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Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (احمد عمر سعید شیخ) (sometimes known as Umar Sheikh, Sheikh Omar, Sheik Syed, or by the alias "Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad") (born December 23 1973) is a British-born militant of Pakistani descent with alleged links to various Islamic-based organisations, including Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al-Qaeda, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Taliban.

He was arrested and served time in prison for the 1994 abduction of several British nationals in India, an act which he acknowledges, he was released from captivity in 1999 and provided safe passage into Pakistan, apparently with the support of Pakistan and the Taliban (the hijackers were Pakistanis) in an Indian Airlines plane hijacking. He is most well-known for his alleged role in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Sheikh Omar Saeed was arrested by Pakistani police on February 12, 2002, in Lahore, in conjunction with the Pearl kidnapping, and was sentenced to death on July 15, 2002 for killing Pearl. His judicial appeal has not yet been heard. The delay has been alleged to be due to his reported links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.

Former Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, in his book In the Line of Fire stated that Sheikh was originally recruited by British intelligence agency, MI6, while studying at the London School of Economics. He alleges Omar Sheikh was sent to the Balkans by MI6 to engage in jihadi operations. Musharraf later went on to state, "At some point, he probably became a rogue or double agent".

His complicity in the execution and the reasons behind it are in dispute. At his initial court appearance, he stated, "I don't want to defend this case. I did this... Right or wrong, I had my reasons. I think that our country shouldn't be catering to America's needs.", but he subsequently appealed his conviction and is awaiting further progress while in prison. Sheikh's lawyer has stated he will base his client's appeal on the recent admission of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that he is the killer of Daniel Pearl.

Early life

In his youth he attended Forest School, Walthamstow, an independent school in North-East London, whose alumni include English cricket captain Nasser Hussain and Peter Greenaway, the filmmaker. Between the ages of 14 and 16 he attended school in Pakistan, where his family had relocated, before returning to the United Kingdom to continue at Forest School. He told school friends that he had been in Pakistan learning about jihad, but was not believed. He was a fine chess-player and won a junior London championship. Later, he attended the London School of Economics, where he studied Applied Mathematics and Economics. At the LSE, he came under the influence of Islamic fundamentalists and was instrumental in recruiting students to the cause around London.

Kidnapping of American and British nationals, 1994

He served five years in prison in New Delhi in the 1990s in connection with the 1994 abduction of three British travellers, Myles Croston, 28, Paul Rideout, 26 and Rhys Partridge, 27, and one American, Béla Nuss, 43.

Hijacking and Release from prison

In 1999, Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hijacked from Nepal. Its hijackers demanded his release along with Maulana Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar,who were leaders of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, to Pakistan. The plane landed in Kandahar and Taliban militia surrounded the plane, pre-empting any Indian commando operation. After negotiations between the Indian government and the hijackers, the hostages were freed eight days after the hijacking occurred, although a passenger by the name of Rupin Katyal was stabbed to death by one of the hijackers. Omar Sheikh along with the two other prisoners were released in exchange for the hostages.

Media descriptions

The Times describes Saeed Sheikh as "no ordinary terrorist but a man who has connections that reach high into Pakistan's military and intelligence elite and into the innermost circles of Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization." According to ABC, Sheikh began working for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence in 1993. By 1994 he was operating training camps in Afghanistan and had earned the title of bin Laden's "special son."

In May 2002, the Washington Post quotes an unnamed Pakistani as saying that the ISI paid Sheikh's legal fees during his 1994 trial in India on charges of kidnap. However, this claim has not been confirmed by any other source.

US authorities have also named Saeed Sheikh as a key figure in the funding of the 9/11 attacks.

Alleged connection to 9/11

On October 6, 2001, a senior-level U.S. government official told CNN that U.S. investigators had discovered Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (Sheik Syed), using the alias "Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad" had sent about $100,000 from the United Arab Emirates to Mohammed Atta. "Investigators said Atta then distributed the funds to conspirators in Florida in the weeks before the deadliest acts of terrorism on U.S. soil that destroyed the World Trade Center, heavily damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead. In addition, sources have said Atta sent thousands of dollars -- believed to be excess funds from the operation -- back to Saeed in the United Arab Emirates in the days before September 11. CNN later confirmed this.

The 9/11 Commission's Final Report states that the source of the funds "remains unknown."

More than a month after the money transfer was discovered, the head of ISI, General Mahmud Ahmed resigned from his position. It was reported that the FBI was investigating the possibility that Gen. Ahmed ordered Saeed Sheikh to send the $100,000 to Atta ; there were also claims that Indian intelligence had already produced proof for the Pakistani administration that this was so.

The Wall Street Journal was one of the only Western news organizations to follow up on the story, citing the Times of India: "US authorities sought General Mahmud Ahmed's removal after confirming the fact that $100,000 was wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by Ahmad Umar Sheikh at the instance of General Mahmud." Another Indian newspaper, the Daily Excelsior, quoting FBI sources, reported that the "FBI’s examination of the hard disk of the cellphone company Omar Sheikh had subscribed to led to the discovery of the "link" between him and the deposed chief of the Pakistani ISI, Mahmud Ahmed. And as the FBI investigators delved deep, sensational reports surfaced with regard to the transfer of 100,000 dollars to Mohammed Atta, one of the terrorists who flew his Boeing into the World Trade Center. General Mahmud Ahmed, the FBI investigators found, fully knew about the transfer of money to Atta."

The Pittsburgh Tribune notes that there "are many in Musharraf's government who believe that Saeed Sheikh's power comes not from the ISI, but from his connections with our own CIA."

Sheikh rose to prominence with the 2002 killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who at the time was in Pakistan investigating connections between the ISI and Islamic militant groups. In Pakistan, Sheikh was sentenced to death for killing Pearl, however his complicity in the execution and the reasons behind it are in dispute.

In an opinion piece published by the Wall Street Journal, Tunku Varadarajan has claimed that “It is a fact that General Mahmud Ahmed, then head of the ISI, wired $100,000 to Mohammed Atta before 9/11 through an intermediary.

Pearl kidnapping

Sheikh Omar Saeed was arrested by Pakistani police on February 12, 2002, in Lahore, in conjunction with the Pearl kidnapping, He told the Pakistani court, however, that he had surrendered to the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency a week earlier.

Bhutto's Allegations Regarding Osama bin Laden's Murder

In an interview given to David Frost in November 2007, Benazir Bhutto states that Osama bin Laden was killed by Omar Sheikh. Omar Chatriwala, a journalist for Al Jazeera English, claims that he chose not to pursue the story at the time because it was an apparent slip of the tongue and that Bhutto had meant to refer to Omar Sheikh as the killer of Daniel Pearl. A month before the Frost interview, in Oct 2007, Bhutto stated in an interview that she would cooperate with the American military in targeting Osama bin Laden.