Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (
Arabic:
احمد عمر سعید شیخ) (also known as
Sheikh Omar,
Sheik Syed;
Syed being a wrong transliteration of
سعید) (b.
December 23 1973- ) is a
British-born
terrorist of
Pakistani descent with alleged links to various
Islamic-based
terrorist organisations, including
Jaish-e-Mohammed,
Al-Qaeda, and
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
He was arrested and served time in prison for the 1994 abduction of several British nationals in Pakistan, an act which he acknowledges, but is most well-known for his alleged role in the
2002 kidnapping and murder of
Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl. Sheikh Omar Saeed was arrested by Pakistani police on February 12, 2002, in
Lahore, in conjunction with the Pearl kidnapping,
[ CNN Transcript February 12, 2002.] and was sentenced to death on July 15, 2002,
[ Ansari, Massoud. Newsline April 2005.] for killing Pearl.
His complicity in the execution and the reasons behind it are in dispute. While in his initial court appearance, he stated, "I don't want to defend this case. I did this...Right or wrong, I had my reasons. I think that our country shouldn't be catering to America's needs."
, he subsequently appealed his conviction and is awaiting further progress while in prison.
In his youth he attended Forest School Snaresbrook, a
public school in North-East
London, whose alumni include
English cricket captain
Nasser Hussain and
Peter Greenaway, the filmmaker. Between the ages of 14 and 16 he attended school in Pakistan, where his family had relocated, before returning to the United Kingdom to continue at the Forest School.[
1] Later, he attended the
London School of Economics.
He served five years in prison in
New Delhi in the 1990s in conjunction with the 1994 abduction of three British travellers, Myles Croston, 28, Paul Rideout, 26 and Rhys Partridge, 27.
In 1999,
Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hijacked and hostages were traded for his release, along with other leaders of Harakat-ul-Mujahideen to
Islamic Republic of Pakistan.[
2].
The Times describes Saeed Sheikh as "no ordinary terrorist but a man who has connections that reach high into Pakistan's military and intelligence elite and into the innermost circles of Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization." According to
ABC, Sheikh began working for Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence in 1993. By 1994 he was operating terrorist training camps in
Afghanistan and had earned the title of bin Laden's "special son."
In May 2002, the
Washington Post quotes an unnamed Pakistani as saying that the ISI paid Sheikh's legal fees during his 1994 trial in India on charges of kidnap. However, this claim has not been confirmed by any other source.
US authorities have also named Saeed Sheikh as a key figure in the funding of the 9/11 attacks. [
3]
On October 6, 2001, a senior-level U.S. government official told
CNN that U.S. investigators had discovered Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (Sheik Syed), using the alias "
Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad" had sent about $100,000 from the
United Arab Emirates to
Mohammed Atta. "Investigators said Atta then distributed the funds to conspirators in Florida in the weeks before the deadliest acts of terrorism on U.S. soil that destroyed the World Trade Center, heavily damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead. In addition, sources have said Atta sent thousands of dollars back to Saeed in the United Arab Emirates in the days before September 11.
CNN later confirmed this. [
4]
The 9/11 Commission's Final Report states that the source of the funds "remains unknown."
More than a month after the money transfer was discovered, the head of ISI, General
Mahmoud Ahmad resigned from his position.
Indian news outlets reported the
FBI was investigating the possiblity that Gen. Ahmed ordered Saeed Sheikh to send the $100,000 to Atta, while most Western media outlets only reported his connections to the
Taliban as the reason for his departure. [
5]
The Wall Street Journal was one of the only Western news organizations to follow up on the story, citing the Times of India: "US authorities sought [Gen. Mahmud Ahmed's] removal after confirming the fact that $100,000 [was] wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by Ahmad Umar Sheikh at the instance of Gen Mahmud."[
6] Another Indian newspaper, the Daily Excelsior, quoting FBI sources, reported that the "FBI's examination of the hard disk of the cellphone company Omar Sheikh had subscribed to led to the discovery of the "link" between him and the deposed chief of the Pakistani ISI, Gen. Mehmood Ahmed. And as the FBI investigators delved deep, sensational reports surfaced with regard to the transfer of 100,000 dollars to Mohammed Atta, one of the kamikaze pilots who flew his Boeing into the World Trade Centre. Gen. Mehmood Ahmed, the FBI investigators found, fully knew about the transfer of money to Atta."[
7]
The Pittsburgh Tribune notes that "There are many in Musharraf's government who believe that Saeed Sheikh's power comes not from the ISI, but from his connections with our own CIA."[
8]
Sheikh rose to prominence with the
2002 killing of
Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl, who at the time was in Pakistan investigating connnections between the ISI and Islamic militant groups. In Pakistan, Sheikh was sentenced to death for killing Pearl, however his complicity in the execution and the reasons behind it are in dispute.
A Wall Street Journal review of Bernard-Henri Levy's book "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?" notes, "It is a fact that Gen. Mahmood Ahmed, then head of the ISI, wired $100,000 to Mohamed Atta before 9/11 through an intermediary."[
9]
Sheikh Omar Saeed was arrested by Pakistani police on February 12, 2002, in
Lahore, in conjunction with the Pearl kidnapping,
[ CNN Transcript February 12, 2002.] He told the Pakistani court, however, that he had surrendered to the
Inter-Services Intelligence Agency a week earlier.
[ Wright, Abi. Committee to Protect Journalists, May 2006. ]*
Terrorists of Pakistani origin
*
The English Islamic Terrorist - The Scotsman article*
Suspected hijack bankroller freed by India in '99 - CNN*
Pearl Trial Moving to New Site After Threats - Washington Post*
India helped FBI trace ISI-terrorist links - Times of India *
Suspected hijack bankroller freed by India in '99 - CNN*
Sept. 11's Smoking Gun: The Many Faces of Saeed Sheikh - Center for Cooperative Research*
'Our Friends the Pakistanis' - The Wall Street Journal *
India wants terror spotlight on Kashmir - CNN*
FBI, CIA benefit from RAW's inputs - The Daily Excelsior*
Did Pearl die because Pakistan deceived CIA? - The Pittsburgh Tribune*
Profiles in Terror: Omar Sayeed Sheikh
