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Emirati terrorist and 9/11 hijacker (1978–2001) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi (Arabic: مروان يوسف محمد رشيد لكراب الشحي, romanized: Marwān Yūsuf Muḥammad Rashīd Likrāb al-Shiḥḥī; 9 May 1978 – 11 September 2001) was an Emirati terrorist hijacker from al-Qaeda who served as the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the Boeing 767 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks. He was one of five hijackers aboard the aircraft and one of two Emiratis to take part in the attacks, the other being Fayez Banihammad, who helped him hijack the same plane.[1]
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Marwan al-Shehhi | |
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مروان الشحي | |
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| Born | Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi 9 May 1978 Al Qusaidat, United Arab Emirates |
| Died | 11 September 2001 (aged 23) South Tower, New York City, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide by plane crash during the September 11 attacks |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Being the hijacker pilot of United Airlines Flight 175 in the September 11 attacks |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Spouse | Fawzeya al-Shehhi |
| Signature | |
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Al-Shehhi was a student from the United Arab Emirates who moved to Germany in 1996 and soon became close friends with Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, forming the Hamburg cell. Together, after pledging their lives to martyrdom, they became the leaders of the 11 September attacks. In late 1999, al-Shehhi, Atta, Jarrah, and bin al-Shibh traveled to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and met with Osama bin Laden who recruited the four Hamburg cell members for the attacks in the United States. He arrived in the United States in May 2000, one month before Atta. Atta, Al-Shehhi, and Jarrah had been trained as pilots in Florida at Huffman Aviation, receiving their commercial pilot licenses in December 2000 and January 2001 from the FAA.
Al-Shehhi spent his time making preparations for the attack itself, such as meeting with crucial planners abroad, assisting with the arrival of hijackers aboard the other flights, and travelling on surveillance flights determining details on how the hijacking would take place. On 9 September 2001, he traveled from Florida to Boston, where he stayed at the Milner Hotel until 11 September. After boarding United Airlines Flight 175 at Logan International Airport, al-Shehhi and 4 other hijackers waited 30 minutes into the flight to make their attack, which then allowed al-Shehhi to take over control as pilot, and at 9:03 a.m., 17 minutes after Mohamed Atta crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower, Al-Shehhi crashed the Boeing 767 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center between floors 77 to 85.[2] At 23 years of age, he was the youngest hijacker-pilot to participate in the attacks. The impact of the Boeing 767 into the South Tower was seen live on television around the world as it happened. At 9:59 a.m., after 56 minutes of burning, the 110-story skyscraper collapsed, killing hundreds of people, including around 900 office workers and first responders.
Al-Shehhi was born in Ras al-Khaimah, on 9 May 1978, in the United Arab Emirates, to an Emirati Muslim cleric who died in 1997 and an Egyptian mother. Described as a quiet and devout Muslim, details about al-Shehhi's life in the UAE, however, are difficult to acquire. He was a part of the Shihuh tribe through his father's side. According to an October 2001 article in The New York Times, "If residents of Mr. Shehhi's hometown had heard of him before now, they were certainly not telling strangers. Four hours spent in the community yielded no address and no one – policemen, firemen, pedestrians or local officials – who did anything more than shrug at the mention of his name."[3]
His teacher in Germany, Gabriele Bock, recalls him as someone who seemed to be struggling to have plans for the future while studying there.[4]
While in Germany, al-Shehhi enrolled in the University of Bonn after completing a German course. He left Germany in June 1997 to attend to problems at home although the university forbade him. In early 1998, al-Shehhi transferred to the Technical University of Hamburg. A poor student, al-Shehhi was directed by the Scholarship program administrators to repeat a semester of his studies back in Bonn beginning in August 1998. Al-Shehhi did not enroll back at Bonn until January 1999 and continued to struggle with his studies. By July 1999, Marwan returned to Hamburg to study shipbuilding.[5]
It has been reported al-Shehhi also married in 1999, holding a belated celebration in January 2000, in an arranged marriage by his half-brother with a young woman named Fawzeya.[6][7]
After moving to Hamburg in 1998, al-Shehhi helped form the Hamburg cell with Mohamed Atta and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. There, his views became more and more radical. They met three or four times a week to discuss anti-American feelings and plot possible attacks. When someone asked why he and Atta never laughed, al-Shehhi retorted, "How can you laugh when people are dying in Palestine?"[8]
On 9 October 1999, Marwan al-Shehhi was filmed at Said Bahaji's wedding in Germany with other 9/11 hijackers including Ziad Jarrah.[9][10]
