Wali Khan Amin Shah ( ar, والي خان أمين شاه) (also known as Osama Turkestani, Osama Azmurai, and Grabi Ibrahim Hahsen ) is a Saudi man who fought with the

Afghan Arabs Afghan Arabs (also known as Arab-Afghans) are Arab and other Muslim Islamist mujahideen who came to Afghanistan during and following the Soviet–Afghan War to help fellow Muslims fight Soviets and pro-Soviet Afghans. Estimates of the volu ...

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 called for the jihad movement to focus on attacking the United States. He had a role in the foiled

Bojinka plot The Bojinka plot ( ar, بوجينكا; tl, Oplan Bojinka) was a large-scale, three-phase terrorist attack planned by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for January 1995. They planned to assassinate Pope John Paul II; blow up 11 airliners ...

. He was convicted of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and imprisoned on these charges from 1995 to 2021.

Background

Shah was born in

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...

(now

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

), having fled with his family to escape the Soviet invasion and settled in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

where he was a

stateless person Stateless may refer to: Society * Anarchism, a political philosophy opposed to the institution of the state * Stateless communism, which Karl Marx predicted would be the final phase of communism * Stateless nation, a group of people without ...

. Shah says he was sent by the Saudi government to fight in Afghanistan and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Attack on Philippines

Shah bombed the Greenbelt Theatre in Manila on December 1, injuring several people. In January 1995, Shah traveled from Pakistan to Manila via

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

to rendezvous with

Ramzi Yousef Ramzi Ahmed Yousef ( ur, , translit=''Ramzī Ahmad Yūsuf''; born 20 May 1967 or 27 April 1968) is a Pakistani convicted terrorist who was one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of Philippine Airlines ...

Capture and Re-Capture

The Bojinka plot was discovered by police on January 6, 1995. He was arrested by

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

police at an apartment on Singalong Street, which Yousef had set up in case the plot failed, on January 11, but he escaped police custody roughly 77 hours later. After obtaining a fraudulent passport bearing the name ''Osama Turkestani'', he lived on the nearby island of

Langkawi Langkawi, officially known by its sobriquet Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah ( ms, Langkawi Permata Kedah ), is a duty-free island and an archipelago of 99 islands (plus five small islands visible only at low tide in the Strait of Malacca) locate ...

until his December 1995 re-arrest in Malaysia. After the re-arrest, he was handed over to

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

authorities. Khan's capture was initially a closely guarded secret, but

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

correspondent John Miller revealed the news of his arrest during a 1998 interview with

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 ...

at an

al-Qaeda training camp 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 trainin ...

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 ...

Special Agent

John P. O'Neill John Patrick O'Neill (February 6, 1952September 11, 2001) was an American counter-terrorism expert who worked as a special agent and eventually a Special Agent in Charge in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1995, O'Neill began to intense ...

was initially suspected of leaking the information to his friend Christopher Isham and was nearly indicted by Assistant U.S. Attorney

Patrick Fitzgerald Patrick J. Fitzgerald (born December 22, 1960) is an American lawyer and partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom since October 2012. For more than a decade, until June 30, 2012, Fitzgerald was the United States Attorney f ...

, but ABC denied that O'Neill was the source of the information. Shah was reported to have made an unsuccessful escape attempt from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Shah was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison having spent his first 14 years in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

under very severe conditions due to Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) in

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 ...

, and was later transferred to the Communication Management Unit (CMU) a little less severe in

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

, IL. Shah cooperated with the

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

since August 1998. Shah,

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 ...

# 42799-054, previously incarcerated at

Marion USP The United States Penitentiary, Marion (USP Marion) is a large medium-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Southern Precinct, unincorporated Williamson County, Illinois. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pr ...

, was held at

FCI Terre Haute The Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute (FCI Terre Haute) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Indiana. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute (FCC Terre Haute) and is operated by the ...

. He was released on September 3, 2021. Since he is a stateless person, Shah will likely remain detained throughout lengthy deportation proceedings, although after six months of detention, the burden shifts to the US government to prove that his removal is possible in the reasonably foreseeable future.

References

External links

Profile: Wali Khan Amin Shah
at History Commons {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Wali Khan Amin Living people People convicted on terrorism charges Inmates of ADX Florence Terrorism in Malaysia 1967 births

Background

Attack on Philippines

Capture and Re-Capture

See also

References

External links