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January 31, 2008
Afghanistan: Islamism And The Creation Of A "Failed State"
Suicide Bombings Today
This morning, a suicide bomber struck in a mosque in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, killing six people. Among the dead was Pir Mohammed, the deputy governor of the province, who seems to have the been the bomber's target. Also killed was a small child aged four, who had been begging by the mosque door. 18 people were reported to be wounded. No-one has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mohammad Hussein Andiwal is the provincial police chief. He said: "When people stood up for prayer, the bomber approached the deputy governor and detonated his explosives." The mosque stands opposite government offices.
Earlier still today, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. This blast appears to have been aimed at a bus carrying personnel from the Afghan National Army (ANA). The bus escaped the full force of the blast, and a civilian in a taxi was killed. Several people were injured, including an army officer. The Taliban's spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed his group claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack. Last year they carried out 140 suicide attacks.
The news of the attacks is carried by RIA Novosti, AFP, Bloomberg, News.com.au, VOA News the Daily Mail, and other sources.
Yesterday, according to government officials, Islamists beheaded four road construction workers in the province of Nuristan in the east.
Most of the above-named reports draw attention to to reports which are in the process of being released, which hint that Afghanistan is in danger of collapse. One of these reports, from the Washington-based think-tank the Atlantic Council, begins with the statement: "Make no mistake, nato is not winning in Afghanistan. Unless this reality is understood and action is taken promptly, the future of Afghanistan is bleak, with regional and global impact. The purpose of this paper is to sound the alarm and to propose specific actions that must be taken now if Afghanistan is to succeed in becoming a secure, safe and functioning state. "
The report is entitled "Saving Afghanistan: An Appeal and Plan for Urgent Action". It can be downloaded as a 14-page pdf document here.
The second report is by the Afghan Study Group, published by the Washington-based Center for the Study of the Presidency. It has a foreward written by retired Marine Corps General James L Jones (who authored the Atlantic Council report) and Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, who both chair the study group. It is entitled "Revitalizing our Efforts, Rethinking our Strategies." This can be found in a 48-page pdf document here.
There is a third report which has just been released, from Oxfam. Though not officially released yet, this report is said to claim that a "major change of direction" is needed to avoid a major humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan. Oxfam has been warning of the same since October 2001. In January last year, Oxfam said that extra funds needed to spen on development, rather than military campaigns. In December 2007, on the sixth anniversary of the UN's "Bonn Agreement" which paved the way for "nation building and democracy" in Afghanistan, Oxfam warned that poverty was affecting millions of Afghans.
The latest Oxfam report was handed to Gordon Brown today. It apparently claims that poverty was driving people to join the insurgency or drug gangs. When the report is finally released, I will add an update.
The Oxfam report and the Atlantic Council and Afghan Study Group Reports are discussed by the BBC, the Guardian. The two American reports are discussed by Reuters, VOA News, the Daily Mail and Pakistan's Daily Times.
In brief, the Atlantic Council warns that "urgent changes" are needed to policy in Afghanistan, while the Afghanistan Study Group has said that it wants Iraq and Afghanistan to be "decoupled".
The Atlantic Council report states "To add insult to injury, of every dollar of aid spent on Afghanistan, less than 10 percent goes directly to Afghans, further compounding reform and reconstruction problems". It recommends improved training for the Afghan National Police (page 11), and on the same page urges that by 2009, a "credible Afghan judicial system" must be in place. It is in 2009 that elections will be held.
It states (page 9) that "if nato and the international community, together with the Karzai government, cannot put forward a coordinated and comprehensive effort that is sustainable and adequately resourced for this long-term, Afghanistan will experience only the worst of possible outcomes, and nato itself could be on the path towards irrelevancy. "
It recommends a strong, comprehensive counternarcotics effort. On page 13, it states: "We should be careful in dealing with the issue of national caveats. While we need our forces to be able to accomplish many diverse missions on the ground in Afghanistan, military capability remains the cornerstone of NATO's raison d'etre. We should respect each nation's ability to contribute directly as they are able and according to their national directives. Rather than forcing nations to undertake operations that will not be approved by domestic legislatures, commitments in kind to civil reform and non-security related actions should be valid substitutes. In lieu of military forces, these members should increase their civil support, both financial and in human resources, for Afghan reconstruction and development."
The Afghan Study Group maintains (page 11) that NATO troops (who currently number 50,000) should be increased, along with equipment, as commanders need. It recommends increasing the training and standing of the Afghan National Army and police. It recommends poppy eradication. (In August 2006, a UN report found that annual poppy production had grown to 8,200 tonnes, an increase of 34% on 2005). The poppy eradication should be combined with an "Afghan-Centric" campaign of education, and offering alternative livelihood programs.
It recommends acting on reconstruction and development aid as soon as Taliban are removed from an area. It also suggests embarking on a project to reduce the antagonism between Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan. It states that Pakistan should establish full control over the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), the regions closest to the Afghan border in North-West Frontier Province. At present, these are mainly governed by tribal councils, rather than national rule of law.
The report suggests that the biggest threat to AFghanistan comes from a two-year insurgency that has been bigger than any planned before. Some NATO countries are said to be waivering in their troop commitments, and it acknowledges the anti-war sentiments in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands which could undermine the coalition over the next two years.
The full reports can, and should, be read on their own terms. What is positive about them is their acknowledgement that something needs to be done both on the ground militarily, in terms of reconstruction and development, and to bring Afghanistan's police, army, judiciary and government into something resembling working order.
Senate Approves Blasphemy Death Sentence
I wrote earlier on the case of a 23-year old student of journalism who had been sentenced to death for "blasphemy" against Islam. This individual - Sayad Parwez Kambaksh - was sentenced by a court in Mazar-i-Sharif on Tuesday January 22.
I wrote that his case, and those of others accused of blasphemy, such as Dr Ahmad Ghows Zalmay who is currently in jail, reflects how poor Afghanistan is, both in its contradictory Islamist constitution and its use of tribal leaders (Loya Jirga) to have influence on formation of the government. Hamid Karzai has done nothing to address the creeping Islamism in the government of which he is head.
News now comes from CBS News, the BBC and Associated Press that confirms that the government is in favor of this travesty of justice. To sentence someone to death for blasphemy contradicts the normal forms of justice expected by NATO countries, who supply troops to protect this nearly "failed state".
Yesterday, an official confirmed that Afghanistan's Upper House had on Tuesday decided to make a statement supporting the death sentence passed against Sayad Parwez Kambaksh.
Aminuddin Muzafari, a spokesman, said that "That issue was not in the (Senate's) agenda, but when lawmakers gathered on Tuesday they insisted on talking about that case." Senators had a debate and then issued a statement supporting the killing of Mr Kambaksh. This was signed by Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the chairman of the upper house. The statement also condemned "international interference" which had tried to have the sentence annulled.
When the government of Afghanistan is no longer dependent upon NATO troops to protect its very existence, perhaps then it can dismiss "international interference". Until then, such an arrogant action shows just what sort of ingrates are sitting in positions of power, while others fight their battles for them.
Afghanistan-based Al Qaeda leader killed
News from Agence-France Presse, Sky and the Guardian reports that a senior AL Qaeda leader from Afghanistan has been killed.
The man is Abu Laith al-Libi (pictured) whose death was reported in the Al Qaeda website Al-Ekhlaas. This website, as written earlier, was founded by convicted British-based internet nerd Younes Tsouli.
Al-Libi, whose name indicates Libyan origin, was said on this website to have fallen "as a martyr", but gave no specific details of the circumstances. This man had gone to Afghanistan in the 1980s to join the muhajideen. In the early 1990s, he had tried to overthrow Gadaafi in Libya. When this plot failed, he went to Saudi Arabia. He was arrested there for involvement in the Khobar Towers bombings of 1996.
These attacks saw 19 US military personnel killed. He was imprisoned, but either escaped or was released from his Saudi jail. He returned to Afghanistan, where he served as a link between Taliban and Al Qaeda.
There is speculation that al-Libi was killed in North Waziristan earlier this week. According to eyewitnesses, a US drone had caused the missile attack upon a militant compound (a "guest house owned by an individual called Abdul Sattar) in Khushali Wazir village, 3 miles south of Mir Ali. The attack happened in the early hours of Monday or Tuesday. 12 militants were killed, security officials said on conditions of anonymity. Of these, five were said to be "foreign militants"of Arab origin.
Two local residents claimed: "We recognise the sound and shape of the American drone and two such planes have been hovering in the sky since Monday afternoon, and people have seen them over Mir Ali and Miranshah."
A shopkeeper said: "Local Taliban cordoned off the area and barred everyone from coming near the guest house."
On another Islamist website, the Al-Fajr Information Center site, the death of al-Libi was reported thus: "We announce the good news to the Islamic world: Sheikh Abu Laith al-Qassimi al-Libi has fallen a martyr on the soil of Muslim Pakistan. The sheikh's martyrdom will only strengthen our fire and burn the enemies of our people. We tell the nation of unfaithfulness and the Crusader army that (the mujahedeen, or warriors) do not die but are killed in battle."
