Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, a Saudi citizen, was accused of conspiring with members and associates of al Qaeda to commit terrorism, attack civilians, and murder and destroy property. The United States alleged that al Sharbi conspired with high-level Al Qaeda figure Abu Zubaydah to build small, hand-held remote-detonation explosives to be used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. According to the Defense Department, he reportedly received military training at a training camp in Afghanistan.

Al Sharbi is believed to have been seized in Pakistan on March 28, 2002. According to the Defense Department, al Sharbi graduated from Embry Riddle University in Arizona before allegedly attending the al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan and providing English translations for members of the camp.