Western Resistance

« Islamism: Hizb ut-Tahrir: A Danger To The West? 1 of 4 | | Islamism: Hizb ut-Tahrir: A Danger To The West? 3 of 4 »

September 18, 2007

Islamism: Hizb ut-Tahrir: A Danger To The West? 2 of 4

This article by Adrian Morgan (Giraldus Cambrensis of Western Resistance) appeared earlier today in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.

Hizb ut-Tahrir: A Danger To The West?

Part Two (of Four)

Acts of Violence

On Monday, July 31, 2006 two bombs were discovered on German trains. Both had been found hidden inside suitcases while the trains were moving. The first bomb was found in a train approaching Dortmund station, and the other was on a train bound for Koblenz. The bombs were of a similar design - containing canisters of propane gas, wires, and a timer. The devices were both dismantled on the platforms of the stations when the trains arrived. Federal prosecutors claimed that the devices, had they gone off, would have had the power to maim and kill. It was later revealed that both bombs contained packaging from Lebanon.

On August 19, Youssef Mohammed al-Hajdib, a 21-year old Lebanese Muslim student, was arrested at Kiel railway station. He was charged with "attempted murder, belonging to a terrorist organization and attempting to cause an explosion." He had been identified from closed circuit TV images, and another man shown accompanying him was being sought. On August 25 the second man - a Syrian called Fadi Al-Saleh - was apprehended. By this time, two individuals had been arrested in Lebanon.

One of the suspects in custody in Lebanon, who went under the code-name "Hamza" was found to be a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. He had apparently been involved in smuggling Kurds into Lebanon via Syria. Only a few months earlier, the Lebanese Interior Ministry had granted HT permission to operate, the first time since the group had been outlawed in 1953. Hizb ut-Tahrir later denied connections with any of the suspects.

In April this year, four suspects stood trial in Lebanon for their involvement in the German bomb plots. Youssef Mohammed el Hajdib and his brother Saddam were placed on trial in absentia. The trial suffered adjournments. In May these were connected with an uprising at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Tripoli in the north of the country. The uprising was led by Fatah al-Islam and has continued since. On September 2, the fighting appeared to be over. Saddam el Hajdib, who was fourth in command of Fatah al-Islam, was killed in this conflict in May.

This is certainly not the first instance where a Western European terror plot has involved a suspect who belonged to Hizb ut-Tahrir. It is a set pattern for HT to deny any involvement with its members who commit terrorist acts. On April 30, 2003 two British nationals tried to enter Mike's Place on the Tel Aviv sea-front. Both wore explosive belts. One individual, Asif Hanif from Hounslow, succeeded in blowing himself up. He killed three people and injured 65 others. His companion, Omar Sharif from Derby, could not detonate his belt and fled. His rotting body was found floating in the sea 12 days later. Both individuals were associated with the radical group Al Muhajiroun, which evolved from Hizb ut-Tahrir UK. Omar Sharif had initially become radicalized by HT at university, and was receiving emails from the group up until the time he tried to blow himself up. Hizb ut-Tahrir, of course, claims it had nothing to do with his radicalism.

The break-up of the former Soviet Union has created states in Central Asia which since the mid-1990s have become vulnerable to the advances of Hizb ut-Tahrir and its militant "liberation theology". The Central Asian states lie in a "buffer zone" between Russia, Afghanistan and China and already have extremist terror groups, such as the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) and its parent group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The Islamic Jihad Union is linked with the recent plot in Germany to blow up Frankfurt airport and an airbase in Ramstein used by US military. The IMU, founded in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1998, aims to set up an Islamist super-state comprising Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkemenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and also China's Xinjiang province. This proposed super-state is sometimes called "Turkestan". Both IJU and IMU have strong Al Qaeda links.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has already gained a foothold in most the regions that the IMU seeks to conquer, including Xinjiang province. Only the repressive nation of Turkmenistan appears not to have been fully infiltrated by the group. According to the South Asia Analysis Group, the first HT missionaries in Central Asia were British-Pakistani members of the group, who arrived in Uzbekistan in 1995. The arrival of these Pakistani-origin members happened five years before HT started operating in Pakistan.

In February 2007, a Uighir separatist called Tursun Talip, who came originally from China's Xinjiang province, was arrested in southern Kyrgyzstan. A source claimed: "The Chinese citizen came to southern Kyrgyzstan in order to form a clandestine religious extremist organization. Talip planned to perpetrate terrorist acts and other actions targeted for socio-political destabilization with the assistance of the [Uighir separatist] group, which would unite members of outlawed radical groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Turkestan Islamic Party."