A Western security official said: "This individual is in the top half dozen figures in al Qaeda... who has a long record of military activity on behalf of al Qaeda."
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2008
UK: Brown Refuses To State If Islamist Qaradawi Will Be Banned
An interesting exchange took place in the House of Commons today. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was asked by David Cameron, the leader of the opposition Tory party, about Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
As mentioned earlier, civil servants and figures within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have urged that 81-year old Qaradawi should be allowed into Britain to receive health care.
Qaradawi is the "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brother hood. He supports suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, the execution of homosexuals and apostates, and supports the killing of coalition forces in Iraq. He came to Britain in 2004 as a guest of London's leftist mayor, Ken Livingstone.
News from the Herald (with video of the parliamentary exchange), the Guardian and the Press Association.
Yesterday, David Cameron demanded a ban on the entry of "preachers of hate" to Britain. He mentioned Qaradawi, accusing Brown of dithering in the light of press reports about the Sheikh's entry. Cameron said that Qaradawi and Ibrahim Moussawi, head of head of Hezbollah's "viciously anti-Semitic TV station", Al-Manar (who recently spoke in Manchester) were "dangerous and divisive" and should not be allowed into Britain. Cameron also urged a British ban on Hizbollah and also Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Cameron had earlier called for Hizb ut-Tahrir to be banned on July 4, 2007, when Brown had only been Prime Minister for a week. Brown had then refused to address the issue, claiming he had only been Prime Minister for five days.
Today, Cameron went on the offensive in parliament. This is the exchange that took place earlier today:
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Cameron: "Thank you Mr Speaker. What people will have heard is that he (Brown) cannot answer a straight question. (Laughter from the Tory side). Let's try another one. "
"Keeping our streets safe means tackling terrorism. Now, two months ago I identified and named specifically in this house a number of preachers of hate who should not be allowed into this country. So, will the Prime Minister confirm that the Government has accepted this as well, and he won't be allowing Yusuf al-Qaradawi into Britain. Yes or no?"
Brown: "Mr Speaker. An announcement will be made on that very soon. loud jeering from Tories. I, I, I have - I have - I have to tell him - I have to tell him that we don't expel people from this country other than through proper judicial processes. Two hundred people have been expelled from the country in the last two years - 70 percent (he means individuals, not percent) for unacceptable behaviour, 130 on grounds of national security. We are not slow to expel people who should not be in this country. The fact of the matter - The fact of the matter is - We have got to go through the proper judicial processes and he for one should appreciate that."
Cameron: "This isn't about expelling someone. This guy wants to come to our country and we don't think he should be allowed in. He was banned by a former Conservative Home Secretary, so why won't the Government ban him? Let me tell you what this man believes, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He thinks gay people should be executed and he encourages people to turn their bodies into bombs. So why can't the Prime Minister tell us his decision now? Does he think Yusuf al-Qaradawi should be allowed in or not? A simple one. Yes or no?"
(Labour front benchers, such as Harriet Harman and Jack Straw attempt to look impassive)
Brown: "M-M-Mr Speaker, he is not in our country. He Louder jeers from the oppositionThe issue is - the issue is - should he - "
Speaker of the House: "Order.. Order.. Order.. We still want the prime minister to answer the question with - Order - in his way (loud and resounding laughter from the opposition. The speaker smiles at the joke.) In his own way, without shouting him down... In his own way. The Prime minister..."
Brown: "Mr Speaker... Mr Speaker - In 2006 a decision was made not to exclude him. We are looking at that again. He has applied to come into this country. A decision will be made in due course. I have to say it's got to go through the proper judicial processes. But he has not been allowed into this country at this stage."
__________
The performance by Brown was weak, and obviously a source of embarrassment to cabinet front benchers. His skills as an orator are poor, and his difficulty in delivering clear answers to clear questions - a failing he displays in his televised interviews - reflects badly upon him and his ability to be seen as a true leader.
The Brown "bounce" that once was praised by the press in the first months of Brown's unelected rise to power seems to have lost all its elasticity. Blair at least was able to sound sincere and passionate. Brown has no such ability, and is clearly embarrassing the closest members of his own "team".
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:40 PM | Comments (0)
Sweden: Muslim Women Win Swimming Pool Discrimination Case
News from The Local, Associated Press via MSNBC News, Canadian Press and South Africa's Mercury:
Two Muslim women whose apparel worn at a municipal swimming pool contravened safety guidelines have successfully sued the city of Goteborg (Gothenburg) in western Sweden. The women - Houda Morabet and Hayal Eroglu - had individually arrived at the pool with their children on two separate occasions in April 2004. They were dressed in sweat pants, headscarfs and long-sleeved T-shirts.
Lifeguards claimed that their clothing did not conform to health and safety regulations, and asked them to change into lighter costumes. The women refused and were told to leave. The lifeguards had argued that if their children needed to be rescued, the women's costumes would have hindered them being able to assist. The women sued the City of Gothenburg, with the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination taking control of the appeals process.
In March 2007 Gothenburg District Court had ruled that the City of Gothenburg had not discriminated against the two women. However, yesterday, the Court of Appeal for western Sweden ruled that the city had been guilty of ethnic discrimination.
The authorities were ordered to pay each woman 20,000 kronor ($3,100) in damages. The court ruled that the two individuals had "been discriminated (against) in a way that is linked to their religion", exposing them "to treatment that leads to discomfort". Being asked to change their costumes amounted to a situation that could "generally be experienced as alienating".
The City of Gothenburg, the second largest in Sweden, had to prove that the lifeguards' request for them to change their costumes was unconnected to their religion. The appeals court claimed in a statement: "In the view of the Court of Appeal, the City of Gothenburg did not succeed in doing this."
The lifeguards had given testimony that stated even though there were no written regulations against headscarves, the rules nonetheless required people in the area around the pool to wear shorts and T-shirts, whether they intended to swim or not.
One of the city's lawyers, Gunnar Andersson, said it was not clear if the city authorities would appeal the court ruling.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:12 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2008
Afghanistan: Troops Fight To Protect Islamic "Holy Fascism"
This article by Adrian Morgan (Giraldus Cambrensis of Western Resistance) appeared today in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.
Afghanistan: Troops Fight To Protect "Holy Fascism"
The Taliban took control of Kabul on September 27, 1996, though it would take them more than a year to control the whole of Afghanistan. The battle to remove the Taliban was one of the first priorities of Operation Enduring Freedom (initially called Operation Infinite Justice) when it was launched in September 2001, following the attacks of 9/11. Since that time, 482 US military personnel have died in and around Afghanistan. 281 other members of the coalition have also been killed, including 87 Britons and 78 Canadians. This year, 7 US soldiers and 7 coalition military have died.
Last year was the bloodiest year of fighting, with 117 US and 115 Coalition fatalities. There are few signs that the fighting will diminish. The Taliban insurgents are already planning a spring offensive to match the one they mounted in 2007.
The Coalition has tried to restore political stability and democracy to Afghanistan, a nation riven by tribal factions that has not had any lasting peace since it was established as a monarchy in 1747. It was initially caught up in the expansionist strategies of Persia, Russia and Britain, and attempted its own expansions into India. Though a superficially "modern" constitution was briefly introduced in 1964 and democratic elections took place in 2005, one recent case highlights how "modern Afghanistan" is, at its core, essentially backwards, repressive and archaic.
On Tuesday January 22 last week, a 23-year old student of journalism was sentenced to death at a court in Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province, in the north of Afghanistan. A panel of three judges sentenced Sayad Parwez Kambaksh, of Balkh University for committing a "crime" that should have no place in a modern society. Kambaksh had breached Afghan law by "insulting Islam".
Kambaksh (also spelled Kaambakhsh) also worked as a journalist for the newspaper Jahan-e Naw ("The New World"). He had brought into his university class a page downloaded from an Iranian internet site. This was of an article that questioned why Muslim men can have four wives while women have no such rights.
According to Hafizullah Khaliqyar, the deputy attorney general of Balkh province: "Based on the crimes Parwez Kaambakhsh committed, the primary court sentenced him to the most serious punishment which is the death penalty."
The court at which Kambaksh was tried was not open to the public, and the student was not allowed any defense lawyers. The "crime" took place last fall, and since his arrest by agents of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) on October 27, Kambaksh has been in jail. He is still in prison, while his appeals process continues. Under current conditions, there is little chance Kambaksh will be reprieved, unless President Hamid Karzai intervenes. He has to appeal to two courts, and the death penalty can not be enacted until ratified by a higher court.
The legal problems facing Kambaksh reflect problems with the national constitution. They also involve religion. The week before he appeared in court, religious clerics from Balkh and Kunduz provinces held a demonstration in Mazar-i-Sharif, urging the government not to release him. The Council of Mullahs called for Kambaksh's death.
