Ramzi Binalshibh (also transliterated as Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, and several other ways) is a citizen of Yemen and allegedly a key al-Qaida member who helped in planning the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
Ramzi Binalshibh used the name Ramzi Omar while he was in Germany. He claimed that he was a political refugee from Sudan. He asked for asylum in 1995. The judge refused the asylum request, and Binalshibh returned to the Hadramaut region of Yemen. Binalshibh later got a German visa under his real name.
He was refused an entry visa to the United States four times prior to the attacks, where he allegedly wanted to join the 19 hijackers. His friend, Zakariyah Essabar, was also denied visas.
Binalshibh was captured in Pakistan on September 11, 2002, after a gunbattle in Karachi. He was subsequently turned over to the United States, which is currently (July 2003) holding him in a secret location. He is wanted in Germany where in Hamburg he shared a flat with Mohammed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the hijackers. However, Germany has agreed that the United States has priority for extradition.
