Hassan Ghul
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Hassan Ghul ( ar, حسان غول), born Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan (August 1977 - 1 October 2012), was a Saudi-born Pakistani member of
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 ...
who revealed the '' kunya'' 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 ...
's messenger, which eventually led to
Operation Neptune Spear On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot several times and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Sp ...
and the death of Osama Bin Laden. Ghul was an ethnic
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
whose family was from Waziristan. He was designated by the
Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee The ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee is a committee of the United Nations Security Council tasked with implementing international sanctions against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. It was established as the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sancti ...
of the
Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...
in 2012. Captured by Kurdish Peshmarga forces in
Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...
and turned over to American intelligence in early 2004, Ghul was said to have served as anywhere from a courier who delivered messages for al-Qaeda members to a high-ranking associate of either
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 ...
,
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 ...
, or
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 ...
. He was held at a
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
black site In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with a ...
for two years. It was during this time of detainment in early 2004, but before he was subjected to
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
, that Ghul listed al-Kuwaiti as a close associate of bin Laden. CIA records show that Ghul was not the first source of the name "al-Kuwaiti," which was also provided in 2002 by another detainee, Abu Zubair al-Ha'ili, who was being held by a foreign government. In 2006, Ghul was transferred to the custody of Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...
, which released him in 2007.Testimony of Rangzieb Ahmed
Ghul was killed by a CIA drone strike in
North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...
in October 2012.


History

Ghul was born around 1977 in either Madinah,
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 ...
or the village of Sangrar,
Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
, Pakistan. Ghul was mentioned in the
9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
report, where he was stated to have led three people, including
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 ...
, to a guesthouse run by
Abu Zubaydah Abu Zubaydah ( ; , ''Abū Zubaydah''; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi Arabian currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He is held under the authority of Authorization for Use ...
. He was captured on January 23, 2004 by Kurdish security forces at a border crossing to Iran near Kalar after they confirmed Hassan's identity with a photograph emailed to
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
officials. There are contradicting claims that he was caught entering Iraq to bring al-Zarqawi money and bomb schematics or that he was caught leaving Iran bringing al-Zarqawi's progress report on successful suicide bombings into Iraq. Ghul was carrying a
USB flash drive A USB flash drive (also called a thumb drive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than . Since firs ...
and two
CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
, one allegedly including a 17-page progress report believed to have been written by al-Zarqawi, claiming responsibility for suicide attacks in Iraq. US Intelligence officials have contradicted the accepted story, stating that the progress report was instead found in an abandoned
safehouse A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor. Histori ...
in
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. In addition, the US military provided the media with "photocopies of the original handwritten Arabic letter" which were then translated, muddying the claim that it had been a computer document. A notebook in his satchel also revealed a number of names and phone numbers of suspected associates. Kurdish forces immediately turned Ghul over to the American military, and he was interrogated while still in the country. Although he may have been cooperative with the military interrogation, his questioning revealed little. It was also believed that he was a member of
Ansar al-Islam Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام له کوردستان),Chalk, Peter, ''Encyclopedia of Terrorism'' Volume 1, 2012, ABC-CLIO simply called Ansar al-Islam ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام), also nicknamed the Kurdi ...
.


Statements about his capture

Following his capture,
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
reported that he had been an al-Qaeda member since the very beginning of the group, at least ten years earlier, and was widely known as "The Gatekeeper" in terrorist circles, although no corroboration or other sources have supported these claims. There have been similarly unreferenced suggestions in the media that Ghul played a role in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Africa. Three days after his capture, Ghul was mentioned in a speech by President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
: Six days after his capture, U.S. Lieutenant General
Ricardo Sanchez Ricardo Sanchez (born September 9, 1953) is a former lieutenant general in the United States Army. His career was most notable for his service as commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq and V Corps. Early life and education Sánchez was bor ...
referred to Ghul stating "the capture of Ghul is pretty strong proof that al-Qaida is trying to gain a foothold n Iraqto continue their murderous campaigns."
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
Director
George Tenet George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the P ...
mentioned Ghul in his testimony to the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 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 ...
as an al-Qaeda member who would "never again threaten the American people", after allegedly being "sent to case Iraq for an expanded al-Qaeda presence there."Testimony of Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
/ref> Columnist
William Safire William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He w ...
claimed it was a "smoking gun" that proved a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Ghul then became a
ghost detainee Ghost detainee is a term used in the executive branch of the United States government to designate a person held in a detention center, whose identity has been hidden by keeping them unregistered and therefore anonymous.HRW Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ri ...
,
Cageprisoners Cage is a London-based advocacy organisation which aims to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror. Cage highlights and campaigns against state policies, developed as part of the War on Terror. The organisation was formed to raise awa ...
,
Center for Constitutional Rights The Center for Constitutional RightsThe Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) is a New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...
as prisoners who have not been accounted for, and are likely held in secret
CIA Black sites CIA black sites refer to the black sites that are controlled by the CIA and used by the U.S. government in its War on Terror to detain enemy combatants. US President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the ...
.


Release and death

In 2006, two and a half years after his capture, Ghul was transferred to a secret Pakistani prison system, where he was held alongside British suspect
Rangzieb Ahmed Rangzieb Ahmed is a British citizen who was allegedly the highest ranking al-Qaeda operative in the United Kingdom (UK). Ahmed, who was a key link between British recruits and al-Qaeda leaders, was responsible for setting up a terrorist cell in M ...
. The two spoke to each other, and Ghul told him that he was held at a secret CIA location for two and a half years and had also passed through Morocco. He was again transferred to an unknown location in January 2007. Ghul was released by the Pakistanis in 2007. He was thought to have rejoined militants and returned to the battlefield. For some time his whereabouts were unknown,
/ref> but Ghul was eventually killed by a US drone strike on October 1, 2012. The
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
deployed an arsenal of cyber-espionage tools, secretly seizing control of laptops, siphoning audio files and other messages, and tracking radio transmissions to find Ghul. After intercepting an e-mail from Ghul's wife, the NSA was able to locate Ghul and handed over the information to the Central Intelligence Agency which employed a drone to kill Ghul.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghul, Hassan 2012 deaths Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members Pakistani al-Qaeda members People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States Deaths by drone strikes of the Central Intelligence Agency in Pakistan 1977 births People designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee