Editing Majed Moqed

{{Short description|Saudi terrorist and 9/11 hijacker (1977–2001)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Majed Moqed
| native_name        = {{Lang|ar|ماجد موقد}}
| native_name_lang   = ar
| image              = MMoqed.JPG
| image_size         = 150px
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1977|06|18|df=yes}}
| birth_name         = Majed Mashaan Ghanem Moqed
| birth_place        = [[Medina]], Saudi Arabia
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2001|9|11|1977|6|18|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[The Pentagon]], [[Virginia]], U.S.
| death_cause        = [[Suicide attack|Suicide]] by [[United Airlines Flight 175|plane crash]] ([[September 11 attacks]])
| height             = {{convert|5|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on|order=flip}}
| relatives          = 
}}

'''Majed Moqed''' ({{langx|ar|ماجد موقد|Mājad Mūqad}}; 18 June 1977{{snd}}11 September 2001) was a Saudi terrorist hijacker affiliated with  [[al-Qaeda]]. He hijacked [[American Airlines Flight 77]] and was one of the [[Hijackers in the September 11 attacks|five hijackers]] who crashed the [[Boeing 757]] into [[the Pentagon]] as part of the [[September 11 attacks]].

Moqed studied law at a college in Saudi Arabia before joining al-Qaeda in 1999. He was personally selected by [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]] to participate in the 9/11 attacks. Al-Shibh sent him to the [[United States]] in May 2001 to study how to carry out the attacks.

==Early life and activities==
Moqed was a law student from the small town of Al-Nakhil, [[Saudi Arabia]] (west of [[Medina]]), studying at [[King Fahd University]]'s Faculty of Administration and Economics.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://coop.vaed.uscourts.gov/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/PE00114.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015132733/https://coop.vaed.uscourts.gov/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/PE00114.html |archive-date=2021-10-15 |title=PE00114 |publisher=United States District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |access-date= 2023-10-27 |url-status=live }}</ref> Before he dropped out, he was apparently recruited into [[al-Qaeda]] in 1999 along with friend [[Satam al-Suqami]], a hijacker of [[American Airlines Flight 11]], with whom he had earlier shared a college room.<ref>{{cite web |author=John J. Lumpkin |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/majed_moqed.htm |title=Majed Moqed |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |access-date=2012-01-06 |archive-date=2011-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928041915/http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/majed_moqed.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=July 2023}}

The two trained at Khalden, a large training facility near [[Kabul]] that was run by [[Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi]]. A friend in [[Saudi Arabia]] claimed he was last seen there in 2000, before leaving to study English in the United States.<ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/arabnews092201.html Arab News, 9/22/01]{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In November 2000, Moqed and al-Suqami flew into [[Iran]] from [[Bahrain]] together.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Some time late in 2000, Moqed traveled to the [[United Arab Emirates]], where he purchased [[traveler's cheques]] presumed to have been paid for by 9/11 financier [[Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi]]. Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased travellers cheques{{cn|date=September 2024}}, including [[Wail al-Shehri]], [[Saeed al-Ghamdi]], [[Hamza al-Ghamdi]], [[Ahmed al-Haznawi]] and [[Ahmed al-Nami]].

Known as ''al-Ahlaf'' during the preparations,<ref name="willalOmari">Videotape of recorded will of Abdulaziz al-Omari and others</ref> Moqed then moved in with hijackers [[Salem al-Hazmi]], [[Abdulaziz al-Omari]] and [[Khalid al-Mihdhar]] in an apartment in [[Paterson, New Jersey]].{{cn|date=September 2024}}

===2001===
Moqed first arrived to the United States on or about May 2, 2001 with [[Ahmed al-Ghamdi]].<ref name="9_11_report" /><ref name="indictment_Bharara">{{cite court |litigants=United States of America v. Mohammed, Attash, Al-Shibh, Ali, and Al-Hasawi  |court= U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York |url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/documents/ksm-indictment.pdf |quote=Majed Moqed and Ahmed al-Ghamdi arrived in the Washington,
D.C. area, on or about May 2, 2001  }}</ref>

Later that year, Moqed, [[Hani Hanjour]], Hazmi and [[Ahmed al-Ghamdi]] rented a minivan and travelled to [[Fairfield, Connecticut]]. There they met a contact in the parking lot of a local convenience store who provided them with [[Identity document forgery|false ID]]s. (This was possibly Eyad Alrababah, a Jordanian charged with document fraud).{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Moqed was one of the five hijackers who asked for a state identity card on 2 August 2001. On 24 August, both Mihdhar and Moqed tried to purchase flight tickets from the [[American Airlines]] online ticket-merchant, but had technical difficulties resolving their address and gave up.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602mueller.html |title=Statement of FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to 9/11 Joint Intelligence Committee |publisher=Fas.org |access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref>

Employees at Advance Travel Service in [[Totowa, New Jersey]], later claimed that Moqed and Hanjour had both purchased tickets there. They claimed that Hani Hanjour spoke very little English, and Moqed did most of the speaking. Hanjour requested a seat in the front row of the airplane. Their credit card failed to authorize, and after being told the agency did not accept personal [[cheque]]s, the pair left to withdraw cash. They returned shortly afterwards and paid $1842.25 in cash.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/news/planes_reconstruction.htm | work=The Boston Globe | title=Boston.com / Fighting Terrorism}}</ref> During this time, Moqed was staying in Room 343 of the ''Valencia Motel''. On September 2, Moqed paid cash for a $30 weekly membership at [[Gold's Gym]] in [[Greenbelt, Maryland]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Masters |first=Brooke A. |last2=Smith |first2=Leef |last3=Shear |first3=Michael D. |date=2001-09-19 |title=Dulles Hijackers Made Maryland Their Base |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/19/dulles-hijackers-made-maryland-their-base/82209bac-0a4e-4508-9a93-28b902af1497/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

