Syed Ali

Syed Ali was an international financier and the head of the terrorist organization Second Wave, which tried to detonate a nuclear weapon in Los Angeles on Day 2. A militant Islamic fundamentalist, he seemed to be motivated by religious reasons.

Ali had a wife and two sons, Asad Ali and Fareed Ali.

Before Day 2
Sometime prior to Day 2, Second Wave recruited Marie Warner, who funneled at least $475,000 from Warner Enterprises to Ali for use in Second Wave's terrorist activities.

Six months prior to Day 2, Ali associate Mamud Rasheed Faheen used an intermediary to contact Nina Myers, putting her in contact with Joseph Wald, to whom she sold maps and other information of CTU Los Angeles. Ali's group gave Wald the date to attack CTU, so they would be unable to stop the larger nuclear attack on Los Angeles.

Day 2
Ali had Kate Warner and Paul Koplin taken to him at 18 Starling Court when they discovered Ali's name in the financial records of Warner Enterprises. After determining that they had not told anyone about their discovery and ordering both their deaths, Ali went to a nearby mosque to pray while his plan was executed by Marie Warner.



At the mosque, Ali was apprehended by Jack Bauer. He tried to use a suicide capsule so that Marie could follow through with the plan uninterrupted, but Bauer was able to force it out of his mouth. Ali resisted interrogation, and would not give Jack the whereabouts of the nuclear bomb. Jack then set up a television feed of Ali's wife and their two sons strapped to chairs, and ready to be executed by her own countrymen loyal to America. Ali was horrified but still refused to cooperate, so Jack ordered the execution of Asad, the older son. Only later, as Jack called in to have the other boy Fareed shot, did Ali break and tell Jack of the nuclear bomb. It was later proven that the execution was staged, and the family was unharmed. Ali was detained and plans were made to have him sent to Guantanamo Bay. After the nuclear plot was foiled, his nation's authorities raided Ali's apartment and found the Cyprus recording, which upon being deciphered and anaylzed by Agent Gibson implicated his home nation in the attack. He was questioned about the authenticity of the tape by Michelle Dessler. He claimed that he worked alone, but only Michelle and Jack believed him. Before he was sent to Guantanamo Bay, he was shot and killed by Jonathan Wallace who wished to escape from the plot of Peter Kingsley. The moment before the shot was fired, Jack informed him that the death of his son was staged, and Ali reaffirmed that the Cyprus recording was a fraud.

Memorable quotes

 * Syed Ali: (to Mohsen in regards to Kate Warner) If she would have known anything, she would have told us.  Kill her. ("Day 2: 4:00pm-5:00pm")


 * Syed Ali: [The bomb] is at Norton Airfield!
 * Jack Bauer: What's the plan?
 * Syed Ali: We were going to fly it over downtown...and detonate it. ("Day 2: 7:00pm-8:00pm")


 * Syed Ali: (last words) What I told the woman was true. ("Day 2: 11:00pm-12:00am")