Abdul Rahman Yasin

Early life and education

Yasin was born in Bloomington, Indiana, where his father, originally from Iraq, went to study for a PhD. Yasin is therefore an American citizen. Shortly after his birth, Yasin's family moved back to Iraq. According to university records, Said Taha Yasin, an Iraqi, attended Indiana University in 1952/53, and also from 1956–60. Yasin's FBI report states that he is epileptic.

Arrival in United States, 1992

In 1992, Yasin was able to use his American birth citizenship to obtain a US passport and thus enter the United States.

Recruited by Ramzi Yousef, he had acid burns on his legs from bomb chemicals.

Soon following investigation of the attack on February 26, 1993, Yasin was picked up by the FBI on March 4, 1993, the same day as the arrest of Mohammed A. Salameh, in a sweep of sites associated with Salameh. Yasin was found in the apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, that he was sharing with his mother.

Yasin was taken to New Jersey FBI headquarters in Newark, where he was reportedly very cooperative. Agents had Yasin retrace where and how the WTC bomb had been built in New York and New Jersey.

Yasin said he was released after giving agents names and addresses, and went to Iraq.

Return to Iraq and Imprisonment, 1993

In March 1993, Yasin boarded Royal Jordanian flight 262 to Amman, Jordan. From Amman, Abdul Rahman Yasin went on to Baghdad. November 1997 marked the month when two others were convicted in a court for their contributions to the bombing, but only "one other man believed to be directly involved in the attack, Iraqi Abdul Rahman Yasin, remained at large."

After the US reported that Yasin had returned to Iraq, the Iraqi government spent 6 months searching for him, finally locating him working in an auto repair shop. The Iraqi authorities arrested and imprisoned Yasin, and delivered a letter to US authorities stating they had crucial information about a perpetrator of the World Trade Center attack and were prepared to cooperate. US authorities refused to meet with the Iraqis but said they would accept information in writing.

In spite of the fact that US intelligence had been informed of Yasin's whereabouts, on October 10, 2001 Yasin's name appeared at the top of the list of the FBI's 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President Bush with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

In 2002 following the 9/11 attacks Iraq attempted to hand Yasin over to the US government and began negotiating extradition protocols with the Americans via Egyptian intelligence. However negotiations hit a snag when US intelligence essentially refused to provide Iraq with a receipt-- an official statement acknowledging Yassin had been handed over. According to Salem Al Jumaily the former head of the US Desk at Iraqi Intelligence and a party to the negotiations, this was because the Americans did not want Iraq to look cooperative in the "War on Terror" at a time when they were building a case for war. In 2013 Al Jumaily said:

We were willing to extradite him. He was an American and we had no right to keep him. But we wanted to have guarantees that the extradition would take place within the official framework... They didn’t want Iraq to prove that it was against terrorism and that it was willing to cooperate in this matter... When handing such a man over both sides were supposed to sign statements of transfer and acceptance, in the presence of an intermediary. We drew up those statements which were very explicit, and the Americans refused to sign the acceptance statement.

Reportedly the Iraqi statement presented to the U.S. at the time contained lengthy wording essentially exonerating Iraqi involvement in the 1993 WTC attack. Nevertheless, Kenneth Pollack of the State Department stated that there was no CIA information tying Iraq into the 1993 WTC bombing.

On May 23, 2002 the Iraqis gave Lesley Stahl of CBS News access to an Iraqi prison to interview Yasin for a segment on 60 Minutes where Yasin appeared in prison pajamas and handcuffs. The Iraqis stated they had held Yasin prisoner on the outskirts of Baghdad since 1994. Yasin hasn't been seen or heard from since the 2002 prison interview.

Disappearance, 2003

During the 2003 US invasion of Iraq as chaos and looting descended on Baghdad, prisons and jails were "liberated" and emptied of all their prisoners, both political prisoners and common criminals. Many believe Yasin escaped at this time. Others believe he managed to escape from Iraq before the invasion, and is living today somewhere in Jordan.

After the invasion, large numbers of Iraqi government documents were retrieved by US intelligence. An anonymous US intelligence official claimed to USA Today that "some of the analysts concluded that the documents show that Saddam's government provided monthly payments and a home for Yasin." However these "documents" have never been produced or shown to the public leading many to wonder if they are not just one more of the many aspersions and misrepresentations cast on Iraq to justify the US war.

al-Qaida sanctions listing

Abdul Rahman Yasin was listed on 17 October 2001 as being associated with the organization known as Al-Qaida, the individual named Osama bin Laden and the organization known as the Taliban, for his participation:

"in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf, or in support of”, “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to” or “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” Al-Qaida (QDe.004), Usama bin Laden and the Taliban.

However Salem Al Jumaily former head of the US Desk at Iraqi Intelligence who actually interrogated and studied Yasin following the 1993 World Trade Center attack insists:

He had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. He perpetrated that attack as an act of revenge for the First Gulf War.