Abdul Rahman Shalabi

ISN: 042

Nationality: Saudi

The following is a summary of the allegations against Abdul Rahman Shalabi found in publicly available US military documents. If US military documents about this prisoner are inaccurate or misleading then this summary will be as well. The introduction to this set of summaries explains some of the terms used below.  

Nine Guantanamo prisoners said Shalabi was a bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden.

After being shown a photo of Shalabi, KSM, Ahmad Ghailani, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, and Ahmed Al Darbi each separately identified Shalabi as a bodyguard for Bin Laden. When shown a photo of Shalabi, Abdu Sharqawi and Sanad Kazimi both said that Shalabi was a Bin Laden bodyguard who used the alias Saqr al-Madani. Salim Hamdan said he knew Shalabi as Saqr, a Bin Laden bodyguard. Mohammad Al Qahtani and Walid Bin Attash also said Shalabi served as a bodyguard for Bin Laden.  

Shalabi appears in a January 2000 video released by Al Qaeda along with other Osama Bin Laden bodyguards.

Walid Bin Attash said that in July 2001, KSM took Shalabi and other Al Qaeda members to Karachi to teach them English and American behaviors in preparation for a canceled Southeast Asia portion of the 9/11 attacks. Shalabi’s DAB says that Al Qaeda planned to highjack US airliners in Southeast Asia and “destroy them in midair” on 9/11. That part of the 9/11 attacks was canceled.

Israeli Military Intelligence identified Shalabi as having obtained training in Karachi for an operation similar to the 9/11 attacks.

Shalabi said he is not a member of Al Qaeda. Shalabi said he went to Afghanistan to teach the Koran. He said that he taught the Koran to children at a mosque in Afghanistan. According to his 2008 ARB, Shalabi was asked how he taught the children without speaking their language. Shalabi replied that he taught the children how to read the Koran in Arabic, but that it was up to the children’s parents to explain the meanings of the Koran to them because he could not speak their language.

Shalabi was captured by Pakistani forces in December 2001 attempting to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan. Shalabi was captured with a group of 31 other suspected Arab Al Qaeda fighters.

Shalabi arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, the day the first War on Terror prisoners arrived at the prison.

The summary for this 2006 ARB says that Shalabi affirmed his intention to cooperate in every way with the US government.

In January 2007 Shalabi said, “Go to Iraq, I will kill you there.” This was interpreted as a threat against the guards at Guantanamo.  

In January 2010 Obama’s Guantanamo Task Force recommended Shalabi for continued detention.