Jamal al-Fadl is a former member of Al Qaeda, who defected and testified in February 2001 in the 1998 African embassy bombings trials.
Fadl was born in 1963 in Ruffa, located south of Khartoum in Sudan. Fadl was educated up to high school, where he learned English in addition to his native language of Arabic. In 1981, Fadl left Sudan for a few months, spending that time in Saudi Arabia. Fadl lived with a friend in Jeddah. When his friend ran into legal problems for using marijuana, Fadl left Saudi Arabia and returned to Sudan.
In 1986, Fadl moved to the United States for school, and resided in Brooklyn, New York. Fadl also lived for some time in Atlanta and North Carolina. While in New York, Fadl held a job at a food market. Fadl also became involved in the Farouq Mosque, where he helped with recruiting, as well as fundraising for jihad in Afghanistan. The Farouq Mosque was part of a larger network affiliated with the Maktab al-Khidamat in Peshawar, Pakistan.
After becoming involved in the Farouq Mosque, Fadl traveled to Peshawar. There, Fadl went to a guesthouse, and then ended up at the Khalid Ibn Walid training camp where he was trained in use of the Kalashnikov, RPGs, and other weapons. Then, Fadl was sent to the Areen guesthouse in Afghanistan to prepare to join the jihad. At the guesthouse, Fadl met Osama bin Laden and was told about Jihad Fardh el-Ain, which stresses that jihad is a personal duty for all Muslims to defend another Muslim country that has been attacked or invaded. This was the case with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Fadl was sent to the front line at Jaji where he spent two months. After Jaji, Fadl returned to Peshawar and went to Bait al Ansar.
Fadl once again went to Afghanistan, to Chakary, near Kabul. He received further training at the Farook training camp in Khost, the Abu Bakr al Sadeek camp, and Jihad Wal camp. At the Farook camp in 1989, Abu Ayoub al Iraqi referred to the organization as Al Qaeda. When Al Qaeda was established, the name "Islamic Army" was also considered, but they stuck with the name "Al Qaeda".
Bin Laden talked about the purpose of the new organization being created out of the Maktab al-Khidamat. Bin Laden wanted to take the jihad to the next step and restore the Caliphate. Bin Laden explained that "he wanted to change the Arab government (possibly specifically referring to Saudi Arabia) because there's no Muslim government." According to Fadl, other leaders involved in forming Al Qaeda included Ayoub al Iraqi, Abu Ubaidah al Banshiri (a former Egyptian police officer), Abu Faraj al Yemeni, Abu Hafs, and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Al-Banshiri provided papers to al-Fadl with information about Al Qaeda, including its mission/agenda, rules and duties, and about the shura council. Al-Qaeda was structured, with an emir as the leader, along with a shura council and various committees. Members of the shura council included Abu Hafs, Abdel Moe, Abu Ibrahim al Iraqi, Dr. Fadhl, Abu Faraj al Yemeni, Abu Fadhl al Makkee, Sheikh Sayyid al Masry, Qaricept al Jizaeri, Abu Ayoub al Iraqi, Khalifa al Muscat Omani, Saif al Liby, Abu Burhan al Iraqi, Abu Mohamed el Masry Saad al Sharif, and others.
There was also a military committee, with members including Abu Ubaidah al Banshiri, Saif al Islam el Masry, Abu Hafs, and Abu Khaleed al Madani. Other committees included one for "money and business", which ran businesses and companies. This committee was run by Abu Fadhl al Makee and Abu Hammam al Saudi. There was also a committee for Fatwa and Islamic study. The fatwa committee included Abu Saad al Sharif Abu Mohamed Saudi, Abu Faraj and Abu Qutada and Abu Ibrahim al Iraqi Hajer (Mamdouh Salim), Dr. Fadhl el Masry, and Dr. Abdel Ome. Al Qaeda also has a committed for media reporting and for the newspaper (Al Jihad) which was published at the time by Abu Musab Reuter. There was also a daily newspaper called Nashrat al Akhbar, and a weekly publication which were published in Hyatabd.
In 1989, Al-Fadl made bayat, which is a commitment to the Al Qaeda organization, it's agenda, rules, and be ready and willing to carry out its orders. That is essentially when Al-Fadl joined Al Qaeda.
Fadl traveled from Afghanistan to Egypt and Sudan, and was given instructions before he left on how not to raise suspicion by appearing "normal" and not very religious, such as packing cigarettes, cologne, and shaving one's beard. When traveling, one might not use their own passport, but instead be provided one from the money committee. Hazmalla al-Liby was in charge of the travel office, with Abu Yasser al Jazairi and Abu Abd al Sabbur also there at the office.
Al-Fadl was privy to discussions regarding Al Qaeda's move to Sudan, with happened in late 1990 under invitation of the National Islamic Front in Sudan. Al-Fadl went to Sudan where he helped rent houses and farms there to use for training. Al-Fadl purchased a salt farm near Port Sudan, and another farm north of Khartoum. At one point in 1991, Al-Fadl was arrested near the Port Sudan farm. Egyptian Jihad Group had been training there, and were setting off explosives. Neighbors complained about the noise, and the police came and briefly arrested Al-Fadl and others. Sudanese intelligence officers intervened and Al-Fadl was released. Intelligence officials from Sudan had previously met with Al Qaeda in Peshawar.