There are also political issues which appear to indicate that Kambaksh is being used as pawn to place pressure on other journalists who have exposed corruption, including his older brother.
Afghanistan has had various constitutions since 1922. The first constitution was deemed too radically Western by religious leaders, and in 1931 the government of Nadir Khan replaced it with a constitution based on the Hanafi School of Sunni Islam. The constitution as it now stands is essentially an updated version of the one which was introduced in 1964. Moves to establish democracy based upon a viable constitution in Afghanistan came from the United Nations' Bonn Agreement initiated on December 5, 2001 On January 4, 2004 after being approved by a grand council of tribal leaders (loya jirga) it became law, leading to elections on September 18, 2005.
The 2004 constitution maintains (Article one) that: "Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary and indivisible", where (Article Two) "The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam," where "Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law." Despite Article Two's claims to religious freedoms, the Catch-22 comes in Article Three, where "In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam."
Article 130 of the Afghan constitution states: While processing the cases, the courts apply the provisions of this Constitution and other laws. When there is no provision in the Constitution or other laws regarding ruling on an issue, the courts' decisions shall be within the limits of this Constitution in accord with the Hanafi jurisprudence and in a way to serve justice in the best possible manner.
It is under Article 130 that Kambaksh has been sentenced to death. The constitution, approved by an unelected body of feudal leaders, allowed for the formation of a "Wolesi Jirga". This is a 249-member house of representatives, who are individually elected by ballot. However, the 2005 elections have allowed this Wolesi Jirga to be comprised of a bizarre mix of factions. warlords and Mujahideen fighters. These include about 40 Hezb-e Islami, former followers of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Disturbingly, the elections also brought at least one member of the Taliban into the fold of government. Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province. During his gubernatorial office, he allowed the destruction of the giant 3rd century statues of Buddha at Bamiyan in March, 2001. Mohammadi was elected in 2005 as a representative of Samangan province. This is the much-vaunted democracy, Afghan-style, for which coalition soldiers have laid down their lives.
The case of Sayad Parwez Kambaksh has been taken up by groups inside outside of Afghanistan. The president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Põttering, has written to President Hamid Karzai, asking for Kambaksh's life to be spared. The National Journalists Union of Afghanistan (AIJA) is based in Kabul. Rahimullah Samander, president of AIJA ,said: "This is unfair, this is illegal. This is too big for a small mistake - he just printed a copy and looked at this and read it. How can we believe in this 'democracy' if we can't even read, we can't even study?"
Article 34 of the Afghan constitution guarantees freedom of expression. It entitles every Afghan citizen the "the right to print or publish topics without prior submission to the state authorities in accordance with the law." Since the constitution came into effect, newspapers have proliferated in Afghanistan. Kambaksh's brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, works as a journalist for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting. Ibrahimi has been responsible for articles which have exposed atrocities carried out by senior politicians in northern Afghanistan.
Ibrahimi has told the international press watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF): "Any case involving the press should be heard first by the Media Evaluation Commission before going to the courts. Furthermore, the prosecutor only referred the case to the courts after the Council of Mullahs said he should be sentenced to death for insulting holy texts."
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has published a copy of its letter to President Hamid Karzai, suggesting that Kambaksh was "being targeted in order to put pressure on his brother". The letter states that "journalists are left vulnerable to prosecution for cultural transgressions as determined by the Ministry of Information and Culture. The ministry does so with the backing of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the Nationwide Council of Religious Scholars of Afghanistan."
Kambaksh is not the only person in a similar predicament. Dr Ahmad Ghows Zalmay is a former journalist who has also acted as spokesman for the Afghanistan attorney general. He translated the Koran into Dari, one of the two "official" languages of Afghanistan. His translation was criticized for "misinterpreting" tracts in the book, and for not providing a copy of the original Arabic adjacent to his translation. In Taloqan city, in the northern province of the same name, 1,500 university students protested. In Nimruz province in the southeast, 1,000 people demonstrated against his translation.
On Sunday, November 4, 2007 Zalmay, who is an imam, was arrested as he tried to flee into Pakistan. He now faces charges of blasphemy. The arrest of Zalmay has been condemned by CPJ, Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists. Before his arrest, emergency debates were held in the Afghanistan parliament, with senators calling for Zalmay to be punished. One senator said that Zalmay was "worse than Salman Rushdie".
Before the 2004 constitution was introduced, there were problems with members of the press expressing views that were deemed to be "unIslamic". Two editors of the weekly "Aftab" were arrested on June 17, 2003. Sayed Mahdawi and Ali Payam Sestani were accused of "libeling Islam" after they published an article in the previous week, called "Holy fascism". This article, written by Mahdawi, suggested that a moderate and progressive form of Islam should be practiced. The article stated: "If Islam is the last and the most complete of the revealed religions, why are the Muslim countries lagging behind the modern world?"
President Hamid Karzai ordered that the two editors should be released, but only to allow them to prepare defense cases for their trial. The publication "Aftab" was officially shut down by the Afghan Information Ministry. They went into hiding after Islamists demonstrated to protest their release from detention. On August 6, 2003, both men were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court. Before the trial, the 13-member Council of Mullahs requested the death penalty. This was upheld by Maulavi Fazl-e Hadi Shinwari, president of the Supreme Court. One Afghan newspaper had, before the sentence, published fatwas urging their death. The two editors fled the country.
On October 1, 2005, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab was arrested. He was the editor of a magazine called "Haqooq-i-Zan" or "Women's Rights", and had published articles which had "insulted" Islam. One of these questioned the harshness of Sharia punishments, such as stoning for adultery. Another article maintained that apostasy was not a crime.
Mr Nasab was arrested after one of President Karzai's religious advisers had complained to the Supreme Court. Rahimullah Samandar, president of AIJA maintained that Afghanistan's Media Commission had convened on October 18, 2005, and had ruled that Islam had not been insulted by his articles. The commission ruled that as he did not have "experience", Nasab should be prevented from acting as chief editor of a publication.
According to analyst Robert Kluyver, the case was politically and religiously motivated. He said: "It is a case where conservative Shi'a clerics are fighting the more moderate Shi'a. In other words, it very much reminds one of the problem that exists in Iran. It was a general Shi'a issue. Meanwhile, Ali Mohaqeq Nasab was also a candidate for parliament [and was] attacked by more conservative Shi'a clergy for his more modernist views on religion." Shia comprise 15% of Afghanistan's population.
Ali Mohaqiq Nasab was given a two-year jail sentence with hard labor by the High Court in Kabul on October 23, 2005. Judge Ansarullah Malawizada said: "The Ulama Council (Council of Mullahs) sent us a letter saying that he should be punished so I sentenced him to two years' jail."
Nasab appealed against the decision , and on December 24, 2005, his sentence was reduced to six months' imprisonment. Three months of this sentence was suspended. As he had spent three months in prison, he was freed shortly afterwards.
In March 2004, before any representatives had been elected to the national assembly (Wolesi Jirga) President Hamid Karzai had signed a Media Act. Under this decree, journalists could be detained only after their cases had been examined by the 17-member Media Commission. In Ali Mohaqiq Nasab's case, this protocol had not been followed. Article 31 of the 2004 media law nonetheless maintained that journalists could not write about religion. This law was later discussed by the Wolesi Jirga.
Hamid Karzai is somewhat hypocritical. In February 2002 he had introduced an earlier draft of the media law, which he claimed would allow freedom of the press. He said: "People can have their newspapers, people can have their radios and they can write things, they can criticize us as much as they want."
Another reform of the media law was introduced in 2006, which again promised less restrictions on press freedom.
In June 2007, revisions to the media law were awaiting final approval, after being approved by the Wolesi Jirga on May 22, 2007. The 53-article legislation still contained questionable rulings. It still prevented journalists from producing "content that goes against the principles of Islam", "publicizing and promotion of religions other than Islam" and "materials inconsistent with Afghanistan's constitution". On June 21, 2007 the law was finally ratified.
On its path to becoming law, the government and the Religious and Cultural Affairs Commission had claimed that a truly free media would allow individuals to be discredited. The head of the Religious and Cultural Affairs Commission had reason to distrust a free and open media. He is Haji Mohammed Mohaqeq of the Wahdat-e-Islami party, who was formerly Karzai's planning minister.
As a commander in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Mohaqeq was blamed for practices of decapitations and nailing opponents to walls. He is based in Mazar-i-Sharif, where Sayad Parwez Kambaksh is jailed. Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, Kambaksh's brother, has written critically of Mohaqeq and divisions within the Hazara clan to which he belongs.
The current troubles of Sayad Parwez Kambaksh and Dr Ahmad Ghows Zalmay reflect serious problems at the heart of Aghanistan's government, and raise the question of whether or not Hamid Karzai is really a trustworthy leader. Sure, he is urbane and well-spoken, but as President he has power to veto any parliamentary rulings. He helped to shape the current constitution, with all its contradictions, and has done little to question the role of the clerics in affecting Afghan life.
