Mahfouz Ould Al-Walid
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Mahfouz Ould al-Walid (
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
: محفوظ ولد الوالد), kunya Abu Hafs al-Mauritani ( ar, أبو حفص الموريتاني), is a
Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
n Islamic scholar and poet previously associated with
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 ...
. A veteran of the
Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
, he served on al-Qaeda's Shura Council and ran a religious school called the Institute of Islamic Studies in
Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...
,
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 ...
, from the late 1990s until the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Along with Saeed al-Masri and Saif al-Adel, al-Walid opposed the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
two months prior to their execution. Under interrogation,
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-re ...
said that al-Walid had opposed any large-scale attack against the United States and wrote bin Laden a stern letter warning against any such action, quoting the
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
. Al-Walid fled from Afghanistan to Iran after the American invasion and was held there under house arrest from 2003 until April 2012. At that time, Iran extradited him to Mauritania, where he was held in prison until his release on July 7, 2012. He was released after renouncing his ties to al-Qaeda and condemning the September 11 attacks.


Life

The publisher of the magazine ''Al-Talib'' (''The Student''), al-Walid wrote poetry that attracted the attention of
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 ...
, and was invited to give spiritual lectures to
mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
at
Afghan training camps An Afghan training camp is a camp or facility used for militant training located in the central Asian country of Afghanistan. At the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Indian intelligence officials estimated that there were over 120 traini ...
. Some time in late 2000 or early 2001, bin Laden was videotaped reciting al-Walid's poem "Thoughts Over al-Aqsa Intifadah". It was later suggested that he had traveled to Iraq in early 1998 in an attempt to meet with
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
, but was turned away as the leader did not want to create problems for his country.
Senate Intelligence Committee The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
, 109th Congress, "Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq", p. 73-75
Later in 1998, the United States learned al-Walid was staying in Room 13 at the Dana Hotel in
Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
, and President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
sought to have him killed or preferably renditioned to a friendly country for interrogation. When a plan was finally made to capture him using another country's officials, he had already left
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
. In 1998, Germany began monitoring
Mohamedou Ould Salahi Mohamedou Ould Slahi () (born December 21, 1970) is a Mauritanian citizen who was detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016. Slahi traveled from his home in Germany to Afghanistan ...
's accounts, and it was noticed that al-Walid had asked him to spare some money twice, resulting in a DM8,000 transfer in December and one other situation in which he sent him money. In January 1999, al-Walid telephoned Salahi using a monitored
satellite phone A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. The advantage of a sa ...
he borrowed from Bin Laden.Department of Defense, "Administrative Review Board Hearing for Mohamedou Ould Slahi", p. 184-216 He was initially labeled as being the same person as Slahi by the
Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy ob ...
, who amended their list in June 2007 to distinguish the two people. It was later suggested they were brothers-in-law, cousins or cousins-in-law. The confusion seemed to stem from the fact that al-Walid's wife and Salahi's wife were sisters. In mid-2000, al-Walid was approached by
Ahmed al-Nami Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami (Arabic: أحمد بن عبد الله النعمي, ; also transliterated as Alnami; August 17, 1977 – September 11, 2001) was one of four terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 a ...
and
Mushabib al-Hamlan Mushabib al-Hamlan ( ar, مسحبيب الحملان) was an original candidate for the September 11 attacks. He became involved with militancy in December 1999 at secondary school, when he attended gatherings to watch videos about the glory of Ji ...
who asked him about becoming suicide operatives.
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 ...
has credited al-Walid's book ''Islamic Action Between the Motives of Unit and the Advocates of Conflict'' as being one of the driving forces behind convincing al-Qaeda to merge with
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 ...
in June 2001.


"War on Terror"

It is believed that the American invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks by bin Laden actually drove al-Walid away from al-Qaeda and that he and a number of other discontent former members moved to the south to avoid connection with the ongoing fight. The United States accused him of entering Iraq again in an attempt to get Hussein to negotiate but stated that he was rebuffed on the same terms as his first visit. He was reported killed twice, the second time following a January 8, 2002 airstrike in Zawar Kili, outside of
Khost Khōst ( ps, خوست) is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram ...
. When
Shadi Abdellah An individual named Shadi Abdalla has been described as an associate of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, and as having knowledge of some of al Qaeda's most important Afghan training camps.Bergen, Peter. "The Osama bin Laden I Kn ...
was arrested in 2002, he cooperated with authorities, but suggested that
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ( ar, أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ ٱلزَّرْقَاوِيُّ, ', ''Father of Musab, from Zarqa''; ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (, '), was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a t ...
and
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 ...
were not as closely linked as previously believed, in large part because al-Zarqawi disagreed with many of the sentiments put forward by al-Walid for al-Qaeda. Zawahiri continues to speak positively of the role al-Walid played in encouraging
Pan-Islamic Pan-Islamism ( ar, الوحدة الإسلامية) is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Pan-Islamism w ...
peace and cooperation. Libyan Islamist Nomam Benotman also indicated in a letter to bin Laden that he, al-Walid, and Al Qaeda security official Abu Muhammad al-Zayat opposed the 9/11 attacks. In the 2008 Chilean book ''El Norte de Africa en la Intriga de al Qaeda'', author Carlos Saldivia suggested that al-Walid was also involved in the
2003 Casablanca bombings The 2003 Casablanca bombings were a series of suicide bombings on May 16, 2003, in Casablanca, Morocco. The attacks were the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country's history. Forty-five people were killed in the attacks (33 victims and 12 ...
.Saldivia, Carlos. "El Norte de Africa en la Intriga de Al Qaeda", 2008. p. 207.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walid, Mahfouz Ould Living people 1975 births Mauritanian al-Qaeda members Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government