Sharif Mobley

Yemen Uprising January 2015 An uprising of Houthi/Shiite groups in opposition to the existing government of Yemen have taken control of the capital city of Sana'a.

US Embassy Closure February 2015 The Yemeni Government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi collapsed after the opposition group of Houthis took control of the capital Sana'a. The US has closed the US Embassy in the capital and has withdrawn all embassy personnel and diplomatic staff according to US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki.

Yemeni Houthi Rebels May 2015 The conflict in Yemen escalated and Saudi Arabia began to bomb the capital Sana'a and the prison complex where Sharif Mobley was unofficially held was hit multiple times during a Saudi bombing run. Reports from May 30, 2015 indicate that Sharif Mobley along with other Americans that were still in Yemen, may now be in Houthi custody.

Mobley's wife, Nzinga Islam, received a clandestine phone call from Sharif Mobley on Sept 15, 2014. Mobley has not appeared at a number of pre-trial hearings.

Mobley was initially held in the Yemen Central Prison located in Sana'a. Sometime after February 27, 2014 when he was last seen by his lawyers at the Central Prison, he was moved to an unknown location but believed to be a prison run by the Yemen National Security Bureau (NSB) and is now under control of the Yemen Specialized Criminal Court.

On September 26, 2014, Nzinga Islam learned her husband was believed to be in the custody of the Yemen NSB.

On September 11, 2014, Sharif Mobley made an unapproved/unofficial cellphone call to his wife. During a 10-minute conversation, Mobley described enduring acts of brutality and torture. One of these, was being forced to drink "water out of bottles that had contained urine".

Carlton Benson, a consular officer at the US embassy in Yemen, confirmed that Mobley is held in unsanitary conditions and did have to drink from a "dirty" glass. In an email dated September 29, 2014, he also disclosed that Mobley is not allowed any utensils. Without utensils Mobley would have to eat with his hands or if his hands are shackled, directly with his mouth. Benson requested the Mobley family send a care package to the US State Department for Mobley, with clean cups and plastic utensils. He was uncertain if he could persuade the prison authorities to allow Mobley the plastic utensils. A U.S. consular officer, during a consular visit to Mobley in mid/late September, questioned a guard who confirmed the mistreatment.

In October 2014 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, questioned Yemen and the US regarding Mr Mobley's disappearance. Following an investigation that started in May 2014, the OHCHR requested that Yemen ensure that Mr. Mobley would not be detained arbitrarily or subject to unfair legal proceedings.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture released December 9, 2014, contains passages that confirm that threats of rape and family harm were given during interrogations. Reports and analysis from the release report include:

Virginia lawyer and executive director of National Security Counselors, Kel McClanahan, filed a lawsuit in March 21, 2014 in U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C. demanding records under the Freedom of Information Act FOIA to help him determine whether the FBI tapped into his law firm's computers as part of an investigation into how he came to possess classified documents. McClanahan claims that the FBI targeted his law firm because of his assistance in the Mobley case on behalf of the British Human Rights organization Reprieve. His law firm had been retained to handle all FOIA litigation related to several cases, including Mobley. The FBI interest in McClanahan's law firm pertained to several sets of documents obtained with FOIA requests. Some of these documents had been released without proper redactions and he contacted the authorities to inform them of the errors. The documents are unrelated to Sharif Mobley.

During a February 8, 2013 meeting a government prosecutor told McClanahan that neither he nor the National Security Counselors group were the target of any ongoing investigations but McClanahan remained unconvinced and filed his own FOIA request seeking information about the FBI Mobley Interview document and related investigations. As of March 25, 2014 all of these requests have been denied on the grounds that they would interfere with an ongoing investigation.

Mobley was detained in early March 2010 in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, one of 11 suspected al-Qaeda and al-Shabab affiliated militants; one suspected militant was killed during the raid resulting in the arrests. On Tuesday, March 3 (three days prior to the shooting), Yemeni security forces arrested 11 members of al-Qaeda during a raid on a location frequented by that cell in the Sawad Hansh area of Sana'a. A Yemeni source reported that following a thorough investigation and surveillance, Yemeni security forces raided a residence belonging to the father of one of the wanted militants. During the raid, the suspect's father opened fire on the security forces hitting one of the officers. The suspect's father was killed in the ensuing firefight.

On March 7, 2010, he persuaded a guard to unshackle him at prayer time. The guard then went into the washroom to perform the ablution required for prayers, and reportedly left his gun unattended on a chair. At this time, a second guard who had been present left the room and Mobley picked up the gun, and as the first guard exited the washroom Mobley shot him once in the head and then in the chest, killing him almost instantly. Another guard heard the gunshots and entered the room and was shot by Mobley in the kidney and abdomen but had called for reinforcements prior to entering the room and survived.