In practice, Karzai's constitutional position is not dissimilar to that of the monarch in the 1964 constitution. When Karzai stood for election in 2005, many other presidential candidates had boycotted the event. In 2009, there will be new elections. If Karzai is not re-elected, problems with the "democratic" nature of Afghanistan will remain.
All member countries of the coalition have seen their soldiers killed to keep Karzai's government in power. It should be the right of these countries to question if their continued investment is paying the expected dividends - freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Such are cornerstones of any democracy, and on these the current government has not delivered.
In March 2006, the Western world was shocked that an Afghan convert to Christianity, Abdul Rahman, was sentenced to death for the "'crime" of leaving Islam. The judge who convicted him was Ansarullah Mawlawizadah, the same official who had sentenced Ali Mohaqiq Nasab to two years' jail for insulting Islam. To avoid a diplomatic incident, Abdul Rahman was smuggled out of the country. At the time of Rahman's death sentence, Condoleezza Rice had said: "Afghanistan is in its evolutionary state as a democratic state. We will have to work to resolve these contradictions as they move forward."
The current plight of Sayad Parwez Kambaksh and Ahmad Ghows Zalmay indicates that there are aspects of Afghanistan's legislation, and indeed its constitution, that offer no protection against theocratic tyranny.
Article 7, clause one, of Afghanistan's constitution maintains that "The state shall abide by the UN charter, international treaties, international conventions that Afghanistan has signed, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
Afghanistan signed the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Article 18 of the Declaration of Human Rights specifies: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."
Article 19 of the Declaration states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
While Western soldiers put their lives at risk to bring democracy to Afghanistan, it is surely time that Afghanistan is pressured to make good on its pledges to abide by Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Anything less is a travesty against justice for the people of Afghanistan, and an insult to the soldiers who have died to secure their freedom. The Taliban were ousted from Afghanistan for their religious tyranny that enabled Al Qaeda's terrorism. It is sobering to consider that the new "democratic" Afghanistan still sees fit to engage in what Sayed Mahdawi called "Holy Fascism".
Adrian Morgan
© 2003-2007 FamilySecurityMatters.org All Rights Reserved
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
UK: Man Admits Plotting To Behead Muslim Soldier
In January 2007, police carried out raids in Birmingham. At the time, there was hostility and resentment from Muslim "representatives" to the raid. Dr Mohammad Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, claimed Britain was becoming a police state, and compared Muslims in Britain to Jews living under Hitler. Mahmoud Shadrajeh, head of the improbably named "Islamic Human Rights Commission" - himself a supporter of Hizbollah's terrorism - claimed the Birmingham raids gave to the public a "bad image" of Muslims.
Adam Mussa of the Muslim Brotherhood-founded Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) claimed: "Some of the people arrested are just individuals with loud voices, who are vocal about various neighbourhood issues, but that doesn't make them terrorists. It's not fair. This seems to be happening again and again. This is a form of victimisation and your average 'Mo Public' is feeling very cynical. When you come in and do a job you should make sure you clean up after yourself, and that's what the police need to do here."
The raids happened as there had been intelligence that a cell of British Islamists had planned to kidnap and behead a Muslim soldier. A particular Muslim soldier had already been targeted, and was under protection. He was a corporal in military intelligence, chosen from a shortlist of 25 individuals, it was revealed, shortly after the arrests.
Adam Mussa justified his hostility to the Birmingham raids by ridiculing the notion of such a plot. He said: "So for a Muslim to kill another Muslim is much worse, it's like killing a member of your own family, because they share the same beliefs as you."
Salma Yaqoob of George Galloway's "Respect" party who is a Birmingham City Councillor, representing Sparkbrook, said: "The reality is that people are asking why are we being picked on, why are we being persecuted, because that's what it feels like when all they want to do is get on with their day-to-day lives."
As a result of the cumulative hostility from the Muslim community and its so-called "representatives", police announced that 50,000 leaflets would be distributed, to reassure members of the Muslim community that they were not being "picked on".
Those shrill cries claiming persecution can now be exposed as false. A trial is currently taking place in Leicester Crown Court. And it is only now revealed that 37-year old Parviz Khan, one of the nine people arrested in late January and early February 2007, has pleaded guilty to plotting to kidnap and decapitate a British Muslim soldier.
Khan, an "unemployed charity worker" admitted his guilt earlier this month, but the news was suppressed until a trial involving two other individuals, Amjad Mahmood, 33, and Zahoor Iqbal, 31, began. These two denied involvement in the plot.
Originally, Parviz Khan, who is said to be the leader of the plot, had entered a "not guilty" plea in October 2007, and the trial itself began on January 14, 2008. It appears the case of Khan was heard before the other defendants. Those who are on trial are Parviz Khan, Amjad Mahmood, Mohammed Irfan, Zahoor Iqbal, Hamid Elasmar and Basiru Gassama.
News is carried by the BBC, Times, Telegraph, Express & Star, Press Association.
The plan, according to Khan, had been to have drug dealers kidnap the Muslim soldier from the Broad Street area of central Birmingham, and then to imprison him in a lock-up garage. There he would be the subject of a video as he was to be decapitated. The ensuing video was then intended to be circulated on the internet.
Three of the other accused have admitted guilt. Basiru Gassama, 30, has said he knew of the plot bit did not report it. Mohammed Irfan, 31, and Hamid Elasmar, 44, have pleaded guilty of supplying equipment to Khan.
Only Amjad Mahmood, 33, and Zahoor Iqbal, 31, deny guilt.
The case raises some disturbing questions. The notion of a typical British jihadist is someone young, alienated and impressionable. All of the accused, including the four who admit their guilt, are over 30, so do not fit into the expected stereotype.
The hysterical reactions of so-called Muslim representatives belied the seriousness of the police raids, which appear now validated. Their vocal opposition to the police carrying out their duty suggests that it could be possible that in future police will be more reluctant to carry out their routine duties, for fear of offending these "representatives".
The raids took place in Alum Rock, Sparkhill and other parts of Birmingham.
The Hamza mosque in Sparkhill featured in a Channel 4 documentary last year. A visiting imam said: "There was an individual who was killed in Afghanistan recently. A Muslim name, he came from a Pakistani family. Do you know what they had written in a tabloid newspaper? 'Hero of Islam'. 'Hero of Islam' who went into Muslim Afghanistan to kill Muslims. Why? Because their crime is implementing Islam. The 'Hero of Islam' is the one who separated his head from his shoulders."
The soldier referred to by the visiting imam was Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, killed in Helmand province, Afghanistan on July 1, 2006. Jabron Hashmi was the first British Muslim soldier to die in battle since Operation Enduring Freedom began in September 2001.
Some of those arrested last year frequented this Sparkbrook mosque, stated the Times of February 4, 2007. MI5 had discovered in the fall of 2006 that Al Qaeda had urged British terror cells to carry out kidnapping and beheadings. The Hamza mosque is also associated with Tablighi Jamaat, an extremist Deobandi group that intends to build a "mega-mosque" in Newham, east London.
Exiled Islamist Omar Bakri Mohammed had claimed in summer 2006 that a British soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq should be kidnapped. He described coalition troops as "non-believers".
In 1996, Bakri was the founder of Al Muhajiroun, and after this extremist group was disbanded in October 2004, he acted as spiritual emir of its successor groups, Al Ghurabaa, the Saviour/Saved Sect. One of the leading figures of Al Muhajiroun and its successors was Abu Izzadeen (aka Trevor Brooks, aka Omar Brooks).
In February 2007, it was revealed that a video had been circulating on the internet since 2006. In this video, which was made in 2004, Abu Izzadeen was shown in London's Central Mosque in Regent's Park, urging the beheading of British Muslim soldiers.
He says on the video: "Whoever allies himself with the Kaffirs (non-believers) against the believers - he is one of them. So those so-called enemies to Allah who join the British Government - 'cos remember the British Government, my dear Muslim brothers, are crusaders... crusaders come to kill and rape Muslims. Whoever joins them - he who joins the British Army, the American Army, he is a mortal kaffir and his only hukum (punishment) is for his head to be removed. Indeed, whoever changes his deen (Muslim code of life); kill him."
Now, Parviz Khan, who has been described by prosecutor Nigel Rumfitt QC as a "fanatic, a man who has the most violent and extreme Islamist views" has admitted that he DID plot to behead a Muslim soldier.
The makers of the Channel 4 documentary showed the audience at the Sparkbrook Hamza mosque approving of the words of the visiting imam who praised the killer of Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi. West Midlands police asked for the more than 50 hours of video material collected by the documentary, ostensibly to seek material to prosecute the extremists represented. Instead of trying to prosecute the Islamists, Anil Patani of West Midlands Police decided to condemn the documentary makers. His constabulary had asked if they could be prosecuted for stirring up racial hatred.
