Wadih Elias el-Hage ( ar, وديع الحاج, ''Wadī‘ al-Ḥāj'') (born July 25, 1960) is Lebanese, and naturalized American citizen, who is serving

life imprisonment in the United States In the United States, life imprisonment is amongst the most severe punishments provided by law, depending on the state, and second only to the death penalty. According to a 2013 study, 1 of every 20,000 inhabitants of the U.S. were imprisoned for ...

based on conspiracy charges for the 1998 United States embassy bombings. Born to a

Maronite Catholic The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The current head of the ...

family, El-Hage converted to Islam while still in Lebanon in the 1970s. He emigrated to the United States, where he developed an interest in militant interpretations of Islamic theology while attending the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

. During 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-Sovie ...

el-Hage traveled to Pakistan to work for a Saudi charity, returning to the US in 1985. He married 18 year old April Ray, an American citizen who had recently converted to Islam, gaining American citizenship in 1989. Struggling financially, he decided to move his family to

Quetta, Pakistan Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of th ...

, but returned to run the Al Kifah Refugee Center in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

after the death of

Mustafa Shalabi Mustafa Shalabi ( ar, مصطفى شلبي) was a founder of several charities alleged to have links to terrorism who was found murdered on February 25, 1991.1993 World Trade Center bombing. At the time of their trial, he was in Sudan working as a secretary for Osama Bin Laden. In 1996 and 1997, after Bin Laden left Sudan for Afghanistan, el Hage worked in

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

. Under the pretense of doing charity work, he organized the al-Qaeda network that planned the carried out the embassy bombing in Nairobi. El-Hage was indictedCopy 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 arrested in 1998, and convicted on all counts 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. His sentence was overturned in 2008 because it was based on federal mandatory sentencing guidelines invalidated by the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

in 2005. He was re-sentenced to life without parole in 2013. El-Hage and his co-defendants are currently in the supermax prison known as

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 Pri ...

.PBS article on el-Hage
, updated 12 September 2001

Life

El-Hage was born in a

Maronite Christian Lebanese Maronite Christians ( ar, المسيحية المارونية في لبنان; syc, ܡܫܝܚܝ̈ܐ ܡܪ̈ܘܢܝܐ ܕܠܒܢܢ) are adherents of the Maronite Church in Lebanon, which is the largest Christian denomination in the country ...

family on 25 July 1960 in

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

,Wadih El Hage
at GlobalSecurity.org but grew up in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, where he converted to Islam. His family was so angered by his conversion that he was forced to leave home and was taken in by a Kuwaiti sheikh who paid for his education, including college. He traveled to the United States for college. From 1978, he studied urban planning at the

, then-named the University of Southwestern Louisiana. El-Hage interrupted his schooling to travel to

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 ...

via

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, although his lifelong physical disability prevented any direct participation in the fighting against the USSR, he instead worked for a Saudi charity called the

Muslim World League The Muslim World League (MWL; ar, رابطة العالم الاسلامي, Rabitat al-Alam al-Islami, ) is an International Islamic NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that promotes what it calls the true message of Islam by advancing moderate ...

. He was reportedly under

Abdullah Yusuf Azzam Abdullah Yusuf Azzam ( ar, عبد الله يوسف عزام, translit=‘Abdu’llāh Yūsuf ‘Azzām; ) was a Salafi jihadist, a Palestinian scholar, and theologian of Sunni Islam. During the Soviet–Afghan War of the 1980s, he advocated " ...

, an important figure in the early history of al-Qaeda. El-Hage returned to his university in January 1985, graduating in 1986. He married an 18-year-old American Muslim named April and relocated to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. There he held several low-wage jobs, including city custodian. He became a

naturalized citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

of the United States in 1989. Over the next few years, the el-Hage family traveled repeatedly to Pakistan, initially taking along his mother-in-law and her husband. In an interview with

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Frontline, el-Hage's mother-in-law said, "I was the matron surgical nurse at an Afghan surgical hospital. Wadih did not actually fight, but acted as an educator. My husband went with Wadih to deliver textbooks and Qur'ans to the young people. It was a Jihad, a fight for Islam."