At a terrorist trial involving 15 individuals in Uzbekistan in July 2004, the defendants pleaded guilty at the start of the trial. They also confessed to belonging to the IMU and Hizb ut-Tahrir. One defendant, 22-year old Farkhod Kazakbayev, spoke of an Uzbek group called "Zhamoat" or "Society" which had both Al Qaeda and HT links. IMU and HT have a shared aim, though the professed methods of achieving that aim differ. In some cases, there has been a crossover of membership, but here I must add a caveat.

Crackdowns against Hizb ut-Tahrir in Central Asian states have sometimes been violent and indiscriminate in their targets, particularly in Uzbekistan under the authoritarian leadership of Islam Karimov. Currently hundreds of Hizb ut-Tahrir members are in jail in Uzbekistan, mostly guilty of nothing more than not following state-approved religion. The fate of Muslims who do not follow accepted doctrine can be horrific. In August 2002 the bodies of two such Muslims who had died in prison were returned to their families. An examination of Mazafar Avazov's body showed he had effectively been boiled to death. On May 13, 2005, Muslims protesting peacefully in the Uzbek city of Andijan were massacred by troops. Hundreds died. The authorities blamed Hizb ut-Tahrir for violent incidents preceding the protests.

Tajikistan adjoins Afghanistan's northern border, and it has a growing number of HT members.The group was banned in 2001. During 2005 99 Hizb ut-Tahrir members were arrested in Tajikistan, including 16 women. By January 2006, 40% of those arrested had been convicted receiving jail terms of up to 12 years. According to prosecutor-general Abdasami Dadoboyev, during 2004 there had been 38 trials, in which 97 people had been sentenced. In 2003, 34 Hizb ut-Tahrir members were jailed in Tajikistan, rising to 70 in 2004. In September 2004, nine received sentences of 13 to 15 years' jail for crimes of organising a criminal group, inciting national, racial, religious and ethnic strife. In May last year 10 members of HT were sentenced to jail terms of 9 to 16 years for inciting social discord, and calling for the overthrow of the government.

In October 2006 Tajikistan's deputy interior minister Abdurahim Kakharov told a news conference: "For some time we have seen an intensification of operations by Hizb ut-Tahrir and IMU in Tajikistan... Hizb ut-Tahrir is not giving up its objective - the formation of an Islamic Caliphate in Central Asia through overthrowing the constitutional regimes in these countries." Mahmadsaid Jurakulov, head of the Department for Resisting Organized Crime, added: "We have detained several members of IMU who also belonged to Hizb ut-Tahrir. The movements have similar goals and the propaganda efforts of one are backed by the military support and arms of the other."

One individual who appeared to support Hizb ut-Tahrir and who seems to have been involved in terrorist activities was a mosque leader at Kara-Suu in Kyrgystan. This individual, Muhammadrafiq Kamalov, aka Rafiq Qori Kamoluddin, was imam of the Al-Sarahsiy Mosque. Kara-Suu lies on the border with Uzbekistan and was the first Kyrgyz location targeted by HT. It also saw an Islamist uprising in March 2002. Kara-Suu is split in half, with one side in Uzbek territory. In May 2005, an Islamist uprising took place on the Uzbek side.

Though he denied being a member of HT, Kamoluddin said he welcomed HT members at his mosque, on the condition that they did not hand out leaflets. He had been arrested in May 2006and questioned in connection with a raids upon border stations on May 12. Kamoluddin's name and phone number had been found among the possessions of four militants killed in the raids. The frontier post of Tajikistan at Lakkon and the customs post of Kyrgyzstan had been the subject of the May 12 attacks, and the raiders had seized guns from a guardroom. They had shot dead three Tajik border guards and six Kyrgyz soldiers and customs officers. Kyrgyz authorities made several arrests, and claimed they had "indisputable evidence" that the suspects were Hizb ut-Tahrir members.

On August 6, 2006, Kamoluddin was in a Daewoo vehicle seen speeding through the nearby city of Osh which had drawn the interest of members of Kyrgystan's National Security Service (SNB). The SNB hailed the car to stop, and gunfire was said to have come from inside the vehicle. SNB officers shot back and the car crashed, killing the occupants. Inside the vehicle was found "one AK-SU Kalashnikov automatic rifle, three full magazines, 266 cartridges, four RGD-5 hand grenades, one F-1 grenade, one RPK automatic rifle magazine, a road map of Uzbekistan where a number of locations were marked with the word 'jihad,' one pair of army binoculars, extremist religious literature in the Kyrgyz and Uzbek languages, and fake passports." The imam's family claimed his innocence. In October 2006 three individuals linked to Kamoluddin, who had been captured following the May raid upon a border post, were sentenced to death.