Three days later he was seen on an [[Automated teller machine|ATM]] camera with [[Hani Hanjour]]. After the attacks, the manager at an [[pornography|adult video store]], ''Adult Lingerie Center'', in [[Beltsville, Maryland|Beltsville]] claimed that Moqed had been in the store three times.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Young |first=Monte R. |date=2001-09-23 |title=Tracing Trail Of Hijackers |page=43 |work=Newsday (Suffolk Edition) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition-tracing-trail/128758852/ |access-date=2023-07-24 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

==Attacks==
{{Main|American Airlines Flight 77}}

On September 11 2001, Moqed arrived at [[Washington Dulles International Airport]].

According to the ''[[9/11 Commission Report]]'', Moqed set off the metal detector at the airport and was screened with a hand-wand. He passed the cursory inspection, and was able to board his flight at 7:50. He was seated in 12A, adjacent to Mihdhar who was in 12B. Moqed helped to hijack the plane and assisted [[Hani Hanjour]] in crashing the plane into [[the Pentagon]] at 9:37&nbsp;a.m., killing 189 people (64 on the plane and 125 on the ground).

The flight was scheduled to depart at 08:10, but ended up departing 10&nbsp;minutes late from Gate&nbsp;D26 at Dulles.<ref name="four">{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/staff-report-sept2005.pdf |title=Staff Monograph on the "Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security" |date=September 2005 |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=2008-08-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306021319/http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/staff-report-sept2005.pdf |archive-date=2008-03-06 }}</ref> The last normal radio communications from the aircraft to [[air traffic control]] occurred at 08:50:51.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gregor |first=Joseph A. |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/info/ATC_%20Report_AA77.pdf |title=ATC Report American Airlines Flight 77 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |date=2001-12-21 |access-date=2008-06-01}}</ref> At 08:54, Flight&nbsp;77 began to deviate from its normal, assigned flight path and turned south, and then hijackers set the flight's [[autopilot]] heading for Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/info/autopilot_AA77_UA93_study.pdf |title=Study of Autopilot, Navigation Equipment, and Fuel Consumption Activity Based on United Airlines Flight&nbsp;93 and American Airlines Flight&nbsp;77 Digital Flight Data Recorder Information |last=O’Callaghan |first=John |author2=Bower, Daniel |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |date=2002-02-13 |access-date=2008-06-01}}</ref> Passenger [[Barbara Olson]] called her husband, [[United States Solicitor General]] [[Theodore Olson]], and reported that the plane had been hijacked and that the assailants had box cutters and knives.<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Glen |url=http://www.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/news/planes_reconstruction.htm |title=Probe reconstructs horror, calculated attacks on planes |work=The Boston Globe |date=2001-11-23 |access-date=2008-06-01}}</ref> At 09:37, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the west facade of [[the Pentagon]], killing all 64 aboard (including the hijackers), along with 125 on the ground in the Pentagon.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/info/AAL77_fdr.pdf |title=American Airlines Flight 77 FDR Report |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |date=2002-01-31 |access-date=2008-06-02 |archive-date=2007-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926220623/https://www.ntsb.gov/info/AAL77_fdr.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the recovery process at the Pentagon, remains of all five Flight&nbsp;77 hijackers were identified through a process of elimination, as not matching any [[DNA]] samples for the victims, and put into custody of the FBI.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remains-of-9-sept-11-hijackers-held/ |title=Remains Of 9 Sept. 11 Hijackers Held |date=2002-08-17 |publisher=CBS News |access-date=2008-09-30 |archive-date=2008-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930021707/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/17/attack/main519033.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edson |first=S.M. |last2=Ross |first2=J. P. |last3=Coble |first3=M. D. |last4=Parsons |first4=T. J. |last5=Barritt |first5=S. M. |date=January 2004 |title=Naming the Dead – Confronting the Realities of Rapid Identification of Degraded Skeletal Remains |url=http://www.cstl.nist.gov/div831/strbase/pub_pres/Edson2004.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Forensic Science Review |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=63–90 |pmid=26256813 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720223532/http://www.cstl.nist.gov/div831/strbase/pub_pres/Edson2004.pdf |archive-date=2006-07-20 |access-date=2008-09-30}}</ref>

After the attacks his family told ''[[Arab News]]'' that Moqed had been a fan of sports, and enjoyed travelling. Additionally, the U.S. announced it had found a "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Student Identity Card" bearing Moqed's name in the rubble surrounding the Pentagon. They also stated that it appeared to have been a forgery.<ref name="9_11_report">{{cite web|url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Ch2.pdf |title=9/11 Commission Report |access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[PENTTBOM]]
* [[Hijackers in the September 11 attacks]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100807204647/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/index.html The Final 9/11 Commission Report]
* [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/photogallery/terrorism/gallery_07/photo12.html Photo gallery]

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{{9-11 hijackers}}
{{AmericanTerrorism}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moqed, Majed}}
[[Category:1977 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:American Airlines Flight 77 hijackers]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabian mass murderers]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabian murderers of children]]