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236———Mohammad, Fazul Abdullah (1972 or 1974– )

Using a Tanzanian passport under a friend’s See also AL QAEDA; OSAMA BIN LADEN; EAST AFRICAN
name, Mohamed settled in Cape Town, South EMBASSY BOMBINGS; MOHAMED SADEEK ODEH
Africa, and obtained a temporary residency permit
after he applied for political asylum. He worked in a Further Reading
hamburger restaurant and lived with its owners, Bergen, Peter L. Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of
impressing them as a hardworking and pious young Osama bin Laden. New York: Free Press, 2001.
man. His year on the run ended when FBI agents Gunaratna, Rohan. Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of
traced the passport application back to Mohamed. Terror. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Agents were waiting for Mohamed on October 5, Reeve, Simon. The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin
1999, when he went to renew his South African Laden, and the Future of Terrorism. Boston: Northeastern
residential papers. University Press, 1999.
Mohamed essentially confessed to his role in the
terror conspiracy during two days of interrogation.
“He felt it was his obligation and duty to kill MOHAMMAD, FAZUL ABDULLAH
Americans,” FBI agent Abigail Perkins testified at (1972 OR 1974– )
the trial. Although Mohamed never met bin Laden or
aka Abdallah Fazul, Abdalla Fazul, Abdallah
heard him speak, he considered him his jihad leader
Mohammed Fazul, Fazul Abdilahi Mohammed,
and shared his views. Perkins said that Mohamed
Fazul Adballah, Fazul Abdalla, Fazul Mohammed,
“really didn’t like the fact that soldiers were in Saudi
Haroon, Harun, Haroon Fazul, Harun Fazul, Fadil
Arabia, in the Holy Land” and he felt the United Abdallah Muhamad, Fadhil Haroun, Abu Seif al
States, as a superpower, could make peace in Sudani, Abu Aisha, Abu Luqman, Fadel Abdallah
“Palestine.” Mohammed Ali, Fouad Mohammed
Because soldiers were “such a hard target to get to,”
Mohamed said U.S. government buildings were tar- Fazul Mohammad, who was born in the Cormoros
geted, and although no Americans were killed in the Islands, a tiny former French colony off the coast of
Tanzania blast, he considered it a success. “Bombings East Africa, is alleged to be a member of Osama bin
were the only way that America would listen and that Laden’s Al Qaeda network. The explosives and com-
it also kept the Americans busy investigating,” Perkins puter expert is included on the FBI’s list of the 22
recalled Mohamed saying. Had he not been caught, “most wanted terrorists” for his involvement in the
Mohamed told Perkins, “He would have continued in 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa.
his efforts to kill Americans.” As a teenager, Mohammad received a scholarship
Pursuing the death penalty, prosecutors focused on for a fundamentalist Islamic education in Pakistan and
the impact of the Tanzania embassy bombing on the left the Cormoros. According to the U.S. indictment in
victims’ families and on Mohamed’s potential future September 1998 in the embassy bombings, he attended
dangerousness, even behind bars. Prosecutors tried to Al Qaeda’s paramilitary training camp in Afghanistan
link him to a pretrial jailhouse stabbing by his one- in 1991 and 1992.
time cellmate that left a corrections officer critically Al Qaeda, an Arabic word meaning “The Base,” is
wounded. an international network that advocates and uses force
The jury favored the death penalty, but could not and violence to achieve the goal of driving the United
agree on it unanimously, as required. On their verdict States from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries.
form, most jurors agreed with defense attorneys that The group, which serves as an umbrella group for
Mohamed was not a leader of the terror conspiracy other militant organizations, establishes cells in areas
and was only a minor participant in the bomb plot. where attacks are carried out. Al Qaeda members
Jurors also believed that an execution would have manage the cells and recruit individuals to perform
made Mohamed a martyr and could have been used to administrative and other tasks. According to the
justify future terrorist acts. indictment, Mohammad worked for Wadih el-Hage,
Mohamed made no statement at his sentencing on the leader of the Nairobi cell in Kenya. He and other
October 18, 2001. On his behalf, a defense attorney Al Qaeda members also allegedly provided military
said, “We simply wish to express gratitude to the jury training to Somali tribes opposed to the U.N. inter-
which spared his life.” vention in Somalia’s civil war in 1993.