Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Al-Qaeda operative and computer expert. Arrested in

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 ...

on 13 July 2004, files found on his laptop contained details of a terrorist plot to attack U.S. financial buildings and locations in the UK, including Heathrow Airport. Khan's arrest was attributed to leads arising from the arrest of Musaad Aruchi a month earlier.Suspect arrested in Pakistan may hold al-Qaeda's secrets
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 8 August 2004 Following his arrest, Khan agreed to cooperate with investigators, and continued to communicate with Al-Qaeda as part of a sting operation. Following the publication of Khan's name, British authorities moved quickly to arrest 13 members of the British terrorist cell with which Khan had been communicating (the so-called

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

cell). Evidence gathering may not have yet been completed and other plotters may have escaped due to the need to make the arrests quickly. On 14 July 2005, ''

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'' revealed that

Mohammad Sidique Khan Mohammad Sidique Khan (Urdu: ; October 20, 1974 – July 7, 2005) was a Pakistani-British terrorist and the oldest of the four Islamist suicide bombers and believed to be the leader responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which bom ...

, one of the suspected perpetrators of the 7 July London bombings, had been in contact with members of the Luton cell that was broken up. Khan is an alumnus of

NED University The NED University of Engineering & Technology is a public university located in the urban area of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest and best engineering universities in Pakistan, acknowledged for its best teaching practices an ...

and Adamjee Science College in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Human Rights Watch 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 r ...

lists Khan as one of detainees in CIA custody,List of “Ghost Prisoners” Possibly in CIA Custody
''

'', 1 December 2005 though he was released on 20 August 2007, without charge.

Identity leaked

On 2 August 2004, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' published Khan's name, stating that "An account provided by a Pakistani intelligence official made clear that the crucial capture in recent weeks had been that of Mr. Khan."THREATS AND RESPONSES: INTELLIGENCE; Captured Qaeda Figure Led Way To Information Behind Warning
''

'', 2 August 2004 Conversely, on 8 August 2004 on

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's ''

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'', National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told

Wolf Blitzer Wolf Isaac Blitzer (born March 22, 1948) is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network. He is the host of ''The Situa ...

that Khan's name had been revealed "on

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" (an expression with no fixed meaning in journalism, but which is often understood to mean that the information may not be published, or at least that the source may not be revealed); afterwards, however, when the transcript of the background briefing revealed that Khan had not in fact been identified by name, Rice's office retracted the statement.

Sean McCormack Sean McCormack (born 1964) is a former United States Assistant Secretary of State. He was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Department Spokesman on June 2, 2005, and served until January 20, 2009. McCormack is curre ...

, a National Security Council spokesman, stated "She was in the middle of making a point and litzerinterrupted her, and she reflexively repeated 'on background,' but she was not confirming it and went on to complete her thought." Leak of Qaeda suspect name criticized
''

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'', 10 August 2004 Precisely who leaked Khan's name, and why, was controversial. Critics of the Bush administration accused them of damaging national security by the deliberate " outing" of an undercover operative for political reasons, ''i.e.'' in order to bolster claims of terrorist threats in August 2004 and win support in the upcoming election. This view was supported by anonymous Pakistani sources; according to

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U.S. officials providing justification for
anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...
alerts revealed details about a Pakistani secret agent, and confirmed his name while he was working under cover in a sting operation, Pakistani sources said on Friday. A Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested in
Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
secretly last month, had been actively cooperating with intelligence agents to help catch al Qaeda operatives when his name appeared in U.S. newspapers.Reuters – Pakistan Qaeda Suspect Named During Email Sting
, ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
''

Writing for

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, however,

Husain Haqqani Husain Haqqani (; born 1 July 1956, alternately spelled Hussain Haqqani) is a Pakistani journalist, academic, political activist, and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States. Haqqani has written four books on Pakistan, ...

countered this view, reporting that

in fact, U.S. officials did not leak Khan's name. The first leak of Khan's name, according to well-informed, reliable sources in the region who spoke on condition of anonymity, came from Pakistani officials in
Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
– who perhaps were motivated by eagerness to show off their success in arresting al-Qaida figures or, more ominously, by a desire to
sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
the penetration of al-Qaida that Khan's arrest had made possible. A second Pakistani leak to Reuters, blaming the Americans as the source of the leak, served to absolve the Pakistanis of any responsibility in breaking up new al-Qaida cells – an important move domestically.Subcontracting the hunt for bin Laden
, ''
Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...
, 17 August 2004

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'' reported on 14 August 2004 that the

Pakistani government The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territories, ...

had "lodged a protest with the US government for leaking the name of Mr. Khan to the media as he was said to be actively cooperating with Pakistani intelligence agencies to help catch Al Qaeda operatives."Al Qaeda suspect's father moves LHC
''

, 17 August 2004 Most analysts agreed that, regardless of who had leaked Khan's identity, the leak had been premature and had compromised the success of the intelligence operation. Following the publication of Khan's name, British authorities moved quickly to arrest 13 members of the British terrorist cell with which Khan had been communicating (the so-called

cell). By the evening of 9 August, two of the suspects had been released from custody, and the interviews of two others had been called off. An additional five suspects were reported as having escaped the British raids. Some of those who still maintained that the Bush administration had leaked Khan's name went on to link the incident to the leak of

Valerie Plame Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer ...

's name as denoting a pattern of compromising intelligence operatives for political gain. Aside from individuals, blogs, and

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s, these included other sources, such as ''

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'', The

Advocate Weekly Newspapers ''CTNow'' is a free weekly newspaper in central and southwestern Connecticut, published by the ''Hartford Courant''. The previous iteration of CTNow was New Mass. Media, a privately owned weekly newspaper company until 1999, when its owners, inc ...

Scoop Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to: Objects * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualt ...

, and The Democratic Policy Committee. Sajeel Shahid, a British Muslim widely described as a founder or leader of an organization of British Muslims who supported or engaged in Jihad, said he befriended Noor Khan when they were held in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. According to ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' Shahid said ''"Nur Khan deceived all the fundamentalists in prison and informed on fundamentalist cells around the world."''

Released due to lack of evidence

On 21 August 2007

reported that Khan had been released due to lack of evidence.

References

External links

CNN Late Edition Transcript – August 8, 2004

* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3548678.stm BBC News – US denies bungling al-Qaeda case
Slate – The First Casualty

London bombers tied to Al Qaeda plot in Pakistan
retrieved 14 July 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Muhammad Naeem Noor Pakistani al-Qaeda members 1979 births Pakistani extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Living people NED University of Engineering & Technology alumni