When that failed, Pattani stated that his force had sent a formal complaint against the documentary makers to the broadcasting regulators Ofcom. That unprecedented action was widely condemned, and Ofcom themselves rejected the claim.
Nigel Rumfitt QC, the prosecutor in the current trial at Leicester Crown Court has had: "The leading activity of this (terror cell) was to gather money and items to be sent to Pakistan for the use of terrorists operating around the Afghan border on four occassions."
BBC TV News at One has stated that the prosecution maintains that the cell had intended to export equipment that would be used to kill British soldiers.
The Muslim community "representatives" should be censured for their overstated reactions last January and February. There WAS a terror plot to kidnap and kill a Muslim soldier. These representatives tried to use the media to discredit a necessary police operation which aimed to prevent the killing and beheading of a known Muslim soldier. They also exploited this case to dishonestly push their own agenda, to whine about Muslim victimhood by the state.
If a Muslim soldier was at risk of being tortured and beheaded, their craven eagerness to promote their own agenda shows just how little they cared about the plight of a patriotic fellow Muslim.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2008
UK: Foreign Office Approves Visit By Anti-Semitic Muslim Fascist
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is an Islamofascist. He is also an enemy of the West. Such statements are not idle jibes. Qaradawi is the "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization whose previous luminaries included Amin al-Husseini (1895 - 1974), the Mufti of Jerusalem.
Husseini organized fatal attacks upon Jews while Mufti, during the time of Britain's Palestinian Mandate. Husseini went to Nazi Germany where he met Hitler and became involved with Adolph Eichmann. Husseini was employed to recruit Muslims to join the 13th division of Himmler's Waffen SS. He also encouraged Eichmann to ignore a "prisoner exchange" of Polish prisoners and Jewish children. As a result, thousands of Jewish children were sent to their deaths at Theresienstadt concentration camp.
The Muslim Brotherhood itself, despite all attempts by leftists and liberals to portray it otherwise, is a fascist organization. It has aims to place the whole world under Islamic control. Anyone who believes that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a fascist organization should read Milestones by Sayyid Qutb. This man, who was the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual emir from the early 1950s until his execution in 1965, also wrote a work in 1950 called "Our struggle with the Jews" in which his anti-Semitism was revealed.
Here, Qutb wrote that "Allah brought Hitler to rule over them (the Jews)". He wished the worst upon the Jews - "Allah bring down upon the Jews people who will mete out to them the worst kind of punishment, as confirmation of his unequivocal promise."
In 2001, Qaradawi issued a fatwa supporting suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, which was deemed so important it was placed on the website of Hamas (itself a Muslim Brotherhood-founded organization). In 2003, Qaradawi extended this fatwa to claim it was Islamically justified for women to become suicide bombers.
On his own website, Qaradawi gave his support for the kidnappings of Israeli soldiers such as those that led to the conflict between Hizbollah and Israel and Lebanon in the summer of 2006. He states: "It is the duty of every Muslim to support this resistance against the Israeli enemy."
Qaradawi believes homosexuals should be killed. He has reiterated this point several times. What is less well known is that he told the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram Al-Arabi that those who leave Islam (murtads or apostates) should be executed.
In 2004, Qaradawi sanctioned the assassination of American civilians in Iraq. MEMRI recorded his statements at the Egyptian Journalists' Union convention in Cairo: "All of the Americans in Iraq are combatants, there is no difference between civilians and soldiers, and one should fight them, since the American civilians came to Iraq in order to serve the occupation. The abduction and killing of Americans in Iraq is a [religious] obligation so as to cause them to leave Iraq immediately."
Qaradawi has denied on the Islamic website IslamOnline, of which Qaradawi is the "spiritual adviser", that he made such a "fatwa".
He clarified: "Fighting the American invaders in Iraq is an obligation. I oppose any nation that invades other countries irrespective of its religion. I say fighting the American invaders is a must endorsed by heavenly religions and international agreements. If there are US civilians in Iraq, they are treated in accordance with the Islamic tenets which stipulate the killing of civilians is forbidden, but those who fight the Iraqis must be killed as they are invaders."
His fatwas are regularly reprinted on IslamOnline. Yet this website, of which Qaradawi is the "spiritual adviser" would be the first to throw the jibe of "Islamophobe" in the direction of any kaffir who dared to even slightly criticize the outdated, sexist and intolerant aspects of Islam. Or those who would prefer not to have Muslim "invaders" in their lands, such as the native people of West Papua, undemocratically annexed into Indonesia in 1969. Or the non-Muslims of the Moluccan (Spice Islands), similarly absorbed into Muslim Indonesia in 1949.
In 2006, MEMRI transcribed his speech on Qatar TV which he made on February 25 of that year. He said of the aggression against Israel: "Our war with the Jews is over land, brothers. We must understand this. If they had not plundered our land, there wouldn't be a war between us."
"They must not allow anyone to take a single piece of land away from Islam. That is what we are fighting the Jews for. We are fighting them... Our religion commands us... We are fighting in the name of religion, in the name of Islam, which makes this Jihad an individual duty, in which the entire nation takes part, and whoever is killed in this [Jihad] is a martyr. This is why I ruled that martyrdom operations are permitted, because he commits martyrdom for the sake of Allah, and sacrifices his soul for the sake of Allah.
"We do not disassociate Islam from the war. On the contrary, disassociating Islam from the war is the reason for our defeat. We are fighting in the name of Islam."
"They fight us with Judaism, so we should fight them with Islam. They fight us with the Torah, so we should fight them with the Koran. If they say 'the Temple,' we should say 'the Al-Aqsa Mosque.' If they say: 'We glorify the Sabbath,' we should say: 'We glorify the Friday.' This is how it should be. Religion must lead the war. This is the only way we can win."
Qaradawi supports the mutilation of women's genitals, popularly known as FGM, claiming that it is Islamically preferable to do so, though not necessarily an Islamic obligation.
This bizarre individual in December 2003 even issued a fatwa that condemned Pokemon, because according to him, it endorses evolution. He was responding to a 2001 Saudi fatwa which outlawed Pokemon cards as they "promoted Zionism and involved gambling".
Qaradawi is barred from entering the United States, even though he was registered as a trustee of the Islamic Society of Boston, which is currently building America's largest mosque in Roxborough, Boston.
He has recently been under restrictions from entering Britain. In 2004, London's leftist mayor Ken Livingstone invited Qaradawi to London, despite protestations by Jews (Ken seems ambivalent in his relation to Jews) and homosexuals (Ken loves homosexuals, unless they disagree with him).
Livingstone's bizarre endorsements of Qaradawi went a step further in September 2005, when he compared the Islamofascist cleric to Pope John XXIII. This Pope, who headed the Catholic church from 1958 to 1963, convened the Second Vatican Council, which introduced far-reaching reforms.
Livingstone said: "Sheik Qaradawi is I think very similar to the position of Pope John XXIII. An absolutely sane Islamist.... Of all the Muslim leaders in the world today, Sheikh Qaradawi is the most powerfully progressive force for change and for engaging Islam with western values."
Today, the Observer states that Qaradawi, who is now 81, is ill. He has previously had medical treatment in France. The fascist cleric has decided he wants to come to London and has filed an application. The Observer claims that senior civil servants in the Home Office and the Foreign Office have urged ministers to allow Qaradawi to come to Britain. There is no mention if Qaradawi is expected to receive free health care from the National Health Service, which is funded by taxpayers.
It is not surprising that the Foreign Office wishes Qaradawi to come to Britain, as this government department is currently pandering to the Islamofascists of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In July 2006 it was revealed that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had spent 300,000 pounds ($550,863) of British taxpayers' money on funding an Islamic conference at the Ceylan InterContinental Hotel in Istanbul. Among the guests were Qaradawi and his wife. The FCO had paid for Qaradawi to fly from his home in Qatar to the conference, for his stay in a five star hotel and for his return flight home.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office each year spends 8.5 million pounds on its "Engaging With the Islamic World Group", which is headed by a former student Islamist by name of Mockbul Ali. His family came to Britain from Bangladesh. In July 2006, this individual approved the visit to Britain of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, an Islamofascist from Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami party. Sayeedi's party has links with the Muslim Brotherhood and has been involved in massacres of Hindus during Bangladesh's 1971 war for independence. It also gave village girls to Pakistani soldiers to be used as sex slaves. Sayeedi himself has condemned Hindus as excrement, and said that Western soldiers in Iraq should convert to Islam or die.
On July 14, 2005, barely a week after Islamofascists had blown themselves up on three London Underground trains and one Number 30 bus, killing 52 innocent people, Mockbul Ali had written a letter in which he suggested that Qaradawi should be allowed into Britain.
This is Mockbul Ali's letter from that time:
14 July 2005
Shaykh Yusuf Al Qaradawi
ISSUE
1 The Home Office has asked for FCO views on whether Qatari based cleric Shaykh Yusuf Al Qaradawi should be excluded from the UK, and and possible consequences.
