Mahfouz Ould Al-Walid - Life

Life

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. Some time in late 2000 or early 2001, bin Laden was videotaped reciting al-Walid's poem "Thoughts Over al-Aqsa Intifadah".

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. The United States considered him a person of interest following the 1998 embassy bombings.

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 has already left the Sudan.

In 1998, Germany began monitoring Mohamedou Ould Slahi'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. In January 1999, al-Walid telephoned Slahi using a monitored satellite phone he borrowed from Bin Laden. 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, and it was later suggested they were brothers-in-law, cousins or cousins-in-law. The confusion seemed to stem from the fact that al-Walid's wife and Slahi's wife were sisters.

Both Slahi and al-Walid worked for El-Hijra Construction and Development. In mid-2000, al-Walid was approached by Ahmed al-Nami and Mushabib al-Hamlan who asked him about becoming suicide operatives.

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. On April 11, 2011, Mauritania armed forces announced they had successfully extradited al-Walid from Iran and placed him under arrest. al-Walid's family confirmed the report of his capture and announced they it was better for him to be in Mauritanian custody rather than Iranian.