Fawaz al-Rabeiee
Fawaz al-Rabeiee | |
|---|---|
فواز الربيعي | |
 Rabeiee in an undated photograph | |
| Born | Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee 1979 |
| Died | October 1, 2006 (aged 26–27) Sanaa, Yemen |
| Nationality | Yemeni |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Al-Qaeda (2000-2001)
|
| Years of service | 2000–2006 |
| Rank | Al-Qaeda cell leader |
| Battles / wars | Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen |
Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee (1979 – October 1, 2006) was an al-Qaeda terrorist, sentenced to death in 2004 by a Yemeni court for his part in the 2002 attack on the French tanker Limburg.[1] Al-Rabeiee escaped custody in February 2006, with 22 other inmates, but was killed 1 October 2006 in San‘a’, along with another al-Qaeda suspect identified as Mohammed Daylami.[1][2]
 | This article's lead section contains information that is not included elsewhere in the article. (September 2022) |
Al-Rabeii was a Yemeni national although born in Saudi Arabia. He became wanted in 2002, by the United States Department of Justice's FBI, which was then seeking information about his identity and whereabouts. In early 2002, he had been named as the cell leader in a suspected Yemen plot, for which he became listed on the FBI's third major "wanted" list, now known as the FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list.
Al-Rabeiee was considered to be the "ring leader" of his Yemen terrorist cell. In 2002, he had been identified by the FBI as traveling on Yemeni passport 00452004. His identified aliases included Fawaz Yahia Hassan Aribii, Fawaz al-Rubai, Fawaz Yehia Hassan al-Rabie, Fawaz Yahya Hasan al-Rabi'i, Fawaz Yahya al-Ribi (al-Ruba'i, al-Rabia'i, al-Rabi'i), Forqan al-Tajiki, Furqan al-Tajiki, Furgan al-Tajiki, Furqan the Chechen, Faris al-Baraq, Sa'id Musharraf, and Salem al-Farhan. "Furqan al-Tajiki" is the addressee of a letter, found in Afghanistan, which appears to have been written by his brother Salman Yahya Hassan Mohammed Rabeii.[3]
Early life
[edit]Rabeiee was born 1979 to Yemeni parents in Saudi Arabia.[4] He was the third of four brothers and four sisters and attended attended al-Falah school in Jeddah. In 1990, he was among the near millions of Yemeni families expelled from Saudi Arabia due to Yemen's support for Saddam Hussein during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. During the late 1990s, Rabeiee took a job in the personnel department in the presidential office in Yemen.[5]
Militant activities
[edit]Afghanistan
[edit]In early 2000, Rabeiee along with two other individuals, including a former member of the Political Security Organization (PSO), travelled to Afghanistan in order to "die as a martyr", claiming that the money he earned from his job within the Yemen was haram. Rabeiee spent the rest of the year and most of 2001 in Afghanistan, spending time with September 11 hijackers Muhammad Atta and Ziad Jarrah and allegedly training in an al-Qaeda camp with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.[5][6]
Al-Qaeda in Yemen
[edit]Rabeiee returned to Yemen in late 2001, becoming the ringleader of a 12-man AQY cell.[5] On 11 February 2002, the FBI issued an alert warning of potential terrorist attacks against the United States or its oversea interests, claiming that Rabeiee was planning an attack alongside 16 other associates, some linked to Osama bin Laden.[7][8] The FBI later dropped their search for six of the suspects after learning that they had been already been in Yemeni custody.[9]
Rabeiee was involved in a bombing near offices of the Civil Aviation Authority and PSO in Sanaa on April 17 2002.[10][11] He headed the AQY cell responsible for the MV Limburg bombing on 6 October 2002, which killed a Bulgarian sailor and injured 12 others.[6] THe attack was reportedly conducted on the orders of Abu Ali al-Harithi, the leader of AQY.[11] Later in November, he and his brother Abu Bakr al-Rabeiee organized a cell for the attempted shootdown of a Hunt Oil helicopter, which injured two employees.[11][12]
Capture and trial
[edit]Rabeiee along with 10 other suspected militants were arrested by Yemeni authorities on 28 March 2003. The group was captured in Marib governorate after a helicopter chase.[12]
The trial for the cell headed by Rabeiee, which was numbered at 15 people (one of whom was tried in absentia) began on 29 May 2004. The group was accused of involvement in several terrorist attacks and plots, including the MV Limburg bombing, the Hunt Oil helicopter attack, the Civil Aviation Authority bombing and a plot to assassinate the US ambassador to Yemen, Edmund Hull.[13]
After al-Rabeei was caught, the trial began, on May 29, 2004 and centered on the October 2002 bombing of the Limburg.