TIMING
2 Immediate. The issue would become urgent if Al Qaradawi decided to travel to the UK.
RECOMMENDATION
3 I recommend that, on balance, the Foreign Secretary agree for the FCO to advise that AL Qaradawi should not be excluded from the United Kingdom given his influence in relation to our foreign policy objectives. CTPD agree. DG Political has commented that "Having individuals like Qaradawi on our side should be our aim. Excluding them won't help."
ARGUMENT
4 The Home Secretary has endorsed a recommendation from the Foreign Secretary not to exclude another prominent Muslim scholar - Tariq Ramadan who was the subject of negative tabloid attention. Qaradawi is a more difficult case, but similar arguments apply.
5 The Foreign Secretary may recall the negative media storm during Al Qaradawi's visit to the UK last year at the invitation of Ken Livingstone. The media highlighted Qaradawi's controversial views on suicide bombers in Palestine and his view that Coalition presence in Iraq was an illegal operation. Qaradawi has argued that the Palestinians see suicide bombing in Israel as the only weapon left available to them in the face of oppression. On Iraq, ahead of Operation Telic, he issued a Fatwa banning the use of Islamic lands and facilities to assist Coalition forces, and said it should be an individual obligation for all Muslims to confront and resist the invaders (see annex 1).
6 We certainly do not agree with Qaradawi's views on Israel and Iraq - but we have to recognise that they are not unusual or even exceptional amongst Muslims. In fact it is correct to say that these views are shared by a majority of Muslims in the Middle East and the UK. Refusing entry on these grounds would also open up a Pandora's box in relation to entry clearance for others in the Muslim world.
7 On the issue of the terrorist attacks in London, Qaradawi was one of the first international Qarsdawi was one* of the first international Muslim scholars to Issue a clear statement of condemnation, He has said "We were dumbfounded by the grave news of the London bombings which killed tens and wounded hundreds of innocent people who committed no evil", Qaradawi stressed that these "black actions' run counter to the teachings of Islam and has called for other scholars to afso condemn the attacks.
6 While there would undoubtedly be tabloid media pressure in current circumstances to ban Qaradawi, we need to consider his status and influence within the islamic world. To act against Qaradawi would alienate significant and influential members of the global Muslim community. In recognition of the fact, the US have started dialogue with him in Qatar. He is the leading mainstream and influential Islamic authority in the Middle East and increasingly in Europe, with an extremely large popular following and regular shows on Al Jazeera. He is involved in a number of high profile mainstream Muslim bodies and initiatives. Only last week, Qaradawi issued a strong fatwa of support for the 'Amman Message' championed personally by King Abdullah in the defence of mainstream Islam against extremism. Other leading Muslim scholars often wait for Qaradawi's lead before issuing any of their own fatwas. His role as Chair of the Council of Scholars will is key in promoting mainstream Islam and countering the AQ narrative.
7. Excluding Qaradawi would give grist to AQ propaganda Of a western vendetta against Muslims and would undermine Qaradawi's counter terrorism messages, Qaradawi would be the first port of call when encouraging statements against terrorism and the killing of Muslim civilians in Iraqi, as requested recently by Iraq Policy Unit. He has repeatedly and authoritatively condemned terrorist attacks - after 9/11, Ball, Madrid, Beslan. the Bigiey kidnapping and recently after the bombings in Qatar, as well as on other occasions. When Qaradawi was accused last year of justifying kidnappings and kidnappings of civilians in Iraq, particularly US civilians, he has firmly stated "I did not issue such a fatwa", In fact Qaradawi was widely reported as 'vehemently opposed to kidnapping and killing innocent civilians' and 'urged the release of four Italian and French individuals recently abducted in Iraq.' (see Annex 1) We could not engage with Qaradawi on counter terrorism or Iraq should there be a decision to exclude him from the UK.
8. Exclusion from the UK would have a negative impact on our relations with British Muslim communities. particularly given the current situation. The Muslim Council of Britain have made it clear they consider Al Qaradawi a mainstream force against extremism. Qaradawi has argued that it is a religious duty on Muslims in the West to integrate and become fully active members of their multicultural societies. The Metropolitan Special Branch Muslim Contact Unit have commented that: "Sheikh Qaradawi has a positive Muslim community impact in the fight against Af Qaida propaganda in the UK," (See Annex 1), Thus assessment is also applicable in the context of the wider Islamic world. By taking such action the UK could turn mainstream Muslim opinion further against the UK and could encourage some to move to violence against British targets.
9. Qaradawi has already passed through legal scrutiny. During his visit to the UK, as a result of a dossier presented by the Board of Deputes on his alleged views, the Crown Prosecution Service looked Into possible prosecution of Qaradawi but found no grounds for action.
BACKGROUND
10. Al Qaradawi is a highly respected Islamic scholar of Egyptian descent who is now based in Qatar and who has Qatari nationality. He last visited London in Juty 2004, although he has previously been visiting the UK for the last 10 years without incident. As the Head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research he convened a meeting of the Council in London to announce the establishment of The International Council of Muslim Clerics. During this visit he was invited to a meeting by London Mayor Ken Livingstone at City Hall.
11. A significant number of the accusations against Qaradawi seemed to have been as a result of a dossier compiled by the Board of Deputies,
based on information from Middle East Media Research institute (MEMRI), The founding President of MEMRI is retired Colonel Yigal Carmon who served for 22 years in Israel's military intelligence service. MEMRI is regularly criticised for selective translation of Arabic reports.12. Qaradawi has strongly argued the compatibility of Islam and democracy and the need for reform in the Arab world. He was strongly critical of the Taliban's restrictions on women and the destruction of the Bamlyan Buddhas, which he argued were un-Islamic, and has himself faced criticism for caling for greater liberty for women in Islamic societies.
13. Al Qaradawi's religious authority and fatwas- based on a long and established career in Islamic scholarship -strikes a chord throughout the Muslim world. He has participated in a number of Intemational conferences tackling contemporary issues, such as. Islam and democracy, and Improving relatlons between the West and lslamic countries.
NEWS AND PARLIAMEMTARY IMPLICATIONS
14. Whether Al Qaradawi is excluded or not, there will be difficult handling issues. If Qaradarwi is excluded, there will be significant irkterest from the Muslim media - both overseas and domestic - most likely spearheaded by Al Jazeera, as Qaradawi is one of their biggest names and attractions. We would also need to defend a policy decision now to refuse Qaradawi's entry to the UK, despite permitting him to visit in the past. This could also fuel media reports of conspiracy theories - especially in the UK Muslim media - about the involvement of Jewish lobby groups and their influence on British Government policy.
15. If Qaradawi is not excluded and decides to come to the UK, there will be renewed press interest The position can be defended given the clear CPS view that there was no case against Qaradawi. Unless, of course Qaradawi makes any inflammatofy statements while in the UK.
16. In either scenario, there is likely to be interest from Parliamentarians, particularly Muslim MPs and Peers, most of who regard Qaradawi as a mainstream Muslim scholar.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:38 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2008
Pakistan: Islamist "Fired" By Taliban
News from The Asian Age and The Times of India, the Pakistan Daily Times, Strategy Page and other sources all state that Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, has "sacked" Baitullah Mehsud, the Waziristan-based Islamist who in late 2007 founded the coalition of Pakistani Islamists called the Tehrik-e-Taliban, an official front of the Pakistan Taliban.
The news items all derive from the same source, Thursday's edition of Asia Times. This article states that Mullah Omar has sacked Baitullah Mehsud as he has been fighting the Pakistan army, rather than focusing on fighting Nato troops. Mullah Omar had himself appointed Mehsud to head the Tehrik-e-Taliban. According to Time, which quotes an al-Jazeera journalist describing Baitullah Mehsud as being "an affable jokester who wears a camouflage vest over his traditional tunic and trousers", Baitullah Mehsud "was with Mullah Omar when the Taliban first started."
The Tehrik-e-Taliban carried out a suicide bombing at a mosque in Charsadda district in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) on December 21, killing at least 56 people. The mosque was attended by Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, who was the interior minister in the last government. The group is blamed by American and Pakistani officials for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007. Baitullah Mehsud denies this.
In December 2007, Mullah Omar publicly sacked the recently-appointed Taliban commander who was mounting the campaign against British troops in southern Afghanistan, particularly in Helmand province. Mansoor Dadullah had been sacked, it was claimed, for disobeying orders and acting against the Taliban's codes. Dadullah himself denied that he was sacked, and refused to acknowledge his dismissal. The continuing rift between him and Omar indicated cracks in the Afghan Taliban leadership.
Strategy Page indicates that the Afghan Taliban rift has been motivated by a difference of generations. The older generation of Taliban fighters is in disagreement with the aims of newer members, who see great profits to be made from the heroin trade.
