Ahmed Mohammad Ajaj (also
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...
Ahmad; ; born 1966) is a Palestinian citizen who is convicted of participating in the
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by Ramzi Yousef and associates against the United States on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Manhat ...
. He is currently serving an 84-year
sentence at
USP Victorville for taking part in the bombing.
Early life
Ajaj was born in the
West Bank
The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
and
immigrated to
Houston, Texas
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
.
Training for terrorist attacks
On April 24, 1992, abandoning his first asylum claim, Ajaj flew from New York to
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, using the alias Ibrahim Salameh, from there to Camp Khalden on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Lacking necessary credentials, Ajaj was sent to
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
to obtain a letter of recommendation.
On May 16, 1992, he flew to Saudi Arabia via the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
where he procured a letter of introduction requesting the leader of Camp Khalden provide the bearer with training in the use of weapons and explosives. Ajaj returned to Pakistan via the UAE, arriving June 14, 1992, and began the bomb building course.
Return to U.S.
On August 31, 1992, using the services of a Pakistani travel agent, Ahmad Ajaj and
Ramzi Yousef boarded
Pakistan International Airlines
Pakistan International Airlines, commonly known as PIA, is the flag carrier of Pakistan. With its primary hub at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the airline also operates from its secondary hubs at Allama Iqbal International Airport ...
flight 703 in Peshawar and flew to
Karachi, Pakistan
Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
, then on to
Kennedy Airport in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, flying first class during both legs of the trip, believing they would receive less scrutiny.
Ajaj and Yousef together had five passports and numerous documents supporting their aliases: a Saudi passport showing signs of alteration, an
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
i passport bought from a Pakistani official, a photo-substituted Swedish passport, a photo-substituted British passport, a Jordanian passport, identification cards, bank records, education records, medical records, and manuals published by the
World Assembly of Muslim Youth.
On September 1, 1992, at Kennedy airport, Ajaj was sent to secondary immigration inspection, where he claimed he was a member of the Swedish press, travelling as ''Khurram Khan'' with an International Student Identification card and a falsified Swedish passport. It is unknown whether Ajaj was meant to cause a scene as a distraction to let Yousef slip through, or legitimately lost his temper, but he shouted at the inspector: "My mother was Swedish! If you don't believe me check your computer." The passport was legitimate, belonging to a Swedish citizen who had attended a training camp in Pakistan and surrendered his identity cards to those who ran the camp, but Ajaj had used simple
school paste to plaster his own photograph over that of the legitimate owner.
[Katz, Samuel M. "Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the manhunt for the al-Qaeda terrorists", 2002]
In Ajaj's luggage
INS inspector Mark Cozine and Robert Malafronte found the Saudi passport, altered
Jordanian passport, with supporting documents for both; a plane ticket and British passport in the name of Mohammed Azan, bomb-making manuals, videos and other materials on assembling weapons and explosives, letters referencing his attendance at terrorist training camps; anti-American and anti-Israeli materials, instructions on document forgery, and two rubber stamp devices to alter the seal on passports issued from
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
. One of the manuals, written in 1982, seven years before the group was founded, was entitled ''al-Qaeda'' (“The Base” or “The Foundation”) and was more widely reported after the group came to prominence.
[Benjamin, Daniel & Steven Simon. "The Age of Sacred Terror", 2002] An INS supervisor informed the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
Terrorist Task Force which declined to get involved but requested copies of the file. The
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention ...
was notified but was "not interested."
Yousef was also sent to secondary immigration inspection for lacking a passport or a visa that would allow him to enter U.S. He presented an Iraqi passport he said he bought from a Pakistani official for $100 or more (up to $2700 in one report), adding that the passport was fraudulent. Yousef claimed he was fleeing
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
and needed asylum, that he had been recently beaten by Iraqi soldiers in
Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
because they thought he was a member of a Kuwaiti guerilla organization. INS inspector Martha Morales also found in his possession a boarding pass in the name of Mohammed Azan, and an identity card, from Al-Bunyan Islamic Center in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, with Yousef's photo and the name Khurram Khan, under which Ajaj had traveled into the U.S. Yousef had signed the back of the card as Ramzi Ahmed Yousef.
Yousef had checks from
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...
of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and an address book listing what Morales later called "unusual places
n Americafor someone to visit whom had just come from halfway around the world." Fingerprinted and photographed, his passport was confiscated. Morales said Yousef spoke excellent English with a British accent, admitted his real name Ramzi Yousef and said he was born in UAE in 1967, and was a citizen of Pakistan. Her Supervisor overruled Morales's recommendation to detain Yousef on grounds the INS detention center was full - even though Yousef had committed acts of immigration fraud (travelling under three different identities and lying to an INS official), and also given inspectors evidence linking him to Ahmad Ajaj. With intermingled documents and both men in secondary inspection, still Yousef was not linked to Ajaj. He made a claim for political asylum and was released in the United States pending a hearing.
