Dead Saudi Hijack Suspect Resurfaces, Denies Involvement






The Daily Trust (Kaduna)
September 24, 2001

Posted to the web September 24, 2001

A Saudi Arabian aircraft pilot who was named as one of five suspects on
board one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre, has turned
up alive and well in Morocco. The man, Waleed Al-Shehri, has told Saudi
journalists in Casablanca that he had nothing to do with the attacks on New
York and Washington, and had been in Morocco at the time. The FBI named five
men with Arab names that they say were responsible for deliberately crashing
American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center. One of those five
names was Waleed Al-Shehri, a Saudi pilot who had trained in the United
States. His photograph was released by the FBI, and has been shown in
newspapers and on television around the world. That same Mr Al-Shehri has
turned up in Morocco, proving clearly that he was not a member of the
suicide attack. He told Saudi journalists in Casablanca that he has
contacted both the Saudi and American authorities to advise them that he had
nothing to do with the attack.
He acknowledges that he attended flight training school at Dayton Beach in
the United States, and is indeed the same Waleed Al-Shehri to whom the FBI
has been referring. But, he says, he left the United States in September
last year, and became a pilot with Saudi Arabian Airlines, and is currently
on a further training course in Morocco. He says he was in Marrekesh when
the attack took place. Mr. Al-Shehri's case is not the first in which there
has been apparent confusion as to the identities of the hijackers who
commandeered the four planes on 11 September. Mr. Al-Shehri said the
American authorities, which apologised for the misunderstanding, have now
interviewed him.


Copyright © 2001 The Daily Trust. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media
(allAfrica.com).





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