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Jehad Mostafa
American member of al-Shabaab From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jehad Serwan Mostafa (Arabic: جهاد سيروان مصطفى; born 28 December 1981), also known as Anwar al-Amriki (Arabic: أنور الأمريكي), is an American-born senior leader in al-Shabaab, the al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia. Mostafa has been on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list since 2011, as per his significance to multiple terrorist cells, and is believed to be the highest ranking U.S. citizen in a foreign terrorist organization.
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Early life
Jehad Serwan Mostafa was born on December 28, 1981, in Waukesha, Wisconsin to Halim Mostafa Gabori (died 2018), a Kurd from Syria,[1][2] and an American mother. He was raised in Serra Mesa, California, and earned a degree in economics at the University of California, San Diego in 2005.[3]
In his youth, he served as the head of the Muslim Youth Council of San Diego and became a security guard registered with the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services by 2000.[4][5] During his time in San Diego, he was described as "very kind, very peaceful, very patient" and as "not scary or aggressive".[6]
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Involvement with terrorism
He married a Somali woman in 2005, and left the United States the same year.[2] At the age of 23, he traveled to Sana'a, Yemen, and then to Somalia by 2006,[1] where he engaged in fighting alongside the Islamic Courts Union seeking to expel Ethiopian troops from Somali territory. He then joined al-Shabaab, which was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in 2008.[4][3]
Mostafa swiftly rose up the ranks of the group, serving as an explosives expert, propaganda expert, military instructor, and interpreter for the organization. By 2009, he has been a senior leader in al-Shabaab, and is believed to be the highest-ranking U.S. citizen in a foreign terrorist organization.[3][7]
In 2011, Mostafa appeared at an al-Shabaab press conference with al-Shabaab leadership.[1]
He reportedly has three wives in Somalia–one being a widow of a deceased al-Shabaab member–and an estimated sixteen children. He apparently narrowly evaded capture in a 2018 ground operation.[1]
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Criminal charges
On October 9, 2009, Mostafa was charged by the United States government with:[3]
- Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists
- Conspiracy to provide material support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization
- Providing material support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
In 2011, Mostafa was added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, and in 2013 the U.S. government offered a $5 million bounty under the Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program for information leading to his arrest and conviction.[3] In 2022, U.S. government doubled the RFJ payment amount for information about Mostafa to $10 million.[8]
References
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