Asia Times claims that after Mullah Omar officially sacked Baitullah Mehsud, he appointed Moulvi Faqir Mohammed from Bajaur agency in NWFP to replace him. He refused. Other discussions to find a replacement have foundered.
Asia Times indicates that Baitullah Mehsud's removal came as is activities are distracting from the stretegic aims of the Taliban. Last year the Taliban in Afghanistan mounted a "spring offensive" led by Dadullah's older brother, who was killed in May 2007. Many Pakistan Taliban have signed peace deals with the Pakistan government and army, which would have allowed their followers to take part in the next "spring offensive" in Afghanistan, which is due to start in a few months.
Mehsud has nonetheless been active in undermining Nato forces. The Telegraph reported yesterday that Baitullah Mehsud's militants have been successfully preventing supplies from reaching their goals - Nato forces in Afghanistan. Lorries traveling through NWFP are singled out and attacked, and their consigments are then "vanished". The most recent of these raids, the Telegraph states, was carried out near the town of Dera Ismail Khan on the Indus Highway. A Pakistani official said: "Among the booty they discovered trucks carrying cargos of pristine 4x4 military vehicles, fitted with the most modern communications and listening technology."
Currently, Baitullah Mehsud has been the subject of an offensive mounted by the Pakistan army in South Waziristan where he has a tribal base. This began in earnest this week. On Monday, it was disclosed that Younas Mehsud, a "right hand man" of Baitullah Mehsud was captured by police. This (unrelated) individual had with him explosives which were seized.
According to Pakistan's The News, forty militants and 10 soldiers were said to have been killed in an army assault in South Waziristan. On Thursday this assault concentrated on the towns of Spinkai Raghzai in Srarogha near Jandola, Mohammad Nawaz Kot in Tiarza and Makeen. The Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed they had captured five soldiers and five truckloads of Nato-bound ammunition.
Yesterday, states Dawn, two soldiers were killed in a rocket attack by the Tehrik-e-Taliban upon a military outpost in in Spinkai Raghzai. Baitullah's spokesman claimed that Baitullah Mehsud has vowed to increase attacks upon security forces in NWFP and in the border regions.
There appears to be no intent upon the part of Mehsud to relinquish his post, and he appears to be more publicly belligerent. By attacking Nato-bound trucks, he is contradicting the stated claims against him, made by Mullah Omar. This action, combined with the refusal by Mansoor Dadullah to acknowledge his dismissal, can only serve to weaken the status of Mullah Omar as the leader of the Taliban. Dadullah's brother was a close ally of Baitullah Mehsud.
However, even if the leadership of the Taliban changes, and whether or not a younger generation of militants will utilize the export of heroin to gain funds, the problem of the Taliban will be a cause for concern for both countries, and also for the West. Baitullah Mehsud recently told Al Jazeera that the Tehrik-e-Taliban poses no threat to the nuclear weapons in Pakistan's arsenal. He said that Washington was the real danger.
Baitullah Mehsud is vehemently opposed to the West. As we wrote earlier:
He has said: "Allah on 480 occasions in the Holy Koran extols Muslims to wage jihad. We only fulfil God's orders. Only jihad can bring peace to the world. We will continue our struggle until foreign troops are thrown out. Then we will attack them in the US and Britain until they either accept Islam or agree to pay jizyah [a tax in Islam for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state].... The mujahideen will carry out even more severe attacks. If they [the West] have air power we have fidayeen [suicide bombers]... They will leave dishonored."It is hardly likely that any person will voluntarily step up to replace him as head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, as he is feared. He has close links with the Uzbek Al Qaeda-linked militants led by Yuldashev, who are similarly feared. Mullah Omar seems to be losing control of the Taliban, threatened by a younger generation (Baitullah is aged 34-35). For the West, and those who monitor the stability of the region, despite the problems of leadership, one fact remains: the Taliban effectively exists as one single - if factional - entity in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, with no respect for the Durrand line border that officially separates them.Baitullah Mehsud has been notoriously fickle in his dealings with the Pakistani army and government. In January 2005 he had been offered an amnnesty, an offer which was later withdrawn after his one-legged brother Abdullah had slaughtered a kidnapped Chinese engineer. In August 2005 Baitullah agreed a ceasefire with the army. WIthin a couple of months, this ceasefire was broken.
Abdullah Mehsud had spent 25 months in Guantanamo following his arrest in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, in December 2001. He was released in March 2004, and returned to Pakistan. He finally killed himself by blowing himself up to avoid arrest on July 24, 2007 in the town of Zhob, Baluchistan province. His remains were found in the house of a local leader of the JUI-F, the Islamist party with which Benazir Bhutto had shared power from 1993 to 1996.
On March 2, 2007, Baitullah Mehsud had signed a peace deal with the Pakistani government, but later that month, he was involved in serious fighting in Tank DIstrict in NWFP which caused the deaths of two dozen people and the destruction of banks. In October 2007, after Baitullah Mehsud warned that three soldiers would be killed each day until the army stopped resisting his militants in Tank, the bodies of three soldiers were found with heads and limbs hacked off.
On Monday January 7 this week, nine "peace-brokers" were killed in two separate attacks carried out in Wana and Shakai in South Waziristan, where Baitullah Mehsud's tribe live. The nine people who were killed were aides of a local Taliban commander, Maulvi Nazir, who is pro-government. The attacks are said to have happened because Nazir refused to join Mehsud while he gave shelter to Uzbek militants.
These Uzbeks are affiliated to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). In April 2007, after weeks of serious fighting between Taliban and Uzbeks in South Waziristan, Nazir had claimed that the region would not be a "safe sanctuary for foreign miscreants". Despite his claimed support for assisting the government in creating peace in Waziristan, he said his followers would "fight the US and the infidel forces if they attack our territory." He also said he would offer bin Laden sanctuary if asked. He said he would allow "peaceful foreigners" into the region.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was founded in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1998, with the intention of forming an Islamist state in Uzbekistan. Now it seeks to subsume other Central Asian states. It is led by Tahir Yuldashev (Yuldosh), who gained permission in May 1999 from Afghanistan's Taliban to establish a base in the north of that country, where he was thought to reside until recently. In September 2006, Pakistani intelligence believed Yuldashev was hiding in the tribal areas between Afghanistan and NWFP. Yuldashev is known in Waziristan as Tahir Jan.
The IMU is listed as a terror organization by the US State Department. It was involved in attacks upon Afghanistan's western-affiliated Northern Alliance, and most of the Uzbeks who have been trying to gain influence in Pakistan's tribal regions appear to have arrived since the end of 2001, when the US invaded Afghanistan. The Uzbeks have been involved in fighting in the Swat valley in NWFP. Army and police surrenders to Islamists in Swat were partially blamed for the implementation of the State of Emergency.
In Waziristan, the Uzbeks have been opposed by Waziri tribespeople. The Uzbeks are said to have operated private jails in the region where Waziris were held, creating tribal resentment. Baitullah Mehsud is not from the Wazir tribes, who speak Wazirwola. He is a Pashtun, and speaks Pashto, the lingua franca of parts of NWFP and most of Afghanistan.
On Saturday January 4 2008, Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai (Aurakazi) resigned from his position as the governor of NWFP. He cited personal reasons for his resignation, but the London Times suggests that he was angered by the interim Pakistan government's decision to launch an assault against Baitullah Mehsud. This plan had been on hold for at least a week, awaiting approval from the government. On Monday, caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz officially announced the strategy to arrest Baitullah Mehsud alive, if possible. The minister affirmed that no foreign forces would be involved.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:18 PM | Comments (1)
Russia: Moscow Muslim Restaurants Lose "Halal" Certification
News from IC Russia, translated from the Russian account in Yoki.ru states that Muslim restaurants in Moscow are not conforming to sharia standards.
As a result, the "halal" certification that has previously been issued by Russia's Board of Muftis will no longer be available. The reason for the Board's choice is that restaurants which had been issued with certificates to validate their compliance with halal (Islamically permissable) expectations have not lived up to the standards they had when certified.
Alcohol is strictly forbidden in Islam. Though the food in these restaurants is said to have continued to conform to halal standards, customers have been allowed to smoke and consume alcohol inside these premises.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:42 PM | Comments (0)
Book Review: In Praise of Prejudice
Anybody participating in intellectual discussions has experienced how important it is to portray himself without prejudice. To admit prejudice is the worst possible faux pas; a man unable to clear his mind from prejudice does not belong in polite company, and his views certainly need not be taken seriously.
But banishing prejudice is impossible, argues Theodore Dalrymple in small but weighty In Praise of Prejudice: The Necessity of Preconceived Ideas
We may inquire why it is that there are now so many Descartes in the world, when in the seventeenth century there was only one. Descartes, be it remembered, who so urgently desired an indubitable first philosophical principle, was a genius: a mathematician, physicist, and philosopher who wrote in prose of such clarity, that it is still the standard by which the writing of French intellectuals is, or ought to be, judged. Have we, then, bred up a race of philosophical giants, whose passion is to examine the metaphysics of human existence? I hope I will not be accused of being an Enemy of the People when I beg leave to doubt it.
