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Said Bahaji

1975 – 2013

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Electrical engineer Information systems technicianComputer technician
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About Said Bahaji

Lived 1975 – 2013 (aged 37–38). Said Bahaji was a German electrical engineer, information systems technician, computer technician and electrical engineering.

Said Bahaji (, also transliterated as Saeed Bahaji, also known as Zuhayr al-Maghribi, 15 July 1975 in Haselünne, Lower Saxony – September 2013), He came to Hamburg in 1995. He enrolled in an electrical engineering program at a technical university in 1996. He spent five months in the German army and then received a medical discharge. He lived in a student home during the weekdays and he spent weekends with his aunt, Barbara Arens. Both of them loved computers, and he called her his "high-tech aunt". She saw that he was secular until other students introduced him to radical Islam. She later put an end to the weekend visits.

On November 1, 1998, he moved into an apartment in Germany with future hijackers Mohamed Atta and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. The Hamburg cell was born at this apartment. They met three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American feelings and plot possible attacks. Many al-Qaeda members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, Zakariya Essabar, and others. He served as the group's Internet expert.

He had already been under investigation by German intelligence for his connections with Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a radical Islamic cleric. Through this, German intelligence was able to learn some of the activities of Atta and others, but the investigation was eventually dropped for lack of evidence.

In October 1999, he got married at the Al-Quds Mosque in Hamburg. Atta, Jarrah, Shehhi, Zammar, and bin al-Shibh all attended his wedding.

In late 1999, Atta, Shehhi, Jarrah, and bin al-Shibh decided to travel to Chechnya to fight against the Russians, but were convinced by Khalid al-Masri and Mohamedou Ould Slahi at the last minute to change their plans. They instead traveled to Afghanistan to meet with Osama bin Laden and train for terrorist attacks. There are conflicting reports as to whether he went with them; some news reports say that he went, but the 9/11 Commission Report says he stayed in Germany and helped cover for them in their absence. When the group returned to Germany, he was put on a border patrol watch list.

He told his employer in June 2001 that he was going to an internship for a software company in Pakistan. His aunt, Barbara Arens, says that she was suspicious and that she went to the police and pleaded to them "to do something." She says that police took no action against him. Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told him in August that if he wanted to go to Afghanistan, he should go in the next few weeks, because it would soon become more difficult. He left Germany on September 4, 2001, just a week before the attacks, This region, part of the tribal areas, had become a sanctuary for al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups following the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001. In a list published by the United Nations Security Council of people and entities against whom there are sanctions, Bahaji is said to be "reportedly deceased in September 2013 in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area."

However, the German BKA still maintains an active wanted notice for Bahaji, which was last updated in June 2024.

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Important facts

Birth century
Died
2013, Afghanistan–Pakistan border
Education
Hamburg University of Technology, Technical University of Hamburg

People in Said Bahaji's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Said Bahaji's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Said Bahaji?

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When was Said Bahaji born?

Said Bahaji was born on 15 July 1975 in Haselünne.

When did Said Bahaji die?

Said Bahaji died in 2013 in Afghanistan–Pakistan border.

What was Said Bahaji's occupation?

Said Bahaji was an electrical engineer, information systems technician, computer technician and electrical engineering.

What nationality was Said Bahaji?

Said Bahaji was German.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Said Bahaji

· Wikidata: Q122098

· DBpedia: Said Bahaji

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Said Bahaji. https://biography.guide/said-bahaji/

MLA: "Said Bahaji." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/said-bahaji/.

Chicago: "Said Bahaji." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/said-bahaji/.

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