Salem al-Hazmi, (Arabic: سالم الحازمي, also transliterated Alhazmi) was one of five men named by the FBI as hijackers of American Airlines flight 77 in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. His brother Nawaf al-Hazmi was another of the hijackers on that flight.

Much of al-Hazmi's history is unknown, although he was probably originally from Saudi Arabia. There are reports that he fought with his brother Naway in Afghanistan, and other reports say the two fought together in Chechnya. Both al-Hazmi brothers were al-Qaida veterans by the time they were selected for participation in the 9/11 attacks. Both obtained US visas through the US Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in April of 1999.

Along with his brother and several other future hijackers, al-Hazmi attended the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was there that the details of the 9/11 attacks were decided upon.

According to the FBI and the 9/11 Commission report, al-Hazmi first entered the United States on June 29, 2001 (although there are numerous unconfirmed reports that he was living in San Antonio, Texas with fellow hijacker Satam Al Suqami much earlier). Al-Hazmi used the Visa Express program to gain entry into the country. (This program, introduced in May of 2001 when terror alerts in the U.S. were very high, allowed Saudi Arabians to obtain visas without verifying their identity. Five hijackers used this method to get into the U.S. The program was finally cancelled in July of 2002.)

He moved to Paterson, New Jersey, and was one of the five hijackers that asked for identity cards on August 2, 2001. He worked at a Greenbelt, Maryland gym from September 2 to September 6 of the same year.

On September 11, al-Hazmi (or someone using his identity) boarded American Airlines flight 77. Some time after takeoff, the plane was hijacked, and was flown into the Pentagon at 9:37 am, killing 189 people. Al-Hazmi was 20 years old. Although airport security cameras would have filmed the hijackers, none of this footage has been released by the FBI, and there are no known pictures of al-Hazmi in the United States.

Controversy

According to several news sources, Salem al-Hazmi is alive and working at a petrochemical plant in Yanbou, Saudi Arabia . He claims his passport was stolen by a pickpocket in Cairo three years before, and that pictures and details such as date of birth are of him.[1][2][3] [4]

External Link

• The Final 9/11 Commission Report