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December 9, 2006

US: Mullah Krekar Placed On Sanctions List

The Kurdish Iraqi known as Mullah Krekar has lived in Norway for fourteen years, claiming to be an asylum seeker. Despite claiming that his life was in danger, Krekar still made several visits to the country he claimed held dangers for him. On one of those visits, he founded the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan or "Supporters of Islam in Kurdistan" in December 2001.This group is based in Biyarah, Tiwela, and surrounding regions, near the border with Iran.

Human Rights Watch noted in September 2002 that Ansar al-Islam, which had ordered strict Wahhabi discipline on the inhabitants in its area, was committing atrocities against civilians and had murdered captured combatants. In one instance, 53 captured combatants from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were beheaded. Documents found in Afghanistan suggested that Al Qaeda was involved with the formation of this group, which had formed from a merger of a faction from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan and Jund al-Islam, the Soldiers of Islam.

Jund al-Islam operated a policy of "propagation of virtue and prevention of vice" (al-amr bil ma'ruf wal nahiy 'an al-munkar), which was continued by Ansar al-Islam when Krekar was its inaugural emir, or leader. Ansar al-Islam burned down schools which educated girls, and women who did not wear the burka were murdered on the street. The group was involved in assassinations of political opponents. It also used children among its "soldiers"

On March 22, 2003, three days after the coalition invasion of Iraq began, the group mounted a suicide car bombing, which killed an Australian journalist, Paul Moran. On September 9, 2003, a bomb attempt upon a US Department of Defense office in Arbil was made, killing three people.

Krekar has denied involvement with Al Qaeda, even though in June this year he called bin Laden an "international political figure with global influence," and said he would be prepared to sacrifice himself for the Al Qaeda chief.

Krekar's life in Norway is under surveillance by the government, but the authorities have refused to deport him to Iraq, despite orders for his deportation being made on February 2003 and again on September 2005 with the latter Oslo court ruling upheld last month.

Norrwegian authorities are fearful that if Krekar is returned to Iraq he may face the same fate as those he perceived to be his enemies - torture or death. It was ruled on November 22 that Krekar must pay court costs of 290,000 kronor ($45,000). The likelihood of this money being paid back is remote, as Krekar claims to have no money in his bank account.

While openly defiant, and even making veiled threats against Norway on Al Jazeera TV last September, Krekar's biggest fear is the CIA. In 2003, fearful that he might be abducted by the CIA in a process of "extraordinary rendition", he sought official protection. In June this year, Krekar's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, spoke of Krekar's renewed fears of being kidnapped by the CIA.

Krekar, born Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, is now the head of a list of terrorists which was issued by the Treasury on Thursday, December 7. The list includes another man of Moroccan origins who is currently residing in Sweden, and three Kuwaitis, 45-year old Mubarak Mushakhas Sanad Al-Bathali, 47-year old Jaber Al-Jalamah and 46-year old Hamid Al-Ali. The three Kuwaitis are all said to provide financial support for Al Qaeda-affiliated groups.

According to the US Treasury, the Moroccan who is based in Sweden is called Mohamed Moumou (born July 30, 1965). He still maintains links to Al Qaeda in Iraq and is still connected to the circle which surrounded terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by a US airstrike in June.

According to Swedish records, Moumou has lived at four different addresses around Stockholm over the past two years. Anders Thornberg, director of Sapo, Sweden's security police, there had been an exchange of information with the US authorities "at a number of levels".

The US Treasury report states that Moumou also had an address in London, England. Moumou has connections to senior Al Qaeda members he met in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the late 1990s when he traveled to Afghanistan to particpate in the Khalden terrorist training camp. This was run by Al Qaeda.

In Sweden, Moumou had been the leader of an extremist group centered around the Brandenburg Mosque, Stockholm. He had been Zarqawi's European representative for "issues related to chemical and biological weapons".

On Friday, states DPA, Mullah Krekar and Mohamed Moumou were also placed onto a UN list of sanctions. Under the clauses of the UN Security Council Resolution 1267, the assets of the two men are to be frozen.

The Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt said on Friday that his government had not opposed the decision made against Mohamed Moumou, and spoke of the need for such a system while "we have a threat of international terrorism over us".

Anders Romarheim, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt, NUPI) has speculated that the reason for Krekar's being placed on a US sanctions list has been to apply pressure upon Norway. Romarheim said that the American authorities are unhappy about Krekar's being free in Norway, and he believes this move is intended to make Norway confine the leader of Ansar al-Islam until he is deported to Iraq.

On October 11 two members of the small Albany Mosque in New York were convicted of charges connected with their attempts to fund Krekar's group, Ansar al-Islam. Yassin Aref, a refugee of Kurdish Iraqi origin who was imam at the mosque, was convicted on ten of the 30 counts with which he was originally charged. 51-year old Mohammed Hossain, a naturaliized US citizen and pizzeria owner, was convicted of all of the 27 charges against him.

The pair had been arrested in August 2004 after an undercover operation which had involved money laundering, connected to attempts to sell a shoulder-held missile launcher which they thought would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City. Both men will be sentenced on February 12th, 2007.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 9, 2006 3:48 AM

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