Abu Jandal is a former member of al-Qaeda and former chief bodyguard of Osama bin Laden.[1] He is a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent. Abu Jandal was arrested by Yemeni authorities in connection with the USS Cole bombing in October 2000,
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York's World Trade Center, Abu Jandal was brought before FBI agent Ali Soufan for questioning in Aden, Yemen. After five days of intense interrogation, Abu Jandal identified many of the hijackers and became a significant source to link the 9/11 attacks to al-Qaeda. He then provided information for the United States war on Afghanistan in October 2001. In May 2009, Ali Soufan spoke with Time Magazine's Bobby Ghosh about his interrogation of Abu Jandal and said that because he was a diabetic, giving Jandal sugar free cookies helped convince Jandal to begin speaking with interrogators.
Abu Jandal is currently free from custody and lives in Yemen.
Abu Jandal told CNN that bin Laden handed him a gun and told him: "In it are two bullets. You will never let me be captured alive." [1]
He is said to have been born a few years before 1970, to be the father of two children and suffer from diabetes.[2]
This person is not to be confused with Ehsan a.k.a. Abu Jandal, an aide to Maulana Fazlullak, a militant commander thought to be operating in Pakistan. Ehsan a.k.a. Abu Jandal was reportedly killed in early July 2009 in Swat.
Abu Jandal was interviewed for the documentary film The Oath about his recruitment into al Qaeda of his brother-in-law Salim Ahmed Hamdan.[3][4][5]