Said Ali al-Shihri

Sa'id Ali Jabir Al Khathim Al Shihri (Arabic: سعيد علي جابر الخثيم الشهري) was a Saudi Arabian deputy leader of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and possibly involved in the kidnappings and murders of foreigners in Yemen. He was held in extrajudicial detention in American custody for almost six years. Following his repatriation to Saudi custody he was enrolled in a rehabilitation and reintegration program. Following his release, he traveled to Yemen.

In January 2009, Al-Shihri appeared in a YouTube video, with three other men, announcing the founding of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen officials reported he was killed by a drone strike on 10 September 2012. Six days later, a Yemeni official told the London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat that DNA tests reportedly determined he was not killed in the drone strike.

On 20 September 2012, sources close to AQAP told the Yemen Observer that al-Shihri was not killed in the strike. Yemeni officials also told the same newspaper that contrary to what Asharq Al-Aswat reported, no DNA tests had yet been taken and that the United States had requested that the Yemeni government wait until an American team of examiners could administer the DNA tests on the corpses of the men killed in the drone strike.

On 21 October 2012, al-Shihri released an audio tape confirming that he was not killed in the drone strike. On 22 January 2013, it was reported that al-Shihri had died of wounds from a drone strike in late 2012. In August 2014, the group revealed in a video that the drone strike that killed al-Shihri took place in 2013 and that he had survived the 2012 drone strike but was severely wounded.

Early life The Yemen Post reports al-Shihri did not finish high school.

Al-Shihri said that he was in Afghanistan to purchase carpets for his family's furniture business.

He claimed he wanted to give the money to the Red Crescent charity organization, but according to the US, he used the money to finance the travel for other fighters traveling from Bahrain to Afghanistan. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to determine whether the captives met the new definition of an "enemy combatant".

Detainees do not have the right to a lawyer before the CSRTs or to access the evidence against them. The CSRTs are not bound by the rules of evidence that would apply in court, and the government’s evidence is presumed to be “genuine and accurate.” However, unclassified summaries of relevant evidence may be provided to the detainee and each detainee has an opportunity to present “reasonably available” evidence and witnesses.

From July 2004 through March 2005, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether each captive had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Said Ali al-Shihri was among the one-third of prisoners for whom there was no indication they chose to participate in their tribunals.

In the landmark case Boumediene v. Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court found that CSRTs are not an adequate substitute for the constitutional right to challenge one's detention in court, in part because they do not have the power to order detainees released. The Court also found that "there is considerable risk of error in the tribunal’s findings of fact."

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. His memo accused him of the following: he traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, after 11 September 2001, with $1,900, that he planned to give to the Red Crescent charity; he was an "al Qaida travel facilitator", who funded other fighters, and guided them on how to cross the Afghanistan–Iran border; he was on a watch list because he was suspected of helping Saudis acquire false travel documents, for traveling to Afghanistan; he trained at the Libyan camp north of Kabul; he was instructed to assassinate someone, via a fatwa; his leg was wounded during the American aerial bombardment of Afghanistan.

Administrative Review Board Detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal labeled them "enemy combatants" were scheduled for annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These hearings were designed to assess the threat a detainee might pose if released or transferred, and whether there were other factors that warranted his continued detention.

2005 Summary of evidence memo The three-page Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his 2005 annual review listed fifteen "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and eight "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer." The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England decision, made on 23 July 2007, was also redacted.

Guantanamo medical records On 16 March 2007, the Department of Defense published records of the captives' height and weights. Al-Shihri's height was reported as 62 inches tall. According to that list he was repatriated to Saudi custody on 9 November 2007, with thirteen other men. The records published from the captives' annual Administrative Reviews show his repatriation was the subject of formal internal review procedures in 2005, 2006 and 2007. But the Board's recommendations from the 2007 review—the only one to be published—were redacted. The conclusion the Designated Civilian Official authorized was also redacted.

