Mushabib al-Hamlan



An original candidate in the September 11, 2001 attack, Mushabib al-Hamlan (مسحبيب الحملان, Musḥabīb al-Ḥamlān) became involved with militancy at secondary-school in December 1999, where he attended gatherings to watch videos about the glory of Jihad and detailing the atrocities of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Yugoslav wars. The group studied under Ban-dar Marui and read the book Gladiator of Passion.

On February 15th 2000, Hamlan received a passport, and after completing the Hajj, went to Sharjah, UAE to obtain a Visa for entering Pakistan. Once in Islamabad, Pakistan, he and two co-travelers were led by Hassan Ghul to a waypoint controlled by Abu Zubaydah. By March, they had crossed the border into Afghanistan where he attended the Al Khaldan training camp. When the camp was closed, he moved with its other members to Al-Farouq outside Kandahar, where he met Osama bin Laden. After injuring himself at the camp, Hamlan was assigned to guard the Kandahar airport - a task that eventual hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi and Waleed al-Shehri shared.

During his time at Al-Farooq and the airport, Hamlan is thought to have befriended Ahmed al-Nami. The two of them studied under Abu Basir al-Yemeni, who coaxed them both to enlist with Abu Hafs al Mauritani as potential 'martyrs' who would carry out suicide missions inside the United States.

Hamlan and al-Nami were sent to meet Osama bin Laden, identifying themselves through the phrase I want to be one of this religion's bricks and glorify this religion. In October 2000, Hamlan and al-Nami met with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who instructed them on encrypting telephone calls. They also had their passports falsified claiming they were world travellers visiting locations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Egypt and Turkey. After a meeting with Muhammad Atef, the pair flew to Tehran, Iran - onward to Qatar - back into the UAE before arriving in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. On instructions from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, they drove to Jeddah, where they stayed with future hijacker Waleed al-Shehri. He also instructed them how to obtain US visas, which both received on October 28th.

In the end Mushabib did not end up using his visa. Immediately after they were issued their visas, Hamlan phoned his family and learned that his mother was ill. He then decided not to pursue martyrdom and returned to his family. Khalid al Zahrani, an associate from Al-Farouq visited him later to try and convince him to return, but failed.