- Former college roommate/friend of Sayid at the University of Cairo
- A member of a terrorist cell in Sydney, Australia
- Sayid is later bribed with knowledge of the whereabouts of Nadia in order to hook up with Essam for the CIA
- Is coerced by Sayid into agreeing to be the martyr for the terrorist cell's latest plot, to use a stash of C4 to blow up a gov building
- Takes his own life when he finds out Sayid betrayed him for a woman
- Staying to arrange his funeral caused Sayid to be on Oceanic Flight 815