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May 22, 2007

Lebanon: Islamist Suspect Of German Train Bombs Is Killed

On Monday July 31 2006 two bombs were found on separate trains in Germany. These bombs, disguised in suitcases, contained propane canisters and timers. The bombs did not have adequate detonators and never exploded - they were disassembled on train platforms. The trains were bound in one case for the city of Dortmund, and in the other instance to Koblenz. At first the German media questioned if the bombs were hoax or not, until August 19, when a Lebanese student, Yussef Mohammed al-Hajdib, was arrested at Kiel station.

It has been suggested that Hizb ut-Tahrir were behind the bombs, and the devices were not intended as hoaxes. On Friday, August 25, a second suspect, identified as Fadi Al-Saleh, was arrested in the southern city of Konstanz, Germany. This individual, a 23-year old Syrian, was suspected of providing internet research to assist the enactment of the bomb plot.

By this time, two other suspects had been arrested in, Lebanon in connection with the bomb plot, and the link with Hizb ut-Tahrir was being established.

20 year old Jihad Hamad had turned himself into police in Tripoli, Lebanon, on Thursday, 24 August, and admitted that he had carried a suitcase onto one of the German trains, but claimed he did not know its contents. The following day, a 24-year old, born in Akkar, northern Lebanon and identified only as KHD, was arrested in Lebanon.

A Lebanese security source claimed that one of the suspects arrested in Lebanon used to go under the codename "Hamza" and he transported Kurds from Syria into Lebanon. This man is known to be a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. On Thursday, September 1 DPA reported that Hizb ut-Tahrir had denied any link to the German train bomb plot, and maintained the (highly dubious) claims that the group condemns violence.

On Saturday, September 2 it was reported that Joerg Ziercke, head of Germany's Federal Crime Office, stated that the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi by US air strike on June 7 had enraged the plotters. Jihad Hamad told investigators in Lebanon that Youssef Mohammed el Hadjdib, one of the Lebanese suspects, had also been angered by the Mohammed cartoons, originally published in September 2005 by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Hamad said Hajdib considered the images "an attack of the Western world on Islam". He was quoted as stating: "The intention was not to kill people, but to avenge any harm done to Muslims after the publication in Denmark of cartoons that were harmful to the Prophet Mohammed."

On Saturday September 2, Hamad and Youssef Mohammed el Hajdib, along with four other individuals (including Saleh), were officially charged with plotting to kill numerous people. The other three men who were charged were Ayman Hawa, Khalil al-Boubou and Khaled Khair-Eddin el-Hajdib. Saleh and Youssef Mohammed el Hajdib remained in custody in Germany. Another individual, Saddam el-Hajdib, was later placed on trial with the others, in absentia.

Saddam el-Hajdib was the fourth-highest ranking official in the Fatah Islam group, and a brother of Youssef Mohammed el Hajdib. Both Saddam and Youssef el-Hajdib were cousins to Khaled Khair-Eddin el-Hajdib.

The trial began in Lebanon on April11 this year. The four individuals present from the Lebanese trial are pictured. From left to right they are Khaled Khair-Eddin al-Hajj Dib (19), Jihad Hamad (22), Ayman Hawwa (22) and Khalil al- Bubu (23). On the first day of the trial, arrest warrants were issued for Saddam el-Hajdib and Youssef Mohammed el Hajdib.

As soon as the trial began, it was adjourned on the orders of the judge, Michel Abu Arraj. The defense had maintained that the trial should be moved from Beirut, where it was convened at the Palais de Justice, to Tripoli in the north of Lebanon, where the four suspects in the dock had been arrested on September 4, 2006. After eight minutes, the trial was moved to April 18. After the official adjournment, the accused were allowed five minutes to converse with their families before being taken back into custody at the central prison in Roumieh, 12 miles north-east of Beirut.

On April 18 the trial was again adjourned until May 10. On May 16, an appeals court rejected the defense request to move the trial closer to the suspects' homes.

Today, on May 22, the trial was not convened. This was because of the escalating violence in Tripoli in the north. Fawaz Zakariyeh, defense lawyer for Jihad Hamad, said: "I cannot say if the court will set a date today but all I can say (is) the court was not in session today due to the security situation in the country."

The Times of May 20 reported that fighting in Tripoli had escalated. The group Fatah al-Islam was engaged in fighting with the Lebanese military, and at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, there are several hundred armed supporters of Fatah al-Islam, which is a rebellious offshoot of the Syria-based and Syria-backed Fatah al-Intifada. The Shiite group Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran, has backed the Lebanese military in its use of force against the Sunni Fatah al-Islam. Dozens have died in three days of continuous fighting, and the conflict is set to destabilize the entire country if it does not stop.

The Lebanese government has requested US military aid to deal with the conflict. $300 million is spent by the US on meeting Lebanon's military requirements.

The suspect in the German train plot who was being tried in absentia and was not in custody, Saddam el-Hajdib, was (according to Associated Press) killed in the conflict in Tripoli. The news was broken by a Lebanese official on Monday. Saddam el-Hajdib's body was found with nine others in a house which was raided by Lebanese troops and police on Sunday (May 20). Also among the badly burned corpses was that of Abu Yazan, who like Saddam el-Hajdib was also a senior commander of Fatah al-Islam.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at May 22, 2007 6:53 PM

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