On July 10, 2004, during a court hearing, several of the accused threatened the prosecutor by stating that they would cut off his legs.
Fawaz al-Rabeiee was sentenced to death for the Limburg attack. He was also fined $100,000 to compensate for the aviation building damages.
Seven others were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Five of the militants — Ibraheem Mohammed al-Huwaidi, Aref Saleh Ali Mujali, Mohammed Abdullah al-Dailami, Abdulghani Ali Hussein Kaifan, and Kasem Yahia al-Raimee — were sentenced to five years in prison. They were found guilty of plotting attacks against the US, French, UK, Cuban and German embassies, and plotting to assassinate the former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen. One of the 15 accused was sentenced to death for killing a Yemeni police officer.
Fayez al-Hajoury, a lawyer who represented Fawzi Halabi, a defendant who received a 10 years sentence, described the verdicts as "null and void" and stated that the work of the defense attorneys was obstructed by authorities. Saleh Majali, the father of the man sentenced to death, angrily stated the whole trial was a "sham", with no respect for human rights. The father of defendant Abdulkareem Kaifan claimed the verdict had been decided from the start and the whole trial was a "decoration" to pass the verdict. The defendants vowed to appeal their verdicts and sentences.
Mass escape from Yemen
[edit]
On February 3, 2006, 23 people, 12 of them al-Qaeda members, escaped from a Yemeni jail in San'a, according to a BBC report.[14] Al-Rabeiee was among the group, which reportedly escaped by digging a tunnel, 140 metres, which took them to a nearby mosque.
However, none of the 17 Yemen plot suspects from the 2002 terror alert appeared again among the newly listed FBI "wanted" list names in relation to the Yemen escape of 2006.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Al Qaeda fugitives killed in Yemen Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Gulf News, October 1, 2006.
- ^ "Yemen forces kill 2 top Al Qaeda fugitives", Australian Broadcasting Corp., October 2, 2006.
- ^ Three declassified letters from the Harmony database, United States Military Academy; see page 14
- ^ "FBI warns of new terror attack". BBC News. 12 February 2002. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ a b c Johnsen, Gregory D. (27 September 2007). "Tracking Yemen's 23 Escaped Jihadi Operatives – Part 1". The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ a b Koehler-Derrick, Gabriel (3 October 2011). "A False Foundation? AQAP, Tribes and Ungoverned Spaces in Yemen" (PDF). Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
- ^ "FBI Warns of Possible Attack Tuesday". ABC News. 11 February 2002. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ "FBI issues new terror warning". CBC News. 12 February 2002. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ Shenon, Philip (15 February 2002). "A NATION CHALLENGED: AN ALERT; Six Named in Terror Warning Had Already Been Imprisoned". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ "Explosion Damages Buildings in Capital". Los Angeles Times. 17 April 2002. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ a b c "Yemen jails five over Limburg, US envoy murder plot". Times of Malta. 29 August 2004. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ a b Blau, Justine (5 April 2003). "Al Qaeda Suspect Arrested In Yemen". CBS News. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ Al-Mahdi, Khaled (30 May 2004). "Yemen Opens Trial for Terror Suspects". Arab News. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ^ Hunt on for Yemeni jailbreakers, BBC, February 4, 2006
- ^ Recent Escapees From Yemen Prison Added to Most Wanted Terrorists and Seeking Information – War on Terrorism Lists Archived April 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, FBI national Press Release, February 23, 2006.