Ramzi bin al-Shibh

Ramzi bin al-Shibh
رمزي بن الشيبة
FBI photo of bin al-Shibh
Born
Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh

(1972-05-01) May 1, 1972
NationalityYemeni
Other namesAbu Ubaidah
Criminal chargesCharged before a military commission in 2008; trial started in October 2012
Criminal statusAt the NSGB since 2002
Military career
Allegiance Al-Qaeda
Years of service1990s–2002
RankCommunication officer

Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh (Arabic: رمزي محمد عبد الله بن الشيبة, romanized: Ramzī Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh bin al-Shībh; born May 1, 1972) is a Yemeni terrorist who served as al-Qaeda's communications officer. He has been detained by the United States in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp (NSGB) since 2002. He is accused of being a "key facilitator" for the September 11 attacks in 2001.

In the mid-1990s, bin al-Shibh moved as a student to Hamburg, Germany, where he allegedly became close friends with Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi. Together, they are suspected of forming the Hamburg cell and becoming central perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. He was the only one of the four who failed to obtain a U.S. visa; he is accused of acting as an intermediary for the hijackers in the United States, by wiring money and passing on information from key al-Qaeda figures. After the attacks, bin al-Shibh was the first to be publicly identified by the U.S. as the "20th hijacker", for whom there have been several more possible candidates.

Bin al-Shibh has been in United States custody since he was captured on September 11, 2002, in Karachi, Pakistan. He was held by the CIA in black sites in Morocco before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September 2006. Finally charged in 2008 before a military commission, he and several others suspected in the 9/11 attacks went to trial beginning in May 2012. In August 2023 a U.S. military judge ruled him too psychologically damaged to defend himself after CIA torture.