At least ten other men in his release group were not repatriated through the formal review procedure. He wrote that the BBC's research had found this batch to be a problematic cohort, and that al-Shihri and four other men from this batch were named on the Saudi most wanted list.

Post-release After Sa'id's repatriation to Saudi custody he went through a Saudi rehabilitation and reintegration program for former jihadists. This program was partially sponsored by the United States.

Co-founded Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula In January 2009, after Sa'id's release from the Saudi rehabilitation program he appeared in several jihadist videos, including one where he was identified as second in command of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

The New York Times, quoting American diplomats in Sanaa, reported that a car bomb that detonated outside their Embassy in Sanaa was the work of Al-Shihri.

On 26 January 2009, the Saudi Gazette published a report based on interviews with Al-Shihri's father, and current wife. Jaber Aal Khath'am Al-Shihri said his son had spent Ramadan with his family. The elder Al-Shihri said his son was a primary-school dropout, that he had been married twice, and had a young daughter. He said that his son had been troubled by memories of his detention, where his son told him "he thought about death all the time." He said that, after his release, his son had hoped to find a job as an imam. He said that he had added an addition to his family home for his son and his family to live in. However, after Ramadan, his son left his pregnant wife and child with his in-laws, and disappeared.

The Saudi Gazette reported that his wife confirmed his father's account.

Called upon Somali pirates to "increase your attacks upon Crusaders" On 16 April 2009, CBS News reported on a message Al-Shihri issued to Somali pirates.

CBS reported that there had been little concrete sign of a collaboration between Al Qaeda and the Somali pirates, but that the message also promised Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahiri and Mullah Omar that al-Shihri's group would be opening a new front in the Arabian Peninsula. The fact sheet listed al Awfi and Al-Shihri.

Linked to the murder of Christian missionaries in Yemen Fox News quoting Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch, linked Said Ali Al-Shihri to the kidnapping and murder of Christian missionaries Rita Stumpp, Anita Gruenwald Eom Young-sun, and the kidnapping of six other Christian medical missionaries. If he believed that these people picnicking in Yemen were aiding in the war against Islam, then he can justify these killings as legitimate — it's this kind of perspective that this guy holds to, that it's right to kill people who would normally be considered off-limits. Said's father, and Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs, spoke out against his funding efforts.

Reported killed in an air strike On 24 December 2009, ABC News reported that an air strike in Yemen had killed senior members of al Qaida. They reported that the dead might include Nasir al-Wuhayshi, al-Shihri, and Anwar al-Awlaki.

Reported to be in Yemeni custody On 19 January 2010, Yemen security authorities reported they had captured al-Shihri. He was reported to have tried to evade a newly established roadblock, and to have been apprehended, with another man, after they were injured when their speeding vehicle flipped over.

Release of an audio recording in February 2010 The Yemen Post reported that al-Shihri released an audio recording made after the reports of his death and capture. Judith Miller, formerly of The New York Times, reporting for Fox News, wrote that the captured men were reported to be "exchanging coded e-mails", with al-Shihri.

Named in a custody dispute In August 2009, the first husband of al-Shihri's wife Umm Hajir Al-Azdi, named Saoud Aal Shaye' al-Qahtani, launched a child custody claim, noting that his former wife was a believer in the practice of takfir (declaring others apostates from Islam), and had taken their 11-year-old son to Yemen with al-Shihri in May 2009. al-Qahtani provided evidence of her inability to raise his son, noting that she was married to al-Shihri, her younger brother had also been imprisoned at Guantanamo, three of her brothers were allegedly "militant jihadists", and her second husband had been killed by Saudi security forces in 2004. It was not known exactly how he died and under what circumstances, though his family alleged the drone strike took place sometime in the second week of December 2012. accompanied by a previously unreleased photo,

Death On 17 July 2013, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula confirmed that al-Shihri was killed in a U.S. drone strike. The announcement, posted on militant websites, gave no date for the death.