Hamri Al-Assad

Hamri Al-Assad, born 19 May 1963, was an Islamic terrorist leader originally blamed for the attacks which took place in the United States during the events of Day 6 and during the preceding eleven weeks. In reality, Assad was in the United States in an attempt to negotiate a peace treaty between Islamic terrorist groups and the United States. Assad was killed in the assassination attempt against Wayne Palmer in Day 6.

Before Day 6
Assad spent the past twenty years calling for attacks on American soil. Included in his attacks on American citizens was an ambush on a team of men led by Curtis Manning during Operation Desert Storm, which resulted in the combat deaths of five men, the execution of two more by beheading, and the severe injury and incapacitation of Curtis himself.

Intelligence agents believed he was the leader of a terrorist cell responsible for attacks in 10 major U.S. cities, killing over 900 citizens, over the 11 week period prior to the beginning of Day 6. Abu Fayed, who claimed to be working with Assad but was instead himself the leader of the terrorists, promised to give the United States government the location of Assad in exchange for 25 million dollars and Jack Bauer.

Day 6
When America was under siege from terrorist attacks, all the evidence that CTU Los Angeles gathered pointed that Hamri Al-Assad was responsible for the attacks. When Assad's partner Abu Fayed called, he offered to give up the location of Assad in exchange for $25 million and Jack Bauer, who was being held prisoner in China.

President Wayne Palmer instructs Bill Buchanan to go through with the exchange, and CTU becomes aware of Assad's location. The president orders fighter jets to bomb Assad's building, but Jack learns that Fayed is behind the attacks and Assad is trying to stop him. Jack is able to escape from Fayed's building, and he goes to warn Assad.

When Jack arrived, Assad didn't believe his claims that one of his men was working for Fayed, and Jack disarmed his weapon to earn Assad's trust. Jack asked Assad to look for a transmitter on one of his men, and the traitor was eventually exposed. Jack escaped with Assad and Fayed's spy, moments before fighter jets hit Assad's building and destroyed it. Jack and Assad took the traitor to a building and interrogated him. Assad was able to find out information regarding a subway suicide bomb attack, and Assad killed the traitor after learning the information.

Assad and Jack agreed to work on the case together, and they arrived at the subway station. Jack decided to follow the suicide bomber on the train, while Assad decide to follow the bomber's handler. When Jack was able to prevent the bomb from going off, by pushing the terrorist out of the subway car, the handler contacted Fayed and informed him about the Los Angeles attack being unsuccessful.

Assad and Jack reunited and continued to track the handler, but he was headed towards Route 7 and the handler would be able to tell if something was following him. After a disagreement, Assad allow for Jack to bring CTU into the operation. In order to allow Chloe O'Brian to gain access, that would allow her to track the handler, Jack created a diversion by staging a car accident. Assad then acted as a Samaritan offering the handler a ride, and he kept his phone on, allowing CTU to know everything that was said in the car.

Assad dropped the handler near a self-storage facility, and CTU decided to make their move from there. Jack Bauer and Curtis Manning lead a team to take the handler into custody, but the handler set off a grenade, killing him and destroying most of his hard drive. Assad was able to help CTU identify some of the evidence found in the wreckage, but it was clear that Curtis was uncomfortable working with Assad. Curtis ordered one of his subordinates, Agent Boorman, to keep very close tabs on Assad the entire time.

When Jillian Wallace contacted the police and claimed her son Scott was being held hostage by a terrorist, Jack was convinced she was telling the truth when Fayed's name was mentioned. Jack, Curtis, and Assad all headed over to the Wallace home, and were able to take Ahmed Amar into custody, but he ended up dying from a gun shot wound. Scott was able to provide a location, where his father Ray was sent to by Ahmed, and President Palmer agreed to give Assad a full pardon if he continued to work with CTU and planned on continuing his peace treaty with the West.

When Jack told Curtis about Assad's pardon, he was disgusted, but feigned acceptance. Chloe called Jack and told him that there was a connection between Assad and Curtis. During Desert Storm, Curtis and his team were ambushed by Assad's men. Five of Manning's team members were killed, and Assad's lieutenant later tortured and killed two of the surviving hostages, leaving Curtis critically injured. Realizing the threat to Assad's life, Jack ran out of the Wallace home to find Curtis.

Curtis took Assad by the neck and expressed that he could not let him live any longer when Jack arrived. Curtis took Assad hostage, and Jack struggled on what decision he should make. He shot Curtis in the neck, which ultimately killed him and left Jack racked with guilt. Assad was then taken away by field agents to CTU, just as one of Fayed suitcase nukes detonated in Valencia.

When he arrived at CTU, Assad was initially unwelcomed by Bill Buchanan, who refused to forget Assad's past actions. After being questioned by Buchanan and Nadia Yassir, Assad provided them with the name Dmitri Gredenko. Chloe later discovered that one of Gredenko's recent contacts was Phillip Bauer, and Buchanan thanked Assad as he left CTU. Assad was placed on a plane to Washington, DC, as the president felt he would be best there.

A little after 1pm PST (4pm EST), Assad arrived at the nation's capital and President Palmer immediately wanted to speak with him. Palmer warned Assad that if another nuke went off on US soil, the peace treaty between Assad's organization and the West would no longer take part. Palmer then asked for Assad to take part in a televised nation address, asking Muslims around the world to help locate Fayed's locations.

Immediately disliking the address idea, as Assad felt this would tempt more Muslims to join Fayed's terrorist cell, Assad eventually agreed to take part in the address. Assad worked on the speech for the next two hours and shortly after 4pm, Assad met the ambassador of a Middle Eastern country. Assad argued with the ambassador over the policy of innocence. President Palmer later thanked Assad for agreeing to address the nation, and Assad told him they both had a lot on the line.



At approximately 4:58pm PST (7:58pmEST), Assad took the podium at the Presidential Bunker Press Room to rehearse the plea he and Palmer were going to make for Muslims in joining a peace process. Before President Palmer could join him on stage, he saw a red liquid leaking from the podium. He looked down to find a tape recorder, that Reed Pollock planted there. Assad, realizing that it was a bomb, yelled out a warning and darted from the podium as it exploded.

Shortly after 5pm PST (8pm EST), Bill Buchanan let Jack know that Assad had died in the blast. Investigators were led to believe that Assad had smuggled a bomb into the White House and martyred himself in order to assassinate President Palmer.

Memorable quotes

 * Al-Assad (to President Wayne Palmer): They will come after you.


 * Jack Bauer: I don't know how to do this anymore.
 * Al-Assad: You'll remember.


 * Jack Bauer: We've got a problem.
 * Al-Assad: What?
 * Jack Bauer: He's heading north. The farther he gets outside of the city, the less traffic we'll have to hide in.  It's going to be more difficult to track him all the way to Fayed without him seeing us.
 * Al-Assad: What else can we do?
 * Jack Bauer: We need to call CTU. They can give us satellite coverage.
 * Al-Assad: No. I said no CTU.  They killed my men, they tried to kill me.
 * Jack Bauer: That's because Fayed made them believe you were behind the bombings.
 * Al-Assad: I do not work with my enemies.
 * Jack Bauer: You're working with one now. You might hate this country, you might hate its values.  But if you're serious about disarming, about bringing your organization and others to the table, then you know you have to compromise.

Background information and notes

 * In a deleted scene from Day 6 7:00am-8:00am Assad expresses to Jack that he still has the same feeling as he did before he chose to renounce terrorism; there is a thing as too much freedom and sometimes death is the best option. Jack says that Fayed would agree with him, to which Assad responds that he and Fayed have similar goals, just different methods of achieving them.