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After 10 days of interrogation, and just four months of imprisonment, in 2004 Mujahid was flown back to Yemen under escort on a civilian airliner, where he was thrown into a prison controlled by Yemen’s Political Security Organisation.
A REQUEST MADE OF HANI
Two years later, he was released and tasked he says with serving the Yemeni security services as an informer inside Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Mujahid's travel log
BACK TO YEMEN
BACK TO YEMEN
Due to his experience in Al-Qaeda as well as the strong relationships he had built, Mujahid was perfectly placed to provide the Yemeni authorities with intelligence on AQAP’s activities.
The fragmentation of Al-Qaeda and decentralisation of its leadership led to the development of Yemen-based AQAP as one of the network’s most active branches. Mujahid offered unique insights into the group through his close links to its leaders and detailed knowledge of its modus operandi.
“I had a relative in Political Security who convinced me that [my] duty [to inform on Al-Qaeda] was national, as well as Islamic and human.”
A REQUEST IS MADE OF HANI
A NEW GROUP IN YEMEN EMERGES
A REQUEST IS MADE OF HANI
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had emerged in the late 2000s. Many of its leaders were among nearly two dozen individuals who had escaped from a maximum-security prison in Sanaa in February 2006. According to several analysts, intelligence officials, and Mujahid, the prison break was not simply an escape.
STEPHEN SECHE,
US AMBASSADOR IN YEMEN 2007-2010
Those who escaped from prison included Nasir al-Wihayshi, who would become the leader of AQAP, and Qasim al-Raymi, who would be its military commander. Mujahid knew both well, he says, and referred to them by their aliases Abu Basir and Abu Hurayra, respectively.
[It is] absolutely farcical that [the Yemeni government] would claim [the Al-Qaeda prison escape] is legitimate, i.e., not something they turned their back to, to allow it to happen.
A NEW GROUP IN YEMEN EMERGES
AQAP'S FAMED BOMBMAKER
“The first person to expose Ibrahim al-Asiri was me. Seven government officials knew about al-Asiri’s lab.”
IBRAHIM AL-ASIRI, AQAP’S FAMED BOMBMAKER
A NEW GROUP EMERGES
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LIFE OF AN INFORMANT BEGINS
A NEW GROUP IN YEMEN EMERGES
Mujahid was closely connected to and respected by AQAP’s leadership due to their shared experiences in Afghanistan. Because of this, he says he was able to gain detailed knowledge of AQAP attacks, which included suicide bombings of tourist destinations and an assault on the US embassy.
If Mujahid’s account is to be believed, the Yemeni government knew about these attacks well in advance, and failed to take action to stop them.
“Few people have had as full a picture as this person is apparently presenting of what’s going on in the leadership of probably the most active branch of Al-Qaeda at the time.”
LIFE OF AN INFORMANT BEGINS
RICHARD BARRETT,
FORMER DIRECTOR, UN AL-QAEDA MONITOR