A Saudi national, he was one of two key financial facilitators entrusted by Sept. 11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed to manage the funding for the hijackings. As a trusted, respected financial facilitator known to the leadership, al-Hawsawi separately met with Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and al Qaeda spokesman Sulayman Bu Ghayth soon after the attacks and had contact with many of al Qaeda's most senior managers.
Various reports suggest that al-Hawsawi had direct ties to several of the hijackers and to other operatives, including Ramzi Binalshibh -- who delivered some money from al-Hawsawi to the hijackers. In addition, al-Hawsawi and Binalshibh served as a communications link between Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and the hijackers.
He shared a United Arab Emirates-based financial account with one hijacker -- an account that funded the hijackers' activities in the month before the attacks. Four hijackers returned money directly to al-Hawsawi in the week before the attacks, which al-Hawsawi then redeemed in the UAE. Al-Hawsawi also wired thousands of dollars to Binalshibh in the summer of 2001, per Khaled Sheikh Mohammed's instructions. Khaled Sheikh Mohammed also maintained his own financial links to al-Hawsawi. In 2001, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed held a supplemental credit card linked to an al-Hawsawi account based in the UAE.
Al-Hawsawi worked in the al Qaeda media center in Afghanistan from 2000 -- while it was under the direction of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed -- until he departed for the UAE in early 2001.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Hawsawi fled the UAE and traveled to Afghanistan and to Pakistan, where he hid until his capture in 2003. Khaled Sheikh Mohammed reportedly had been providing a safe house and other logistic support to guarantee al-Hawsawi's security after he arrived in Pakistan.
Hawsawi facilitated other operatives' travel, including Muhammad al-Qahtani, who was denied entry into the United States in the summer of 2001.
Hawsawi's close relationship with Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and the latter's active participation in providing for his security following Sept. 11 suggests Hawsawi was key to Khaled Sheikh Mohammed's operational team.
Charges: Conspiracy. Murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism.
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