Ziyad Khaleel, also known as Khalil Ziyad, Ziyad Sadaqa, and Ziyad Abdulrahman, was an American al-Qaeda member, based in the United States, primarily in Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Missouri. He had been identified as a "procurement agent" for Osama bin Laden,[1][2][3] arranging the purchase and delivery of "computers, satellite telephones, and covert surveillance equipment" for the leadership of al-Qaeda,[4] as well as administering a number of radical Islamic websites as webmaster, including the website of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.[5][6][7] Among the cities in which he resided at various times were Denver, Detroit, Columbia and Orlando.
Ziyad Khaleel | |
---|---|
Other names | Khalil Ziyad, Ziyad Sadaqa, and Ziyad Abdulrahman |
Citizenship | U.S. |
Education | Columbia College |
Known for | Al-Qaeda member, "procurement agent" for Osama bin Laden |
In 1991, while living in Denver, he was vice president of the Denver Islamic Society.[8] By 1994 he was residing in Detroit and his name and address were reflected in ledgers taken from the Al Kifah Refugee Center, a financial and strategic arm of al-Qaeda.[7]
Upon moving to Columbia, Missouri, he was known as Ziyad Khaleel, but began using the surname Sadaqa as early as 1996. That year he was a fundraiser and one of eight regional directors of the Islamic African Relief Agency (IARA), which the government later determined was a front for al-Qaeda and Hamas.[9]
Late in 1996 he bought a $7,500 INMARSAT satellite telephone at the instruction of senior al-Qaeda lieutenant Khaled al-Fawwaz.[7][10] He delivered the satellite telephone and a battery pack to bin Laden in Afghanistan in May 1998.[11][12] Bin Laden used the phone to place phone calls around the world, directing al-Qaeda's operations and orchestrating the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.[9]
In 1998 and 1999, Khaleel lived in an apartment in the eastern part of Florida's Orange County, near Orlando.[13][14]
The FBI investigated Anwar al-Awlaki, later linked to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood shooter, and the Christmas Day 2009 bomber, beginning in June 1999 through March 2000, after it learned he had been contacted by Khaleel.[15][16]
On December 29, 1999, as he arrived in the Jordanian capital of Amman, local authorities arrested him on charges of being a procurement agent for bin Laden, but he was later released.[7][17] In 2000 Khaleel lived in Manchester, Missouri, and attended Columbia College in St. Louis.[18]