Mobley's parents were interviewed by the FBI. His mother denied the accusations against her son, describing him as "an excellent person who's never been in trouble" and "a good Muslim". His father, Charles Mobley, said he knew nothing of his son's current situation, adding, "I can tell you this: He's no terrorist." Sharif Mobley has not issued any public statement since the incident. Asked about Mobley's apparent links to al-Awlaki, a Yemeni embassy spokesman in Washington, D.C., said he was not surprised, because al-Awlaki: "is a fixture in jihad 101." Mobley remained in the custody of the Yemeni government on charges of capital murder until October 2010, and was charged with killing one guard and wounding another by a criminal court on October 27.

From the un-redacted portion of FBI report log of the January 31, 2010 hospital visit:

News reports from 2010 include statements of similar threats made to Mobley's family and his children.

The document relating to Mobley was a copy of an FBI account of an April 7, 2010, interview that U.S. agents had conducted with Mobley in Yemen. The FBI had given the un-redacted version of the document to the Yemeni government, and this version was filed in the Yemeni courts on May 23, 2012. Mobley's Yemeni lawyers passed the document to the UK Reprieve legal team and the Reprieve legal team passed it to McClanahan as part of their court documentation package.

Mobley was initially incorrectly identified in the Yemeni press as being a German citizen of African origin. On the day of the shooting, Mobley was incorrectly identified by News Yemen, a Yemeni English language newspaper, as "Shareef Mubaili, ... a German of Somali origin." CNN Arabic reported that the "German Mubaili" was severely injured during a shootout at the Republican Hospital after stealing a guard's gun. According to a "senior official", he was detained at a high security intelligence prison several months ago while the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, D.C., said he had been detained earlier this month. He is suspected of being a member of the same al-Qaeda branch as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who failed in his attempt to bomb a passenger plane on Christmas Day, 2009.

In Newark, Delaware, an imam, Abdel-Hadi Shehata, said Mobley had lived in the same apartment complex in the area and occasionally attended the Islamic Society of Delaware (ISD). Shehata said Mobley never discussed his political or religious perspectives with him, and would sometimes ask advice about Islamic religious rituals. Before 2008, he organized religious pilgrimages to the Middle East. Umar Hassan-El, assistant imam at, ISD's mosque in Wilmington, Delaware who shared a room with Mobley during the Hajj in 2004, said, "He gave no indication that he would join a group that he's alleged to be a part of right now. I never heard that boy ever talk about shooting anybody, killing anybody." The FBI and another law-enforcement stated that they did not know of any criminal charges against Mobley in the U.S.

In 2007, Mobley returned to Masjid Quba, attending on occasion and consulting the imam there about his plans to study in Yemen. The imam says he tried to discourage him from going to Yemen, suggesting that he instead go to Egypt or Morocco, but Mobley refused his advice and has not returned to the mosque for three years.

Mobley received an Islamic upbringing, and as a child, studied Islamic philosophy and Arabic language classes at Masjid Quba in Philadelphia, according to the imam, Anas Muhaimin. Mobley was described by former high school classmates as having had "strong religious views" at the time, and having become more radical following graduation. A former colleague who went on to do a military tour in Iraq, Roman Castro, said the last time he saw Mobley, in 2006, Mobley yelled at him: "Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer!"

Mobley's parents were both born in the United States. Following his arrest, he was reported to have been of Somali descent, however law enforcement officials and family friends indicated that this information was incorrect. Mobley was raised in Atlantic County, New Jersey. He was a member of his high school wrestling team and practiced karate, earning a black belt, and graduated from high school in 2002. He moved to Philadelphia and then to Newark, Delaware. He is married, and has a daughter. In 2005, he earned $75 as an election day worker for the campaign of Governor Jon Corzine.

The U.S. government is in the process of reviewing his past activities in the United States, including his employment as a contract laborer at several U.S. nuclear power plants between 2002 and 2008. At this time, we are not aware of any security-related concerns or incidents related to Mr. Mobley's employment at these locations; however we continue to review his past activities.

Sharif Mobley (Arabic: شريف موبلي ‎; born January 19, 1984) was initially arrested in Yemen January 26, 2010 by Yemeni counter-terrorism officers and charged with terrorism. There was a shooting during his arrest in which he was injured and taken to the hospital. During his initial stay at the hospital, two members of the US Government interviewed him. The US Embassy told his family they did not know his whereabouts. During the interviews with officials from the American government, he requested that information be passed on to his family. His family has reportedly not received any updates on his situation. After his recovery from a gun shot to the leg he was released into the custody of the Yemeni prison authorities. All charges of terrorism were dropped but he was not released from prison. Later he was charged with murdering a prison guard during an alleged escape attempt while at a follow up visit to the hospital for complications from his initial arrest March 7, 2010. Mobley had moved to Yemen in 2008 and was in process getting visa updates from the US Embassy in preparation for returning to the US with his family when he was arrested. His family was able to return to the US shortly after his arrest.