Ahmed al-Haznawi

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Ahmed al-Haznawi bigraphy, stories - 9/11 hijacker

Ahmed al-Haznawi : biography

11 October 1980 – 11 September 2001

Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi ( ) (October 11, 1980 – September 11, 2001) was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.

A Saudi, Haznawi had trained in Afghanistan after leaving his family to fight in Chechnya in 2000. He arrived in the United States in June 2001 under the direction of Al-Qaeda for terrorist attacks, on a tourist visa. Once he was in the U.S., he settled in Florida and helped plan out how the attacks would take place.

On September 11, 2001, Haznawi boarded United Airlines Flight 93 and assisted in the hijacking of the plane, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after a passenger uprising.

History

1999–2000

Haznawi announced he was leaving his family in 1999 to help fight in Chechnya, although his father forbade him. His father and brother, Abdul Rahman al-Haznawi, reportedly last heard from him in late 2000, after he made references to training in Afghanistan.

On November 12, 2000, Haznawi applied for and received a two-year US B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

From November 27, 2000 through December 27, 2000, Haznawi was in Saudi Arabia for Ramadan. It is theorized that during this trip, he may have initially told Saeed and Hamza al-Ghamdi about the operation.

Some time late in 2000, Haznawi traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he purchased traveler’s cheques presumed to have been paid for by Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased travellers cheques, including Majed Moqed, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, Wail al-Shehri and Ahmed al-Nami.

2001

He was one of four hijackers believed to be staying at a Kandahar guest house in March 2001, where they were seen by Mohammed Jabarah. Jabarah remembered Haznawi appeared in an [[al-Qaeda video, pledging to give his life to martyrdom.]] Haznawi specifically, saying that he was "very devout and could recite the entire Koran from memory".Ressa, Maria. "Seeds of Terror", 2003. p. 165

On June 8 he arrived in Miami, Florida with fellow hijacker Wail al-Shehri. He was one of 9 hijackers to open a SunTrust bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001. He is believed to have moved in with Ziad Jarrah, who got a new apartment on Bougainvilla Dr. in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, after both men gave the landlord photocopies of their German passports, which he later turned over to the FBI.

On June 25, Jarrah took Haznawi to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale on advice of his landlord Charles Lisa. Haznawi was treated by Dr. Christos Tsonas, who gave him antibiotics for a small gash on his left calf. While he told staff that he had bumped into a suitcase, Washington Post, March 29, 2002 the media briefly reported it as a sign of cutaneous anthrax and a possible link to the 2001 anthrax attacks, although FBI later addressed the rumors stating that "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been."

On July 10 Haznawi obtained a Florida driver’s license, later obtaining another copy on September 7, 2001 by filling out a change-of-address form. Five other suspected hijackers also received duplicate Florida licenses in 2001, and others had licenses from different states. Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple persons to use the same identity.

Jarrah and Haznawi both received their one-way tickets for United Airlines Flight 93, on September 5. On September 7, all four Flight 93 hijackers flew from Fort Lauderdale to Newark International Airport aboard Spirit Airlines.

Early life

Ahmed al-Haznawi was the son of a Saudi imam from the Al-Bahah province, a province in the south west of Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Al Bahah Province nestled between the resorts of Mecca and Abha, Al Bahah is one of the Kingdom’s prime tourist attractions. Haznawi grew up in the village of Hazna, where his father was a cleric at the mosque in the central marketplace section of the village. Haznawi belonged to a family that was part of the larger, al-Ghamdi tribe, sharing the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Ghamdi. He memorised the Quran, giving him the title Hafiz.Bell, Stewart. "The Martyr’s Oath", 2005.