Mahfouz Ould al-Walid
Mahfouz Ould al-Walid (Arabic: محفوظ ولد الوالد; born 1 January 1975), kunya Abu Hafs al-Mauritani (Arabic: أبو حفص الموريتاني), is a Mauritanian Islamic scholar and poet previously associated with al-Qaeda. A veteran of the Soviet–Afghan War,[3] he served on al-Qaeda's Shura Council[4] and ran a religious school called the Institute of Islamic Studies in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from the late 1990s until the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.[5]
There are multiple individuals known as Abu Hafs.
Along with Saeed al-Masri and Saif al-Adel, al-Walid opposed the September 11 attacks two months prior to their execution.[6][7]: 18 [8] Under interrogation, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said that al-Walid had opposed any large-scale attack against the United States and wrote bin Laden a stern letter warning against any such action, quoting the Quran.[6]
Al-Walid fled from Afghanistan to Iran after the American invasion and was held there under house arrest from 2003 until April 2012.[9][10] At that time, Iran extradited him to Mauritania, where he was held in prison until his release on July 7, 2012. He was released after renouncing his ties to al-Qaeda and condemning the September 11 attacks.[10][11]
Life[edit]
The publisher of the magazine Al-Talib (The Student), al-Walid wrote poetry that attracted the attention of Osama bin Laden, and was invited to give spiritual lectures to mujahideen at Afghan training camps.[3] Some time in late 2000 or early 2001, bin Laden was videotaped reciting al-Walid's poem "Thoughts Over al-Aqsa Intifadah".[12]
It was later suggested that he had traveled to Iraq in early 1998 in an attempt to meet with Saddam Hussein, but was turned away as the leader did not want to create problems for his country.[13]
Later in 1998, the United States learned al-Walid was staying in Room 13 at the Dana Hotel in Khartoum, and President Bill Clinton sought to have him killed or preferably renditioned to a friendly country for interrogation. When a plan was finally made to capture him using another country's officials, he had already left Sudan.[14][15]
In 1998, Germany began monitoring Mohamedou Ould Salahi's accounts, and it was noticed that al-Walid had asked him to spare some money twice, resulting in a DM8,000 transfer in December and one other situation in which he sent him money.[16] In January 1999, al-Walid telephoned Salahi using a monitored satellite phone he borrowed from Bin Laden.[17] He was initially labeled as being the same person as Slahi by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, who amended their list in June 2007 to distinguish the two people.[2][18] It was later suggested they were brothers-in-law, cousins or cousins-in-law.[17] The confusion seemed to stem from the fact that al-Walid's wife and Salahi's wife were sisters.
In mid-2000, al-Walid was approached by Ahmed al-Nami and Mushabib al-Hamlan who asked him about becoming suicide operatives.[19]
Ayman al-Zawahiri has credited al-Walid's book Islamic Action Between the Motives of Unit and the Advocates of Conflict as being one of the driving forces behind convincing al-Qaeda to merge with Egyptian Islamic Jihad in June 2001.[3]