Ajaj's terrorist kit, counterfeit entry stamp, and outburst were all decoys intended to deflect INS attention away from Yousef and facilitate Yousef's processing - a premeditated plan intended to exploit routine activities of busy INS inspectors. After more than 8 hours of questioning, at 5:00 a.m. September 2, 1992, INS handed Ajaj to
Wackenhut Correctional Corporation for incarceration in a converted warehouse in
Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
.
Ajaj's passport revealed his June 15, 1992, Pakistani entry stamp was counterfeit. Ajaj told authorities he had a political asylum claim from a prior entry in February 1992, and was detained pending a hearing. Ajaj later pleaded guilty to use of an altered passport and served six months in prison. Yousef never appeared for his hearing.
Participation from prison
Incarcerated from September 2, 1992, Ajaj remained in contact with Yousef and other co-conspirators and continued to be involved in the
World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by Ramzi Yousef and associates against the United States on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the 1 World Trade Center (1971–2001), North Tower of the Worl ...
plot. Ajaj never contacted Yousef directly. Calls were patched through "Big 5 Hamburgers" in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, rendering law enforcement detection more difficult. The calls were not translated until long after the WTC bombing.
Beginning on December 4, 1992 (and later on December 29, 1992), Yousef placed a series of calls to Ajaj's lawyer in New York and to Ajaj's friend in Texas. Later that same day, a call from Ajaj was transferred to Yousef, permitting the two to speak directly. In the conversation, Ajaj immediately brought up the terrorist kit informing Yousef that the Court had ordered the government to return Ajaj's belongings. When Yousef asked if he could take possession of Ajaj's things, Ajaj readily agreed at first, but then said that it was not a good idea for Yousef personally to obtain the materials from the government because it might jeopardize Yousef's "business", which, Ajaj said, would be "a pity!"
Ajaj was released from prison March 1, 1993 – three days after the WTC bombing. He was rearrested in connection with the attack March 9, 1993, and his asylum request was denied on April 24, 1993. In jail at the time of the WTC bombing, Ajaj was convicted of having played a role "in the early stages of the conspiracy" and convicted of nine counts, sentenced to 240 years, fined $250,000, and ordered to pay 250 million dollars in restitution.
Ajaj did not give up on his political asylum claim. He petitioned for a new attorney and an exclusion hearing – held to determine whether someone is admissible in the U.S. – in
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, where he had filed his original political asylum claim. Ajaj's request was denied April 24, 1993, on grounds that a passport holder from a visa waiver country who uses a fraudulent passport (Ajaj had used a bogus Swedish passport) is not entitled to such a hearing. Not satisfied with that outcome, Ajaj asked to file a new political asylum claim and was given ten days by an immigration judge to do so. Thus, Ajaj was able to file a political asylum claim after his arrest for involvement in the WTC bombing.
A 2011
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
report claimed he was imprisoned in a highly restrictive
Communication Management Unit.
[
As of 2025, Ajaj is at USP Victorville with BOP number 40637-053. In 2021, one of Ajaj's convictions was overturned, reducing his sentence by 30 years.]
Lung cancer
In the late 1990s Ajaj was diagnosed with lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons moved him to a medical facility, where he had surgery to remove the cancerous lung and received radiation treatment. He has filed scores of grievances and several lawsuits against the U.S. prison system, alleging everything from interference with his mail to denial of access to lawyers, and violations of his Eighth Amendment rights.
Ajaj was the only remaining plaintiff in a lawsuit by federal prisoners alleging harm from secondhand smoke seeping through the air filtration system at SuperMax.
References
[DATA & GRAPHICS: Population Of The Communications Management Units]
Margot Williams and Alyson Hurt, NPR, 3-3-11, retrieved 2011 03 04 from npr.org
External links
* Steven Emerson, Jonathon Levin
Terrorism Financing: Origination, Organization, and Prevention: Saudi Arabia, Terrorist Financing and the War on Terror
''Testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs'', July 31, 2003
Summary of ''For the Record'' radio program on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
* Mark S. Hamm
Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups: Theory, Research and Prevention
''Criminology Department Indiana State University
Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...
'', June 1, 2005
Profile: Ahmad Ajaj
-Center for Cooperative Research
* Robert I. Friedman, ''Mossad Linked To WTC Bomb Suspect'', Village Voice, 3 August 1993
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajaj, Ahmed
1966 births
20th-century criminals
Bombers (people)
Inmates of ADX Florence
Living people
Palestinian mass murderers
Palestinian people convicted of murder
Palestinian people imprisoned in the United States
People convicted of murder by the United States federal government
People imprisoned on terrorism charges