Satam M. A. al-Suqami
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Satam M. A. al-Suqami
Satam M. A. al-Suqami was a hijacker on American Airlines Flight 11. Al-Suqami studied Islamic law at King Fahd University in Riyadh.
Timeline
2000
- November 21 - Satam al Suqami applied for and received a two-year B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There is very strong evidence that the passport Suqami submitted with this application had fraudulent travel stamps now associated with al Qaeda. Suqami left blank the line on which he was asked to supply the name and street address of his present employer. The consular officer who issued the visa said he interviewed Suqami because he described his present occupation as “dealer,” the word Saudis often put on their applications when they meant “businessman.” The officer testified that he asked Suqami a number of questions, including, he believes, who was paying for the trip. Although the officer stated that notes were always taken during interviews, none were written on Suqami’s application, raising the possibility that the officer’s memory of having conducted an interview was false. In any case, Suqami evidently raised no suspicions and his application was approved.[1]
2001
- April 23 - Waleed al-Shehri and Satam al-Suqami, both Saudis, entered together at Orlando from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Suqami was the only Saudi muscle hijacker admitted on business, and only for one month. Shehri was admitted as a tourist for a six month stay. Both were admitted by the same primary immigration inspector. Suqami’s passport survived the attack: a passerby picked it up from the World Trade Center and handed to a New York Police Department detective shortly before the towers collapsed. Later analysis showed that it contained what are now believed to be fraudulent travel stamps associated with al Qaeda. Upon reviewing color copies of the document, the inspector who admitted Suqami told the Commission he did not note any such fraud. Indeed, he could not have been expected to identify the fraud at the time of Suqami’s admission—it was not discovered by the intelligence community until after the attacks.[1]
- April 30 - May 28 - Registered, along with Waleed al-Shehri, at Bimini Motel & Apartments in Hollywood, Florida.[2]
- May 16 - Waleed al Shehri and Suqami again traveled together, this time out of the country to the Bahamas, where they reserved three nights at the Bahamas Princess Resort. They turned in their arrival record, which was now acting as an exit record, boarded the plane, and arrived in Freeport. The trip was intended to extend Suqami’s legal length of stay in the United States. Bahamian immigration refused the two entry, however, because neither had a Bahamian visa. They therefore had to return to their starting point, in this case Fort Lauderdale. Because they never entered the Bahamas, under U.S. immigration law they had never left the United States. After being refused entry by the Bahamian INS at Freeport, they were sent through U.S. “pre-clearance” before boarding the plane back to Miami. By making possible immigration inspections of U.S.-bound travelers prior to their arrival, preclearance helped ease the burden of admission at busy U.S. airports. These stations also prevented travelers deemed inadmissible from boarding U.S.-bound planes. In this preclearance process, immigration waived them through but customs stopped Shehri. The inspection lasted one minute; Shehri was not personally searched, nor was his luggage x-rayed. They boarded a plane and returned to Miami.[1]
- May 20 - Suqami joined the millions of overstays in the United States after failing to file for an extension of stay with the INS after he returned from the Bahamas. Had he been allowed into the Bahamas, upon his return to the United States he would have likely been granted an additional length of stay in the country as a tourist. As it was, he remained in illegal status until September 11.[1]
- June 6 - 13 - Al-Shehri and al-Suqami register and stay in Room 11 at the Lago Mar Apartments in Lake Worth, Florida.[2]
- September 10 - Stayed at Park Inn in Newton, Massachusetts, with Waleed M. al-Shehri and Satam M. A. al-Suqami. They possibly left a discarded sheet of instructions on how to fly a transcontinental jetliner in their hotel room. (Hijackers also previously stayed at three other Boston-area hotels - Milner Hotel in Beacon Hill, the Days Hotel in Brighton, and the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square) The three men checked into the Park Inn on Sept. 5 and reportedly called a prostitute to tryst with them there. Abdul Aziz al-Omari, may have also spent a night at the Park Inn before leaving for Portland, Maine, with conspiracy mastermind Mohamed Atta on Sept. 10.[3]
Documents and photos
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Passport & U.S. visa |
Passport |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Staff Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel. 9/11 Commission (2004).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hijacker True Name Usage
- ↑ Noonan, Erica. "9/11 Reminder, Park Inn, Now Being Demolished", The Boston Globe, February 17, 2005.