Habib Marwan

Habib Marwan was the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks of Day 4. He used his own terrorist cells, both inside and outside the United States, to help him with his planned attacks during the day.

Before Day 4
Marwan was an immigrant from Turkey, and his American alias was Harris Barnes. Using the Barnes identity, he managed to obtain a middle management position at the McLennan-Forster Corporation. Marwan used his position in the company to create sleeper cells and acquire technology needed to implement his plans.

Day 4
Marwan planned a series of attacks against the United States, all of which were to happen during Day 4. Through information gathered from Navi Araz at the beginning of the day, Marwan and his terrorist cells have been planning for the day's attacks for nearly 5 years. Each attack, starting with the train bombing in Santa Clarita early in the day, were diversions for larger, more devastating attacks against the United States. The train attack was a cover for the kidnapping of James Heller and Audrey Raines. The kidnapping was cover for the nuclear power plant attack.

Marwan first appeared as he was trying to set off 104 separate nuclear reactors in power plants around the country. He had one of his cells hijack a train to acquire the Dobson Override, a device which would bypass security codes and melt down each reactor while changing the kill codes. When CTU shut down all but six of the reactors, Marwan, posing as an IT guy, tried to personally work the override into melting the remaining cores. He is stopped by Jack Bauer and Curtis Manning however, when they show up at the office building and recognize him. Marwan fired his gun to create panic in the office, and used the resulting chaos to escape. Marwan killed a field agent and put on his gear to pose as the agent to escape from the building.

When CTU found another lead to Marwan, Joseph Fayed, Jack decided to use a sting operation to get his location by letting Dina Araz and Fayed take Jack hostage and bring him to Marwan. He caught onto the plan, however, and abducted Jack and Dina while Fayed made a martyr of himself. While captive at a nearby warehouse, Marwan, suspecting that Dina is working with CTU, tested her loyalty by giving her a non-loaded gun and telling her to shoot Jack. When she pulled the gun on Marwan, however, he had one of his men kill Dina and constrain Jack. Marwan, needing another distraction to sway CTU from his next planned attack, called Michelle Dessler. He offered CTU an exchange of Jack for Behrooz Araz. CTU set up the exchange, but Marwan had already left the area.

The nuclear reactor threat kept President John Keeler in the air around Los Angeles. The commotion of the days events allowed an ex-military pilot in one of Marwan's cells, Mitch Anderson, to steal a stealth fighter in the area. Marwan called Anderson to proceed with the plan to shoot down Air Force One. With CTU's focus on finding Marwan and Jack's exchange, Anderson was able to steal the fighter effortlessly and get it in Air Force One's airspace. It was too late for CTU to stop the attack, and Anderson shot down Air Force One.

With the wreckage of the plane included the Nuclear football, a briefcase that contained all the firing codes for the US' nuclear warheads. Marwan got to the Football in time to take one of the codes from the briefcase, but had to leave the Football behind, as he was being perused by Jack. After escaping and returning safely back to Los Angeles, Marwan set up a video feed to tape himself explaining the meaning of the days attacks, including the nuclear warhead attack that will happen before the end of the day, to the American public. Through another lead that Jack found from Joe Prado, they find Marwan's current location again. Jack and the team are stopped by new President Charles Logan, who tried to arrest Jack for disobeying orders, before they could capture Marwan. Marwan and his cell escaped from the building using underground tunnels.

Marwan placed a call to his cell in Iowa, where they secured the nuclear warhead which is accessed by Marwan's stolen Football code.

Marwan would stop at nothing to achieve his goal of striking a blow at the United States and had spent years planning for the day. He was not prepared to let anyone get in the way of his plans and mercilessly ordered the deaths of anyone who might be captured or who betrayed him. When faced with his own capture, he allowed himself to be dropped from a multi-story parking garage rather than be subjected to interrogation about the whereabouts of the missile threatening Los Angeles. Marwan died in the fall.

Marwan thought that American people should see their enemy and refused to have his face covered when he made the video about the day's attacks.

Background information and notes

 * In one deleted scene, Marwan met up with his wife and young son.
 * Marwan appeared in 16 episodes of the show, making him the show's longest-running main villain.
 * Marwan was originally supposed to appear in 6 episodes, but the producers were impressed by Vosloo's acting performance and portrayal of the character. They decided to make him the main villain for the rest of the season. He appeared in the final 12 episodes of Day 4 after the change.
 * Habib Marwan is one of the two Muslim main antagonists in any season of 24; Abu Fayed in Day 6 is the second.
 * The laptop that Marwan uses throughout the day and the one to launch the nuclear warhead is Alienware brand.
 * Although Arnold Vosloo was credited for Day 4 2:00am-3:00am, Marwan only appears in footage from his prerecorded message to America, filmed in Day 4 1:00am-2:00am.