Abd Al-Rahim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abd Al-Rahim

Abd Al-Rahim was self-implicated on videotape as a possible al-Qaeda terrorist in 2002, and has since then been wanted by the United States Department of Justice's FBI, which is seeking information about his identity and whereabouts. In January 2002, he was discovered as one of five men who had been videotaped pledging martyrdom, and who were then consequently placed on the original version, upon inception, of the FBI's third major wanted list, which is now known as the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list. He was later removed by the FBI from the main page of that list, but his photo and name remain archived by the FBI on a group page linked to the list, along with the FBI compilation of the martyrdom videos in which he appears. Very little else is known about him.

Abd Al-Rahim came to light after January 14, 2002, when he was discovered among five suspected al-Qaeda members delivering what United States Attorney General John Ashcroft described as "martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists." They were found on five discovered videos, recovered from the rubble of the destroyed home of Mohammad Atef outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. NBC News said that the five videos had been recorded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

In response, on January 17, 2002 the FBI released to the public the first Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information list (now known as the FBI's "Seeking Information - War on Terrorism" list), in order to profile the five wanted terrorists about whom very little was known, but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks in martyrdom operations. ^[1] (currently archived by the FBI, with photos and videos) ^[2] The videos were shown by the FBI without sound, to guard against the possibility that the messages contained signals for other terrorists.

Ashcroft called upon people worldwide to help "identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians." "These men could be anywhere in the world," he said. Ashcroft added that an analysis of the audio suggested "the men may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts."

On that day, Ramzi Binalshibh was one of the only four known names among the five. Ashcroft said not much was known about any of them except Binalshibh. The other initial known three are still featured in compiled video clips on the FBI site, in order of appearance, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Abd Al-Rahim, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani. ^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

The fifth wanted martyrdom terrorist was identified a week later as Abderraouf Jdey, alias: Al Rauf Bin Al Habib Bin Yousef Al-Jiddi.

Adb Al-Rahim, along with three of the other four pledged martyrdom suicide terrorists, was later removed by the FBI from the official count on the main page of the Seeking Information list. By February 2, 2003, the FBI rearranged its entire wanted lists on its web site, into the current configuration. The outstanding five martyr video suspects (including Jdey's Montreal associate Boussora) were moved to a separate linked page, titled "Martyrdom Messages/video, Seeking Information Alert" (Although both Jdey and Boussora were later returned to the main FBI list page). Around this time the FBI also changed the name of the list, to the FBI "Seeking Information - War on Terrorism", to distinguish it from its other wanted list of "Seeking Information," which the FBI already uses for ordinary fugitives, those who are not terrorists. ^[6]

Al-Rahim's status remains unknown to the public.