The literature disseminated throughout the Central Asian states by Hizb ut-Tahrir is frequently cited in arrests and raids. The magazine called Ong Al-Waie (Conscience) has been in existence since 1989. Since 1993, it has been available in printed editions in Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Russian languages. The material in the illegally produced leaflets is copied and translated from the Arabic website http://www.al-waie.org/. Though the magazine is not an official HT publication, all Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders in Central Asian states are ordered to purchase each new edition as its views concur with those of the group. In the south of Kyrgystan, these publications are distributed to the general public.

An Uzbek researcher, Bakhadyr Musayev, said in 2004: "As for the statements of Hizb-ut-Tahrir concerning its non-involvement, we all know that with organizations such as this deeds and words differ. We know that this organization is connected with terrorist organizations in the East. Nabkhani (founder of Hizb-ut-Tahrir) in his book System Of Islam said that whenever physical obstacles are encountered, they may to be removed by force or violence. Besides, the idea itself of the caliphate stipulates brainwashing. These men would not balk at it. Hizb-ut-Tahrir publishes Al-Vai magazine. One of its articles in 2001 was titled How To Become A Shakhid [martyr]."

The literature produced by HT in the region is virulently anti-Semitic and is hardly peaceful. One leaflet proclaimed: "Moslems!... Get rid of the chiefs, which do not pay attention to Shariat of Allah, sent warriors to Jihad and expel the Jews. There may be victims, maybe it is necessary to suffer and fight in the Jihad, and become a Shahid." The rise of Islamism in the states which became independent after Soviet collapse has led to mass emigration of Jews. In 1989 there were 150,000 Jews in Central Asia, but now there are only 22,000.

At the start of this decade, HT was able to operate in Central Asia much more openly, less fearful of violent crackdowns. In 2003, a member of HT from Kara-Suu, Kyrgystan, spoke openly of his involvement in the group. 32-year old Dilyar Jumbabayev said that he belonged to a cell of five individuals, and gave 10% of his income to have membership of HT. Though he claimed that violence was a "sin", he said he had no disagreement with the IMU or Bin Laden: "certainly my brother. Saddam Hussein is also my brother. No matter whether he is Arab, Kurd, Turk or Palestinian, he is also Muslim." DIsplayed outside his home was an illegal leaflet bearing the slogan: "All Muslims of the world unite against the infidels."

Last month, on August 15 it was announced that a group of 13 individuals were arrested in Shymkent in Kazakhstan. They were accused of plotting terrorist acts in April, to coincide with a visit by President Nazarbaev to Shymkent. Regional police official Khibratulla Doskaliev claimed that the suspects were members of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Two groups have broken away from Hizb ut-Tahrir in Central Asia - Akramiya and Hizb an-Nustra (Party of Victory). Both groups seem restricted to Uzbekistan, and both are thought to have left HT because it did not officially support terrorism. Hizb an-Nustra Akramiya was formed by Akram Yuldasheyev, a former HT member from Andijan, Uzbekistan. According to Norway's Forum 18, this group was involved in the events leading up to the 2005 Andijan massacre. 23 businessmen (followers of Akramiya) had been on trial, and for four months there had been peaceful protests to have them released. On May 12, 2005, gunmen had freed the 23 accused men, and others, from their jail. These events, immediately preceding the Andijan massacre, were violent.

According to John C.K. Daly of Central Asia Caucasus Analyst: "Shortly before midnight on May 12, armed men attacked a traffic police post, killing four on duty officers and seizing submachine guns, grenades and pistols from the post's weapons depot. The assailants then moved on and attacked a military base, shot five servicemen and acquired more weaponry. Duly armed, the insurgents in a fifteen-vehicle convoy then moved on the Andijan prison, where between 600 and 2,000 inmates were held. Attacking the facility, the gunmen distributed weapons and liberated nearly a third of the inmates, including the 23 defendants. The militants then moved to downtown Andijan, attacking the buildings of the National Security Council and the regional administration and police department. Repulsed at the two law enforcement sites, the gunmen commandeered the administrative building and took about 20 hostages, and before dawn began calling their relatives to bring women and children to the site to form human shields around the building. The stage was set for an inevitable showdown."

According to Forum 18, most of those who had gathered in Andijan's main square (scene of the subsequent massacre) were employees of the 23 businessmen: "According to eye-witnesses, Akramia members who had acquired weapons did not prevent free movement out of the square by those gathered there, but their attitude to the hostages did not meet international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war. Forum 18 learnt that several hostages received severe beatings. The hostages had wire tied round their necks and were placed at the perimeter of the square as human shields. Therefore the first to die from the shots fired by Uzbek government forces were the hostages."

