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15 May 2001

Ali Mohamed: The Defendant Who Did Not Go to Trial
Pled guilty to conspiracy in African embassy bombing case

By Judy Aita
Washington File Staff Correspondent

New York -- As a jury deciding the fate of four men charged in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa completed its third full day of deliberations May 15, another member of the group waited in an undisclosed location for his sentencing later this year.

Ali A. Mohamed was charged in the almost simultaneous bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on August 7, 1998, and with conspiring to kill Americans, along with Wadih El Hage, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed. However, just months before their trial was to begin in Federal District Court in Manhattan on October 20, 2000, Mohamed pled guilty to five counts of conspiracy to kill nationals of the United States and officers or employees of the U.S. government on account of their official duties, to murder and kidnap, and to destroy U.S. property.

In his plea before Judge Leonard Sand, Mohamed linked Usama bin Laden with the embassy bombings and said he worked with El Hage and others indicted in the bomb plot.

Mohamed, 48, is a former Egyptian intelligence officer who became a United States citizen and a U.S. Army sergeant assigned to a Special Forces unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He left the U.S. Army in 1989 and in the early 1990s became involved in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization, which also worked with al Qaeda. He then trained fighters in surveillance techniques at al Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Observers had expected Mohamed to be a key government witness against the four defendants during the trial, which began in January 2001. However, while his name was mentioned during testimony on contacts with El Hage and documents taken from his California home were entered into evidence, the former surveillance instructor never took the stand.

Mohamed's plea agreement with the government remains secret. In his October court appearance, Mohamed told the judge that the objective of his activities with Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda was "to attack any Western target in the Middle East, to force the governments of the Western countries just to pull out from the Middle East."

Mohamed explained to Judge Sand that that "based on the Marine [barracks] explosion in Beirut in 1984 and the American pull-out from Beirut," the group planned to use the same method to force the United States to leave Saudi Arabia. Was it true that the plans "included conspiracy to murder persons who were involved in government agencies and embassies overseas?" the judge asked. "Yes, your honor," Mohamed said. "And to destroy buildings and properties of the United States?" the judge said. "Yes, your honor," Mohamed answered.

Detailing his activities with the alleged terrorist organizations in the Middle East and Africa, Mohamed said that during those activities he "understood that I was working with al Qaeda, [Usama] bin Laden, Abu Hafs [and] Abu Ubaidah, and that al Qaeda had a shura council which included Abu Hajer al Iraqui." Mohamed told the judge that in the early 1980s he became involved with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization and in the 1990s was introduced to al Qaeda through the Egyptian organization. In the early 1990s Ayman Al Zawihiri made two visits to the United States to raise funds for Islamic Jihad, Mohamed said, and he helped Zawihiri do that. Zawihiri was also indicted in the bombing but remains at large, as does bin Laden.

"In 1991 I helped transport Usama bin Laden from Afghanistan to the Sudan," Mohamed said. "In 1992 I conducted military and basic explosives training for al Qaeda in Afghanistan," training among others Harum Fadhl and Abu Jihad, and also conducted intelligence training for al Qaeda, teaching trainees how to "create cell structures that could be used for operations." He described his work in helping al Qaeda set up "a presence in Nairobi" and enumerated work done by different individuals.