Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ABUDHABI3832
2004-10-26 12:42:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:
UAE 9/11 hijacker linked to 1996 rape and murder
how-tonull Diana T Fritz 02/05/2007 04:54:32 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results Cable Text: UNCLAS ABU DHABI 03832 SIPDIS CXABU: ACTION: POL INFO: MEPI DCM P/M RSO ECON AMB DISSEMINATION: POL CHARGE: PROG APPROVED: DCA:RALBRIGHT DRAFTED: POL:JMAYBURY CLEARED: CG:JDAVIS VZCZCADI497 RR RUEHC RUEHDE DE RUEHAD #3832 3001242 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 261242Z OCT 04 FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6527 INFO RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 4427
UNCLAS ABU DHABI 003832
SIPDIS
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER KCRM TC
SUBJECT: UAE 9/11 hijacker linked to 1996 rape and murder
case
UNCLAS ABU DHABI 003832
SIPDIS
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER KCRM TC
SUBJECT: UAE 9/11 hijacker linked to 1996 rape and murder
case
1. An appeal of an old murder case reported October 22 in
the local press revealed a violent criminal episode in the
life of Fayez Al Qadi Banihammad, one of two UAE nationals
among the hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 175 in
the 9/11 attacks. According to the October 22 Gulf News
article, Fayez Banihammad was one of six UAE nationals
convicted of the 1996 rape of a UAE juvenile. The then-
juvenile, described only as E.M., was himself recently
convicted and sentenced to death by the Fujairah Sharia
Court after he was found guilty of tracking down and
murdering one of his six rapists, a former "best friend."
2. The story has hit the papers now because the rape
victim/murderer has filed an appeal with the UAE Supreme
Court to reduce the Fujairah Sharia Court's death sentence
to imprisonment. The first hearing is in November. (Note:
The last death sentence carried out in the UAE was in June
1998 when Atallah Khair Mohammed, a Pakistani, was executed
by firing squad in Dubai for a 1993 murder. End note.)
3. The six UAE nationals accused of sexual assault were
each sentenced to five years in prison. The victim's
former "best friend," missing at the time of the trial, was
sentenced in absentia. The men appealed and the Appeals
Court reduced the sentence on the rapists to nine months
and ordered a lashing, according to Gulf News.
4. The affair began to take its bizarre twist a year after
the rape when the body of the victim's missing "best
friend" was discovered near a village. Authorities said
the man had been dead about a year. Initially, no one was
charged. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, in which
hijacker Fayez Bannihammad died, two of his relatives were
arrested in Khor Fakkan for "staging a protest" and jailed
in Abu Dhabi. Undercover police who questioned the two
relatives in prison learned about the rape and the
subsequent murder of one of those convicted of the rape:
the suspects being interrogated in Abu Dhabi told police
that the rape victim had borrowed a pistol from one of
them, and had gone with 9/11 hijacker Fayez Banihammad to
kill the former "best friend."
ALBRIGHT
SIPDIS
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER KCRM TC
SUBJECT: UAE 9/11 hijacker linked to 1996 rape and murder
case
1. An appeal of an old murder case reported October 22 in
the local press revealed a violent criminal episode in the
life of Fayez Al Qadi Banihammad, one of two UAE nationals
among the hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 175 in
the 9/11 attacks. According to the October 22 Gulf News
article, Fayez Banihammad was one of six UAE nationals
convicted of the 1996 rape of a UAE juvenile. The then-
juvenile, described only as E.M., was himself recently
convicted and sentenced to death by the Fujairah Sharia
Court after he was found guilty of tracking down and
murdering one of his six rapists, a former "best friend."
2. The story has hit the papers now because the rape
victim/murderer has filed an appeal with the UAE Supreme
Court to reduce the Fujairah Sharia Court's death sentence
to imprisonment. The first hearing is in November. (Note:
The last death sentence carried out in the UAE was in June
1998 when Atallah Khair Mohammed, a Pakistani, was executed
by firing squad in Dubai for a 1993 murder. End note.)
3. The six UAE nationals accused of sexual assault were
each sentenced to five years in prison. The victim's
former "best friend," missing at the time of the trial, was
sentenced in absentia. The men appealed and the Appeals
Court reduced the sentence on the rapists to nine months
and ordered a lashing, according to Gulf News.
4. The affair began to take its bizarre twist a year after
the rape when the body of the victim's missing "best
friend" was discovered near a village. Authorities said
the man had been dead about a year. Initially, no one was
charged. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, in which
hijacker Fayez Bannihammad died, two of his relatives were
arrested in Khor Fakkan for "staging a protest" and jailed
in Abu Dhabi. Undercover police who questioned the two
relatives in prison learned about the rape and the
subsequent murder of one of those convicted of the rape:
the suspects being interrogated in Abu Dhabi told police
that the rape victim had borrowed a pistol from one of
them, and had gone with 9/11 hijacker Fayez Banihammad to
kill the former "best friend."
ALBRIGHT