Background

At an Islamic conference in Oklahoma in December 1989, el-Hage met

Mahmud Abouhalima Mahmud Abouhalima ( ar, محمود أبو حليمة) (born December 14, 1958) is a convicted perpetrator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Life Born to a mill foreman in Kafr Dawar, Egypt, Abouhalima spent his adolescence with the Al-Ga ...

, who was later convicted for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. El-Hage's prosecutors say that Abouhalima told el-Hage to buy a .38 caliber revolver.

El Sayyid Nosair El Sayyid Nosair (born 16 November 1955) is an Egyptian-born American citizen, convicted of involvement in the 1993 New York City landmark bomb plot. He had earlier been tried for, but acquitted of, the 1990 New York City assassination of Meir K ...

used that revolver to kill

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Meir Kahane Meir David HaKohen Kahane (; he, רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא ; born Martin David Kahane; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician who serv ...

. At some later point, el-Hage moved with his family to Arlington,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. He was called to the

charity Alkifah Refugee Center, by the group's office in Tucson, via el-Hage's mosque in Arlington. Family members acknowledge that he was in contact with the Alkifah group, and say that he was called in to mediate a dispute. A week later, the group's leader,

Mustafa Shalabi Mustafa Shalabi ( ar, مصطفى شلبي) was a founder of several charities alleged to have links to terrorism who was found murdered on February 25, 1991.Marwan Salama, whose phone records show his contact with the conspirators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Shortly thereafter, el-Hage moved his family to Sudan and worked as a secretary for Osama bin Laden, who operated a network of businesses and charities, some of them fronts, in East Africa at the time. El-Hage often travelled to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

in this capacity. Prosecutors believe that el-Hage became a key aide to Bin Laden. In 1994, his wife April convinced el-Hage to leave Sudan and stop working for Bin Laden's organization there. As his mother in law said, "April would have none of that. She is Muslim, but she is also American, and she wouldn't stand for it." However, prosecutors believe that el-Hage continued to work for bin Laden's organisation in

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

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. In Kenya, he became the director of Help Africa People, a Muslim charity organization, which Kenyan documents say helped control

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. El-Hage also made money in the jewelry business. Prosecutors say that el-Hage was in contact in Kenya with Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, who was al-Qaeda's #2 member until his death in 1996. The badly wanted al-Qaeda suspect

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed ( ar, فاضل عبدالله محمد) (25 August 1972 – 8 June 2011, also known as Fadil Harun) was a Comorian-Kenyan member of al-Qaeda, and the leader of its presence in East Africa. Mohammed was born in Moron ...

moved in and worked at the house as a secretary. A letter,Letter to El-Hage
,

, 2001 Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, admitted knowing el-Hage in Nairobi and said that el-Hage attended his wedding.

Arrest

The Nairobi house was raided on August 21, 1998. el-Hage himself was questioned two days later upon his return to Nairobi from Afghanistan. el-Hage's family says that he was told to leave Kenya. In September 1997, he returned to Arlington with his family; several accounts say that he sold all of his possessions to fund the trip. However, upon arriving in the United States, he was arrested on September 15, 1998.Benjamin, Daniel & Steven Simon. ''The Age of Sacred Terror'', 2002 Before a grand jury, el-Hage denied knowing bin Laden and others accused of the embassy bombings. On 20 September, he was arrested for

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

, and has not been free since. The indictment for the bombings themselves was read on 7 October of that year.

Incarceration

Hage,

Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

number 42393-054, is in Florence ADMAX USP.Wadih el-Hage
."

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

. Retrieved on January 5, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hage, Wadih El- 1960 births Living people Lebanese al-Qaeda members American al-Qaeda members Lebanese emigrants to the United States Converts to Sunni Islam from Catholicism Inmates of ADX Florence Lebanese people imprisoned abroad Lebanese Salafis American Sunni Muslims Former Maronite Christians American former Christians People convicted on terrorism charges Lebanese emigrants to Kuwait