Ramzi Binalshibh

Ramzi Binalshibh (1972-) (aka)  Ramzi Bin al-Shibh , a Yemeni, is a High Value Detainee at Guananamo Bay detention camp, captured in Karachi, Pakistan on September 11, 2002. On May 8, 2008, a U.S. Military Commission announced the government intended to try him, along with four other co-defendants, for charges related to the 9-11 attack.

Biographical
Other names used include Abu Ubaydah, Umar Muhammad Abdallah Ba Amar, Umar Muhammad Abdallah Ba Amar, Ramzi Mohamed Abdellah Omar and Ahad Sabet

Born in Ghayl Bawazir, Yemen in 1972, and finding a religious identity at age 12, he fought in the Yemeni civil war in 1994. His family came from Amad, in Hamadraut Province, where bin Laden's father had grown up. He won a scholarship to a college in Bonn.

He twice tried to emigrate to the U.S., and then went to Germany under an assumed name, claiming to be Sudanese, and requested political asylum, which was denied. Returning to Yemen, he obtained a student visa under his true name, and went back to Germany in 1997, meeting Mohammed Atta and other members of the Hamburg Cell there.

He was apparently radicalized there, when he began to speak of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. But he had a reputation of being outgoing and polite. Through family connections, arranged their travel to Afghanistan in 1999. They met bin Laden and pledged allegiance; he was designated as one of the suicide hijackers.

Operations
Returning to Germany in early 2000, he was unable to obtain a visa to travel to the United States, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed named Binalshibh as his main assistant in the "Planes Operation" due to his knowledge of the details of the plot. Mohamed Atta, who flew the first hijacked aircraft, American Airlines Flight 11, as "emir" of the group and Nawafal Hazmi was selected as Atta's "deputy." Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gave Atta full authority to make operational decisions in the United States; Binalshibh was KSM's staff assistant.

Before the attack, he was the primary communications intermediary between al-Qaeda leadership and the hijackers. In January and July 2001, he met with Atta in Europe for detailed briefings. In addition, he made travel plans and transferred funds for the hijackers and also for Acharias Moussaoui.

In August, Atta told him the attack date, which he gave to KSM, and, a week before the attack, left for Afghanistan, arriving several days after 9/11. When the U.S. defeated the Taliban in late 2001, he moved to Karachi to work with KSM.

At the time of his capture, he was primarily working on the Heathrow attacks and had recruited four Saudis.