The raids upon the Kyrgyz/Uzbek/Tajik border stations that took place on May 12, 2006 where guns were seized, appeared to be marking the anniversary of the raids that preceded the Andijan massacre. A week after the 2005 massacre in Andijan, an Uzbek farmer named Bakhtior Rakhimov (pictured) led an uprising in the Uzbek division of Kara-Suu. He claimed he wanted to see an end to the rule of Islam Karimov, and the establishment of Islamic values in local government. Rakhimov may have hoped to see a downfall of Karimov, who has ruled Uzbekistan since 1991, but his uprising was crushed, and he was arrested.

The IMU first came to prominence in February 1999, after a series of bombings in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It is generally accepted that these acts were committed by IMU, though the Uzbek authorities had claimed that Hizb ut-Tahrir were behind the blasts. On July 30, 2004, a series of bomb attacks took place at the US and Israeli embassies. 85 individuals, including 16 women, were arrested, and state prosecutors claimed that all suspects had been trained as suicide bombers. These attacks were assumed by some specialists to be the work of IMU, but Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, insisted that they were the work of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Even though Uzbekistan is a partner in the "War on Terror", there is ample reason to be doubtful about some of its claims. In March 2004, when Britain's then-ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, was shown "evidence" of a suicide-bombing campaign by the Islamic Jihad Union, he was skeptical. He wrote that "each suicide bomber was alleged to be using explosives equivalent to 2kg of TNT. But nowhere, not even at the site of an alleged car bomb, was there a crater, or even a crack in a paving stone... The body of one of the alleged suicide bombers was unmarked, save for a small burn about the size of a walnut on her stomach." The bombing campaign apparently claimed 47 lives, but even though the Islamic Jihad Union claimed responsibility, Uzbek authorities had tried to blame Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Though there is ample evidence for militancy and radicalism in Central Asia, there is also the problem of the totalitarian nature of rulers such as Karimov, who still perpetuate disinformation. The repressive nature of the governments may even be fueling Islamist sentiments. The climate of repression certainly seems to be encouraging a growth of HT membership in the region. The 23 Uzbek businessmen whose trial aroused widespread anger, culminating in the Andijan massacre, were accused of seditious activity. They threatened the status quo by promising their employees wages far higher than the national average. The behavior of the Uzbek authorities in their dealings with suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir members do nothing to further the cause of the "War on Terror". Police are accused of planting drugs, leaflets and even grenades on supposed Hizb ut-Tahrir activists.

In Russia, Hizb ut-Tahrir is considered dangerous and reactions to the group are punitive, though not on the scale seen in Central Asian republics such as Uzbekistan. On November 25, 2005, three members of Hizb ut-Tahrir from Nizhny Novgorod were sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to four years for spreading terrorist propaganda. The men had been convicted earlier. Their arrests had taken place in October 2001. 11 people had originally been apprehended but only the three men were charged. They had pleaded guilty to the charges. As well as extremist literature, grenades had been found in the raids.

HT is active in most locations in Russia, from Moscow to Siberia. In May 2007, investigations into Hizb activities were taking place in the regions of Tatarstan, Samara and Orenburg. In February this year, four HT members in Tobosk, Tyumen in the Urals, were given sentences of one to two and a half years. In March 2007, Russia's Supreme Court ruled that there was no legal right of appeal against the February 2003 decision to outlaw Hizb ut-Tahrir and 14 other groups.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is politically astute enough to avoid any open support for terrorist activity, but it does succeed in creating a climate amongst its followers that could naturally lead to violence or jihad. Many individuals were introduced to their first taste of radicalism by HT. British citizen Hassan Butt helped to create a jihadist "pipeline" which sent UK Muslims into Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan, where they would fight coalition forces, or become involved in Al Qaeda. He claims he had become radicalized by Hizb ut-Tahrir while at university.

Kafeel Ahmed was one of two people who drove a burning Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow airport's entrance on June 30 this year. The vehicle contained propane gas canisters and gasoline. Ahmed poured gasoline onto himself and set it alight. He died later in hospital. He had become involved with radical Islam while training at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, between May 2004 and August 2005. His immediate neighbor at this time was the local convener for Hizb ut-Tahrir who, it is alleged, helped him to become radicalized. On account of this revelation, Gordon Brown was asked in the UK parliament about why the government had not banned Hizb ut-Tahrir. It also led Australian attorney-general Philip Ruddock to once again consider banning the group.

It is now believed that Britain is a headquarters for HT. Though there are no cases of UK Hizb ut-Tahrir being directly involved in acts of terrorism, the group has attracted amongst its membership some who openly practice violence. There are reports of the group being involved in acts of intimidation from universities to mosques and even on the streets of South London, as I will show in Part Three.

Adrian Morgan

© 2003-2007 FamilySecurityMatters.org All Rights Reserved

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 18, 2007 2:15 PM

Comments

Post a comment