Waleed al-Shehri

Waleed Mohammed al-Shehri (وليد الشهري; 20 December 1978 – 11 September 2001) was a Saudi terrorist hijacker.

Al-Shehri was born in ʿAsir Province, Saudi Arabia, on 20 December 1978.

Growing up in a poor region of the country, near the border with Yemen, he studied to become a teacher in the footsteps of Wail al-Shehri, his elder brother.

As his family adhered to Wahhabism, a fundamentalist movement within Islam, al-Shehri grew up in a very conservative household; he was forbidden to indulge in music and did not have any contact with non-mahram females until he was old enough for an arranged marriage.

His family also did not have access to satellite television or the Internet.

Early media accounts state that al-Shehri had earned his pilot's certificate in the United States, graduating from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University in 1997.

However, after a short investigation, Embry–Riddle was discovered to have not had any involvement in the flight training of the 11 September hijackers.

One of the institution's former students shared the same name as one of the hijackers, but has not been found to have any connections to al-Qaeda.

Waleed al-Shehri left his studies to accompany his brother's leave of absence after his brother complained of a mental symptom that had caused him grief, telling their father that he intended to seek aid from a religious healer in Medina.

The brothers arrived at the Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, where they met Ahmed al-Nami and Saeed al-Ghamdi.

Some sources report that al-Shehri "at times" stayed at lead hijacker Mohamed Atta's apartment in Hamburg, Germany at some period between 1998 and 2001.

Others place him with Zacarias Moussaoui in London.

Ramzi bin al-Shibh says that Osama bin Laden had given a message to Waleed al-Shehri for conveyance to Mohamed Atta earlier that spring, indicating that bin Laden preferred to attack the White House instead of the Capitol.

Before arriving at Al-Farouq, the four reportedly pledged themselves to jihad in Spring of 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail al-Shehri, who had dubbed himself Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi after one of Muhammad's companions.

Waleed al-Shehri later served in the security forces at Kandahar International Airport with Saeed al-Ghamdi.

After being selected for the operation, he trained with the other hijackers at al-Matar complex under Abu Turab al-Urduni.

Al-Shehri returned to Saudi Arabia with his brother in the fall of 2000 so they could obtain clean passports and U.S. visas, which they did on 3 October and 24 October 2000, respectively.

Locals reported that he and his brother disappeared from Khamis Mushayt in the south of Saudi Arabia in December 2000.

In mid-November, 2000, the 9/11 Commission believes that three of the future muscle hijackers, Wail al-Shehri, Waleed ak-Shehri, and Ahmed al-Nami, all of whom had obtained their U.S. visas in late October, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut, Lebanon and then onward to Iran where they could travel through to Afghanistan without getting their passports stamped.

This probably followed their return to Saudi Arabia to get "clean" passports.

An associate of a senior Hezbollah operative is thought to have been on the same flight, although this may have been a coincidence.

After training, he would have moved to a safehouse in Karachi, Pakistan before travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He was involved in the 11 September attacks against the United States in 2001.

He was one of the five hijackers who took control of American Airlines Flight 11, which was then flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Born in Saudi Arabia, al-Shehri had been a student until he accompanied his mentally ill brother to Medina.

Later, he and his brother Wail went to Chechnya, where they fought in support of a jihadist insurgency against Russia.

However, they were soon redirected to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where they were recruited to carry out the 11 September attacks.

After their selection, the brothers were moved to a safehouse in Pakistan before flying out to the United Arab Emirates and starting the process to enter the United States.

In April 2001, al-Shehri arrived in the United States on a tourist visa.

On the day of the attacks, al-Shehri, his brother, and the other hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 11, following which Mohamed Atta flew the plane into the North Tower in a suicidal attack.

From the UAE, the muscle hijackers came to the U.S. between April and June 2001.

Waleed al-Shehri may have arrived in the U.S. on 23 April 2001.

On 4 May 2001, he applied for and received a Florida driver's license.

The next day, he filled out a change-of-address form to receive a duplicate license.

Five other suspected hijackers also received duplicate Florida licenses in 2001.

Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple persons to use the same identity.

On 19 May 2001, al-Shehri and Satam al-Suqami flew from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, Bahamas, where they had reservations at the Bahamas Princess Resort where al-Shehri and al-Suqami rented two cars, a black Buick Regal and a gray Ford Taurus.

The two were turned away by Bahamian officials on arrival, however, because they lacked visas; they returned to Florida that same day.

The 9/11 Commission felt that they likely took this trip to renew al-Suqami's immigration status, as al-Suqami's legal stay in the United States ended on 21 May 2001.

He was one of nine hijackers to open a SunTrust bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001.