Ziad Samir Jarrah is the main character of the 2004 historical film The Hamburg Cell. He is based on the real life September 11th Hijacker of the same name.
He was played by Karim Salekh.
Biography[]
In the early draft of the film, Ziad Jarrah is studying at the University of Greifswald and later the Hamburg University if Applied Sciences from 1996 to 1999, going to school in Germany due to his parents' wishes for him to get a degree in science or engineering. Then, Jarrah and three of his classmates, Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al Shehhi, and Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, decide to travel to Afghanistan and join Al-Qaeda. In between, Ziad Jarrah falls in love with a classmate, a Turkish girl named Aysel Sengun. After Ziad and Aysel start dating, Ziad decides that he shall not drink, smoke, or sleep with Aysel, but due to this, Aysel becomes irritated and Ziad becomes more estranged from his girlfriend as he becomes angrier and more radicalized.
In the middle draft of the film in 2000, Jarrah, Atta, and Al Shehhi travel to the United States and arrive in Miami, Florida. The, in early 2001, after some complications with Jarrah's passport, he finally enrolls in fight training in Florida. Over the next few months, Jarrah spends more and more time with his family and his girlfriend, Aysel. Jarrah then starts having second thoughts occasionally about going through with the upcoming suicide attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Capitol Building. Jarrah is assigned to be the hijacker pilot to attack the Capitol Building and Atta and Al Shehhi are to assault the World Trade Center, while Hani Hanjour, the hijacker pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, is assigned to attack the Pentagon.
Towards the end of the film, Jarrah spends his final days learning hand to hand combat in gyms, and in a meeting with Atta in Spain, Jarrah almost backs out of his suicide mission but doesn't. He then travels to Germany to have his last date with Aysel in July 2001. On September 7, 2001, Jarrah flies from Florida to Newark, New Jeresy, along with his hijack team in preparation for their suicide mission. Jarrah then makes final contact with family and on September 10, 2001, Jarrah wrote his last letter to his girlfriend saying "I have done what I have to do, it is an honor and everyone will be proud, you'll see, everyone will see.".
In the early morning of September 11, 2001, Jarrah and his hijacking team drive to Newark Airport and board United Airlines Flight 93, which they will hijack. In the final scenes of the movie, Mohamed Atta crashes American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and Marwan Al Shehhi crashes United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. Hani Hanjour then crashes American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. After Jarrah and his hijack team take over United Airlines Flight 93, the passengers on the plane realize the fate of the other hijacked planes and decide to take the plane back from the hijackers. After the passengers rise up and breach the cockpit, Ziad Jarrah intentionally crashes United Airlines Flight 93 into a field in Pennsylvania, ensuring their mutual destruction.
Trivia[]
- Like the real-life ZIad Jarrah, Karim Saleh is also of Lebanese blood. However, Saleh was born in Lyon, France to Lebanese immigrants, and he is thus, a dual citizen of both countries.
- Fellow Hamburg Cell actor Maral Kamel is also French but is a dual citizen of France and Egypt.