Mohammed Loay Bayazid
Mohammed Loay Bayazid | |
|---|---|
| Other names | , although he has cooperated with American authorities and claims his role in the group has been over-stated.
He was alleged to have been sympathetic to Life in the United States
Bayazid moved to the United States with his parents, as a teenager, and began studying University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1982, but he later moved to Tucson, and studied at the University of Arizona.[5] He is believed to speak Persian, Chinese, Arabic and English fluently.[2]
In 1985, he decided to join the Two years later, bin Laden wrote him a letter explaining that Abu Abdel Lateef may come spend the night with him prior to his flight to Yemen, and asked him to visit the Yemeni embassy to check whether a Saudi would need a visa to fly to Yemen; he also asked that Bayazid try to bring 500,000 Rupees when they next met.[8] Life in SudanIn 1988, he allegedly took notes during one of the formative meetings detailing the creation of al-Qaeda. Noted for his penchant for "always teasing bin Laden", Bayazid jokingly asked whether he had thought of the logistics of transporting mujahideen to the fight, asking "How...Air France?".[9] He ran Al-Ikhlas International, an import/export company producing honey and other consumables believed to have been owned by bin Laden.[2] Bin Laden sent a letter to Bayazid informing him that Mohammed Atef and Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri were to each be given 6,500 Saudi riyals monthly, the same as they would have been given for their work in Maktab al-Khidamat.[10] Bayazid is believed to have recruited his friend Mubarak al-Duri into working for bin Laden's companies.[2] The FBI claims that Bayazid was part of a team sent to try to obtain weapons-grade uranium; Bayazid reportedly telling a colleague about how he and another man had "tried to purchase uranium and were hustled out of $100,000"[2] He allegedly held a bank account with Abu Hajer al-Iraqi in 1990 to facilitate the purchase of communications equipment for the Sudanese government.[2]
Return to the United StatesBy 1994, Bayazid had returned to the United States, obtaining his Illinois driver’s license and joining Benevolence International Foundation.[6] On December 16, 1994, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa travelled to the United States to meet with Bayazid, who was then helping to lead BIF - both were arrested, although Bayazid was released almost immediately.[6]
Later lifeBayazid consented to be interviewed by the 9/11. He consistently denied that he had been present at the founding meeting of al-Qaeda, and insisted he had broken with the group.[6]
In 2002, the War on Terror, but both refused to collaborate.[11]
In 2003, he met with author Lawrence Wright to provide information for his book The Looming Tower.[6] That year, American courts ruled that the government had been remiss in not providing exculpatory evidence casting doubt on their claims of Bayazid's importance within al-Qaeda.[12] References
|