argued unsuccessfully for
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
of Mohamed, due to the continuing threat he posed to prison guards.