Mohammed Haydar Zammar (Arabic: محمد حيدر زمار Muḥammad Ḥaydar Zammār) (born 1961) [1] is a Syrian-German militant who served as an important al-Qaida recruiter,[2][3] and is currently a member of the Islamic State.
Der Spiegel described him, in 2002, as an imposing figure who frequently gave enthusiastic speeches on behalf of bin Laden and other Islamists.
German authorities shared this information with the CIA, including Zammar's phone conversations with hijackers Marwan al-Shehhi, Mohamed Atta, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Said Bahaji.
[6] Atta, Shehhi, and bin al-Shibh formed the Hamburg cell in November 1998, and Zammar is reported to have been a frequent visitor.
Time Magazine reported: "U.S. officials in Damascus submit written questions to the Syrians, who relay Zammar's answers back.
According to Amnesty International, Muhammad Haydar Zammar was a victim of the US-led renditions programme who was convicted in February 2007 after an unfair trial before the Syrian Supreme State Security Court.
Amnesty also alleged that he was held in pre-trial detention for almost five years, much of it in incommunicado and solitary confinement, at the notorious Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence in Damascus.
In June 2007 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that Muhammad Haydar Zammar was detained arbitrarily and called upon the Syrian authorities to "remedy the situation".
[9] A member of the negotiating team told Der Spiegel that days after being released, Zammar travelled to the Syrian city of Raqqa and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
[10] Zammar was recaptured by members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units in March 2018 near the village of Darnij in Deir al-Zour.