According to the Wall Street Journal, Amnesty complained that Shakir was being held in "incommunicado detention and is at risk of torture or ill-treatment." Saddam Hussein - the only Mideast leader to publicly praise the 9/11 attacks - also weighed in on Shakir's behalf.

"Pressure from Amnesty and Saddam Hussein worked," the Journal said. "Mr. Shakir was released and hasn't been seen since."

Shakir was present at a January 2000 al-Qaida summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the 9/11 plot was reviewed. Two of the actual 9/11 hijackers were also at the same meeting.

When he was arrested in Qatar not long after the 9/11 attacks, Shakir had telephone numbers for the safe houses of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.

But for the intervention of Amnesty International, Shakir might be in Guantanamo today - undergoing grilling by U.S. interrogators about al-Qaida's plans for the next 9/11.

Editor's note:
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