Abdul Hakim Murad (terrorist)
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This article is concerned with the Pakistani terrorist. Abdul-Hakim Murad is also an alias for Timothy Winter, a Lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Cambridge.
Abdul Hakim Ali Hashim Murad (January 4, 1968-) was an alleged conspirator in the Operation Bojinka planned terrorist attacks.
He used the alias Ahmed Saeed when Manila police apprehended him. He was mentioned on Ramzi Yousef's laptop personal computer as Obaid.
He was the Pakistani-born son of a crane operator working for a petroleum company in Kuwait. He graduated from a high school in Al-Jery, Kuwait.
He would then attend a series of flight schools, including Emirates Flying School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Alpha Tango Flying Service in San Antonio, Texas, and flight schools in Schenectady, New York, New Bern, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Pasay City, Philippines. On June 8, 1992, he received a commercial pilot's license from Coastal Aviation Incorporated after completing 275 hours of required flight time.
Ramzi Yousef, a friend of Murad's who attended terrorist camps in Afghanistan, taught Murad how to make bombs in Lahore, Pakistan. During one of the practice sessions, a bomb exploded in Yousef's face, reducing the ability of one of his eyes to see.
While they were in Metro Manila in the Philippines, Murad and Yousef often went to two karaoke bars, the XO on Adriatico Sreet, and the Firehouse on Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City. According to Murad, they never went to the mosque.
As part of the Bojinka plot, Murad was slated to bomb two United Airlines aircraft, and was also slated to be the suicide pilot that would pilot a small plane filled with explosives into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
He was arrested shortly after police arrived at the Doņa Josefa Apartments in Manila, Philippines in January 6, 1995, soon after a fire occurred when Murad was mixing chemicals. He left after the fire, but came back after the fire was put out to remove the laptop computer in the apartment, which contained the plans for the attack. He called himself Ahmed Saeed as he was being arrested. He offered 110,740 Philippine pesos ($2,000 U.S. dollars) to the Manila police if they let him go. Although they did not make that much money in a year, Aida Fariscal, the watch commander, refused to let him go. Police grew suspicious after "Saeed" mumbled that, "two Satans that must be destroyed: the Pope and America." This led a further search of room 603, where they found a bomb factory and a computer with data relating to the plot.
"Saeed" was sent to Camp Crame, a military installation outside of Manila. Murad at first taunted investigators. For 67 days, he was subjected to "tactical interrogation", what Manila authorities called his torture. According to journalists Marites Vitug and Glenda Gloria, both of whom wrote the book Under the Crescent Moon, agents hit Murad with a chair or a long piece of wood when he didn't talk. They forced water down his throat and pressed cigarette lights on his private parts. His ribs had completely been cracked, and agents were surprised that he survived.
He finally confessed after the 67 days. When an agent pretended to be a Mossad agent and told Murad that he was being taken to Israel, Murad's fear of Jews finally broke him, according to an investiagtor.
Abdul Hakim Murad was sent to the United States on April 12, 1995 and would later help convict Yousef based on Murad's testimony. Murad got a life sentence to prison on May 16, 1998.
He was found to have many aliases. A Pakistani passport found had "Abdul Hakim, student, age 26, Pakistani passport No. C665334, issued in Kuwait."
External links
- CNN Article on Murad's conviction (http://www.cnn.com/US/9609/05/terror.plot/index.html) - Has a picture of Murad
- LA Times article on Bojinka (http://www.latimes.com/news/specials/911/la-na-plot-1sep01.story)