Thirwat Salah Shehata (ثروت صالح شحاته) (also ''Tarwat Salah Abdallah'') (born June 29, 1960) is a core member of
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...
. Married to the sister of
Mahmoud Jaballah
) is an Egyptian who has been detained in Canada without charge on a "security certificate" since August 2001 due to his association with members of al-Jihad.
al-Jihad involvement, involvement with Mahmoud Jaballah
Shehata was alternately reported to have been sentenced to death, or a light prison sentence, ''in absentia'' in 1991 following the al-Jihad assassination of
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...
.
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
Details of some terror list groups September 25, 2001al-Zayat, Montasser, "The Road to al-Qaeda", 2002
He maintained telephone contact with Jaballah through 1996 when the latter moved to Canada.Immigration and Refugee Board Transcript June 15, 1998Tab 9, MCI et al v. Mahmoud Jaballah, DES-6-99, Transcript of Proceedings, June 8, 1999, p. 95 In October, al-Jihad's London leader
Adel Abdel Bary
Adel Mohammed Abdel Magid Abdel Bari ( ar, عادل محمد عبد المجيد عبد الباري; born 24 June 1960) is an Egyptian terrorist.
He was, together with fellow Egyptian citizen Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous until the latte ...
contacted Jaballah to mention he was shipping him several books and periodicals, including al-Mujahideen and al-Faqr for distribution in Canada, and copies of the Shifaa and some audiocassettes he asked him to forward on to Shehata.
In November 1996, Jaballah mentioned that he hadn't heard from "his father" recently, and Shehata assured him that he was alright and just having difficulty communicating lately. Canadian authorities have alleged this conversation was in reference to EIJ leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah February 22, 2008 Also in December, Shehata, now Jaballah's brother-in-law to whom he had offered financial support, told Jaballah that he was in Syria and preparing to go stay with "Daoud", believed to be a reference to
Ibrahim Eidarous
Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous () (c. 1957 – July 2008) was an Egyptian militant who was alleged to have led the London-based chapter of al-Jihad. He was held in the custody of the United Kingdom from 1999,
who was staying in
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
.
On December 13, Jaballah was informed that his friend "Najib" had been "hospitalised", which authorities suggest was a reference to
Ahmad Salama Mabruk
Ahmad Salama Mabruk ( ar, الشيخ أحمد سلامة مبروك; 1956 – 3 October 2016), known as Abu Faraj al-Masri ( ar, أبو الفرج المصري), was a senior leader in the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and was previ ...
being imprisoned along with al-Zawahiri and
Mahmud Hisham al-Hennawi Mahmud Hisham al-Hennawi (محمود هشام محمد مصطفى الحناوي), also known by his kunya ''Abu Sahl'', was an Islamic militant with ties to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and later Al-Qaeda. He was killed in Chechnya in 2005.
Early ...
by Russian authorities as they tried to cross into Chechnya. He promised to raise funds in Canada to help offset Nijab's troubles while Shehata did the same in Azerbaijan. Hani Yusef al-Sebai contacted Jaballah at this time, explaining that he was staying near Shehata and helping with the fundraising for the release.
Jabbalah contacted
Ibrahim Eidarous
Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous () (c. 1957 – July 2008) was an Egyptian militant who was alleged to have led the London-based chapter of al-Jihad. He was held in the custody of the United Kingdom from 1999,
on January 1 to ask how he would arrange a cash transfer from the British Bank of the Middle East to Azerbaijan under the name ''Khalil Yaseen Mohammed Mahmoud'', and a few days later phoned Shehata to say he was unable to transfer the funds to him. Shehata told him to just send the funds for the release to Daoud's postal box in London instead. Eidarous and Shehata traveled to Dagestan to plead for the release of the "merchants" who they argued had been unfairly arrested.Higgins, Andrew.
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
, "Saga of Dr. Zawahri Sheds Light On the Roots of al Qaeda Terror", July 2, 2002. Shehata received permission to visit the prisoners, and is believed to have smuggled them $3000 which was later confiscated from their cell, and to have given them a letter which the Russians did not bother to translate. Shehata was sent on to Chechnya, where he met with Ibn Khattab.Wright, p. 250.
In July 1998, Jaballah phoned Ibrahim Ismail Allam and passed on a message Shehata had asked him to deliver. Two days prior to the 1998 United States embassy bombings, Shehata was again contacted by Jaballah, and hours before the bombing happened Mabruk phoned Jaballah and asked him to get Eidarous to call him on Shehata's cell phone, and Jaballah passed on the message.Bell, Stewart.
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
, "Mossad's Canuck gets his man", October 15, 2005 The day after the bombings, Mabruk told Jaballah that he and Shehata were leaving Azerbaijan and that they should break off all contact now; but Shehata phoned Jaballah a short time later and informed him that he'd moved to Lebanon, but didn't have a phone in his new location. He never again contacted Jaballah, The
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
later stated that he had been again sentenced to death ''in absentia'' in 1998.
Alleged involvement in al-Qaeda, arrest
Following the
September 11th attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
in 2001, Shehata was put on a list of "12 most wanted terrorist suspects" by the United States, and accused of financing al-Qaeda.
In the lead-up to the 2003 American invasion of Iraq,
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
Yussef Dardiri
Yusuf ( ar, يوسف ') is a male name of Arabic origin meaning "God increases" (in piety, power and influence).From the Hebrew יהוה להוסיף ''YHWH Lhosif'' meaning "YHWH will increase/add". It is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew name ...
were both being allowed to operate in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
by
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
since May 2002, and used this "intelligence" as part of the bid to tie the dictator to terrorism, suggesting that "Shehata was willing to strike US, Israeli, and Egyptian targets sometime in the future" and stating that he had trained "North Africans" in the use of truck bombs in Afghanistan.
In 2005, he was believed to be under a form of house arrest in Iran. In 2014, Shehata left Iran and was believed to have traveled to Libya. On April 7, 2014, Egyptian officials announced that local authorities captured Shehata in an apartment located in
10th of Ramadan City
10th of Ramadan ( ar, العاشر من رمضان ') is a city located in the Sharqia Governorate, Egypt. It is a first-generation new urban community, and one of the most industrialized. It enjoys close proximity to the city of Cairo, and is c ...
in
Al Sharqia Governorate
Sharqia Governorate ( ar, محافظة الشرقية ', , rural: ) is the 3rd most populous of the governorates of Egypt. Located in the northern part of the country, its capital is the city of Zagazig.
Overview
Bilbeis is the former capital ...