Saifur Rahman Halimi ( ps, سيف الرحمن حليمي) was born 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 ...

, and became a legal resident of the United States. Following the arrest of bombing suspect

Najibullah Zazi Najibullah Zazi (born August 10, 1985) is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City Subway system, and who pleaded guilty as have two o ...

, and his father

Mohammed Wali Zazi The 2009 New York City Subway and United Kingdom plot was a plan to bomb the New York City Subway as well as a target in the United Kingdom. In September 2009, several individuals fell under suspicion and were arrested due to fears that a suspecte ...

, the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' characterized Saifur Rahman Halimi as

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ( ps, ګلب الدين حكمتيار; born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so calle ...

's "chief representative". In 1996, Halimi was an

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

in a sexual abuse case. Mohammad Kargar, a man from Afghanistan who was living in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

was tried for kissing his 18-month-old son's penis. Halimi testified about the cultural background of Kargar's act when he appealed his conviction. Kargar's conviction was overturned. ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' reported on October 14, 2001, five weeks after Al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001, Halimi was a leader of one faction who were disputing control over New York City's largest mosque.

was a 24-year-old Afghan who had triggered suspicion that he had planned to explode a bomb or bombs in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on the eighth anniversary of Al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001. On October 4, 2009, the ''Associated Press'' offered a further trigger for suspicion—when

was a teenager in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

, his family lived in the same family as Saifur Rahman Halimi, and had attended the same mosque.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halimi, Saifur Rahman Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Afghan Muslims Afghan emigrants to the United States People associated with the September 11 attacks