In late 1999, al-Shehhi, Atta, Ziad Jarrah, Said Bahaji, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh decided to travel to Chechnya to fight against the Russians, but were convinced by Khalid al-Masri and Mohamedou Ould Slahi at the last minute to change their plans. They instead traveled to Afghanistan to meet with Osama bin Laden and trained for terrorist attacks. Immediately afterwards, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to erase travel visas to Afghanistan. After their training, the hijackers began to attempt to hide their radicalism. al-Shehhi shaved his beard and seemed to his old friends like he had become less religious. After the attacks, a librarian in Hamburg reported that al-Shehhi boasted to her "There will be thousands of dead. You will think of me ... You will see, in America something is going to happen. There will be many people killed."[11][12][13]
Al-Shehhi was the first of the Hamburg group to leave for the United States. He arrived in Newark, New Jersey on 29 May 2000. Atta and Jarrah joined him the next month, and the three men began to search for flight schools. Al-Shehhi and Jarrah posed as body guards of Atta, who were also posing as a "Saudi Arabian royal family member" while the three of them took flying lessons in Venice, Florida. They logged hundreds of hours on a Boeing 727 flight simulator. They received their licenses by December 2000. Their expenses were paid for by Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. On either 26 or 27 December, Atta, Jarrah, and al-Shehhi abandoned a Piper Cherokee that had stalled on the runway of Miami International Airport. On 31 December, the trio went to the Opa-Locka Airport and practiced on a Boeing 727 simulator. Al-Shehhi began to take "surveillance flights" in the summer of 2001, watching the operations of flight crews and making final preparations.[14][15]
On 23 August, the Israeli Mossad reportedly gave al-Shehhi's name to the CIA as one of 19 belonging to US residents suspected of planning an attack on the United States in the near future. Only four of the names are known for certain, the other three belonging to fellow 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi, Mohamed Atta, and Khalid al-Mihdhar. It is not known if the list had all 19 hijackers' names or if it only had as many names as there were hijackers by coincidence.[16]
On 26 August, al-Shehhi signed into the Panther Motel in Deerfield Beach, Florida, paying US$500, saying he wanted to stay until 2 September, and listing a Mailboxes Etc. as his permanent address. His register entry indicated that he was driving a blue Chevrolet Malibu, assumed to be the one rented by Atta two weeks prior, and manager Richard Surma said that he bent rules to allow al-Shehhi to have another man as an overnight guest. On 28 August, al-Shehhi went to the Miami International Airport, accompanied by an unknown man, where he purchased his ticket for Flight 175.[17]
At 5:01 a.m. on the morning of 11 September Al-Shehhi in Boston received a phone call from Flight 93 hijacker pilot Ziad Jarrah in Newark. The call would be the last time Jarrah and Al-Shehhi spoke and is believed by authorities to be the two confirming to one another that the attacks were ready to begin.[18]
After arriving at Logan International Airport later that morning, al-Shehhi made a call to Mohamed Atta lasting from 6:52 to 6:55, who was elsewhere in the same airport as both American 11 and United 175 were to fly from Logan to Los Angeles International Airport. The call is believed to have served the same purpose as Al-Shehhi's earlier call to Jarrah.[19]: 19
Between 7:23 and 7:28, the five hijackers each boarded the plane, with Al-Shehhi taking his seat in 6C.[19]: 21 The plane became airborne at 8:14, only to be hijacked 28 minutes after takeoff. The terrorists gained access to the cockpit through unknown means[19]: 23 and murdered both pilots, allowing Al-Shehhi to assume control of the flight.[19]: 25 Shortly after the hijacking, the plane came close to colliding with another aircraft in the vicinity, Delta Airlines Flight 2315.[20] Approaching New York City, Al-Shehhi saw smoke and fire pouring southeast from the World Trade Center's North Tower after it was struck by Flight 11 at 8:46 a.m.,[21] and narrowly avoided a second mid-air collision with Midwest Express Flight 7.[22]
Flying at speeds of around 590 mph (510 kn; 260 m/s; 950 km/h)[lower-alpha 1] while carrying approximately 9,100 gallons[25]: 88 (approximately 34,447 liters) of jet fuel, Al-Shehhi crashed the plane into the South Tower at 9:03:02 a.m.[lower-alpha 2][30] between floors 77 and 85, instantly killing himself and everyone else aboard the flight in addition to many more inside the South Tower. More than 600 people were on the wrong side of the impact zone when the plane struck, half of whom were killed instantaneously. Thus, the estimated 300 people still alive following the impact were left stranded in the upper floors of the catastrophically damaged skyscraper, now set ablaze and rapidly filling with smoke.[31] Because all eyes were on the Twin Towers following the crash of Flight 11 seventeen minutes earlier, the impact of Flight 175 and the explosion that followed was seen by millions of people worldwide on live television, being filmed and photographed from numerous vantage points.[32] Although the angle at which Al-Shehhi crashed did not sever all means of escape from the impact zone, most of the people who survived the crash were unable to use the single intact stairwell before the tower fell less than an hour later.[33]
Al-Shehhi flew the plane faster and lower into the tower than Atta did, into the eastern half of the South Tower's southern facade close to the southeast corner, causing the tower's structural integrity to be compromised far more severely than the North Tower's.[34] At 9:59 A.M. that morning,[25]: 80 [35]: 322 the South Tower became the first tower to collapse, having stood for 56 minutes[lower-alpha 3] after the plane crash.
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