Having dispatched the pretension of a prejudice-free existence, what is the purpose of the attack on prejudice? The purpose, Dalrymple argues, is not to find certainty, but to cast doubt on everything: social manners, political authority, and the wisdom of the ages. Almost anything can be attacked this way: do you think it is wrong to spit in public? That's a prejudice! It is best to study and work hard, so you can advance in life? Prejudice. Do you think that the values of Judeo-Christian civilization are superior in a number of ways to the values of the Islamic Ummah? Prejudice as well, and the sooner you clear your mind of it, the better.
The attack on Prejudice, then, is awful Philosophy but profitable Politics. Dalrymple explains the thought process behind the attacks and the consequences of such attacks in the real world. The consequences are severe and ongoing, and they affect our societies in profound ways. Those who wish to reverse the decline of our societies will profit greatly from this book.
Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2008
Germany: Al Qaeda-Linked Islamist Jailed
On July 8, 2006 a man of Moroccan descent was arrested at Hamburg train station. He was only named as "Redouane E.H.", then aged 36. He was said to have had links to an individual called Said Bahaji, who was an associate of the 9/11 "Hamburg Cell". Bahaji had fled Germany eight days prior to 9/11.
Redouane E.H. was a resident of Kiel in northern Germany. Between 1996 and 2004 he attended the University of Kiel. At the time of his 2006 arrest, prosecutor's office spokeswoman Frake Scheuten said that several addresses in Kiel had been searched.
Scheuten said: "The accused had numerous contacts with the international network of violent jihadis, among other places in Syria, Algeria and Iraq. At the end of November 2005, he completed explosives training at a camp operated by a terrorist network in Algeria. He is seriously suspected of supporting the al-Qaeda foreign terrorist network through recruiting fighters for suicide attacks in Iraq and through financial payments."
Redouane E.H. had also had a "function as an intermediary for messages between the separately pursued Said Bahaji, and his wife. He knows that he, in order to keep his location secret, could only continue contact with his wife through an intermediary who was trained in conspiratorial techniques. Only a person from al-Qaeda's logistical network could be entrusted with such a confidential task."
Most of the evidence used to arrest Redouane E.H. had come from monitoring his email conversations, and it was implied that the reason for his arrest came as he was apparently intending to leave Germany. AT the time, his destination was not mentioned. It has since been revealed that Redouane E.H. was intending to go to Sudan.
As well as attending Kiel University Redouane E.H. had also attended Marburg University. He had married a German woman, whom he divorced in 2001. He was said to have become radicalized in 2003, following the death of his brother.
On Wednesday July 25, 2007, Redouane E.H. stood trial in Schleswig-Holstein Higher Regional Court in Schleswig. He was accused of raising funds for Al Qaeda and recruiting individuals to send to Iraq to join the Islamist insurgency.
Between August 2005 and July 2006 he had violated German export laws by transferring 5,000 Euros ($6,800) to Egypt and Syria. These were to supply equipment for Islamists recruited within Morocco and Egypt, to pay for explosives and a people-smuggler.
In August 2005, Redouane E.H. had sworn allegiance to Mullah Omar, the one-eyed leader of the Taliban, the prosecution claimed. Additionally, he had used a Kiel internet cafe to communicate with terrorist groups in various countries. A total of 513,000 internet conversations had been gathered from the server, with a third of these processed by the time the trial had started.
Today, according to Reuters, Xinhua News and Expatica, the court in Schlewswig sentenced Redouane E.H. to 69 months in prison. This fell short of the 78 months requested by the prosecution.
Expatica maintains that his 2005 oath of loyalty had been made to Osama bin Laden. He was convicted of supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq, setting up a terrorist group and paying an Algerian linked to Al Qaeda to train him in explosives manufacture. His group, based in Sudan, raised funds for jihad. Four of his associates were arrested in Sweden and Germany before they could do "harm". The associates are to be tried separately in Germany.
According to Associated Press "Last May, Sweden handed over a suspected accomplice of Redouane E.H. who prosecutors said helped him supply foreign fighters to Iraq and found the terrorist group in Sudan."
Two individuals were handed over to Germany by Swedish authorities last year. In April, 2007 a 32-year old Jordanian man known only as Thaer A, was handed over. This individual (like Redouane E.H.) was said to have been monitored by German authorities via Internet chatrooms, connected with "the surveillance of a Moroccan man who is now also being held on charges of supporting Al-Qaeda". Thaer A. had been arrested on March 19 under a European warrant. The Swedish prosecutor's office claimed that Thaer A. had been acting "on the orders of Osama bin Laden".
A second individual was handed over to Germany from Sweden, according to an announcement from German federal prosecutors, on Friday May 18, 2007. The day before his rendition, he had been interviewed by German prosecutors in connection with Redouane E. H. This man was identified as a 32-year old Moroccan called Abdelai Miftah. The prosecutors had claimed that Miftah had been to recruit jihadist fighters from eastern Germany when Redouane E.H. went to Sudan. They confirmed that Thaer A. was also suspected of involvement of planning the cell in Sudan.
During his trial, Redouane E.H. admitted swearing an oath of allegiance to Osama bin Laden, but said he had received no direct contact with Al Qaeda.
According to Judge Mathias Hohmann, Redouane E.H.'s network was the "breeding ground of Al Qaeda in Sudan."
Redouane E.H., who holds German nationality, claimed that his actions had been "adventurous foolishness". At the end of the trial he admitted: "From today's perspective, I realize it was bizarre lunacy. I just don't understand how I ever got involved in it."
Judge Hohmann said that Redouane E.H.'s conviction was the first to have been made in Germany based on the evidence provided by internet conversations. During the trial, Redouane E.H. had told the court of code words that were used in these conversations, such as "taxi driver" to refer to a suicide bomber.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:24 PM | Comments (1)
January 23, 2008
US: Supreme Court Rejects Muslim Murderer's Claim
On October 29, 2007 we reported on the case of prisoner Abdus-Shahid M. S. Ali, who was then taking his case to the US Supreme Court.
He argued that religious items - a prayer rug and a Koran - and other items worth $177 had been seized from him when he was transferred to another penitentiary. Ali is serving a 20-year jail term for murder.
Now, news from Associated Press via Fox News, Boston Globe, the Baltimore Sun reports that yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the inmate cannot sue the government over his losses.
Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which Ali was using to sue the government, correctional officers are, the Supreme Court decreed, immune from prosecution. Justice Clarence Thomas said that the law "forecloses lawsuits against the United States for the unlawful detention of property by 'any,' not just 'some,' law enforcement officers."
The four who supported the ruling were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Antonin Scalia.
Those who disagreed were Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice David H. Souter and Justice John Paul Stevens.
This is what we wrote in October:
News from Fox News and Asociated Press reports that today, the case of Muslim convicted murderer Abdus-Shahid M.S. Ali was taken up the US Supreme Court (case Ali vs Federal Bureau of Prison, 06-9130).Ali has been sentenced to a 20-year jail term for committing first-degree murder in the District of Columbia. He states that when he was moved from a federal penitentiary in Atlanta to Big Sandy penitentiary in Inez, Kentucky in 2003, two copies of the Koran and his prayer rug went missing, and have not been returned to him. Additionally stamps and other items worth $177 did not get returned to him. He maintains that he handed the items to prison officers, expecting them to be delivered to Inez.
He has already taken his case to two federal courts, who have turned down his claims. The issue at stake here is whether or not federal prison officers are "law enforcement officers" which would make them exempt from claims against them. This exemption was ruled in the Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946.
Permission for Ali to take his case to the Supreme Court was given on May 29 this year. The following is found on the Supreme Court website:
06-9130 ALI V. FED. BUREAU OF PRISONSAli claims that because of the 9/11 events, Muslim prisoners have endured "very hard times and bad treatment". He has written that "the many prison employees think that they can hurt you best taking your personally owned property". He writes that he has been harassed "year after year" on account of his faith, which he "practiced... to the fullest"
DECISION BELOW:204 Fed. Appx. 778
CERT. GRANTED 5/29/2007
QUESTIONS PRESENTED:Under 28 U.S.C. 2680(c), the Federal Tort Claims Act's waiver of sovereign immunity does not extend to "[a]ny claim arising in respect of * * * the detention of any goods, merchandise, or other property by any officer of customs or excise or any other law enforcement officer." The question presented, over which ten circuits are divided six-to-four is:
Whether the term "other law enforcement officer" is limited to officers acting in a tax, excise, or customs capacity.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:38 AM | Comments (0)
"Terrorist 007" And His Islamist Internet Adventures (3 of 3)
This article by Adrian Morgan (Giraldus Cambrensis of Western Resistance) appeared today in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.
"Terrorist 007" And His Islamist Internet Adventures
Part Three of Three
Part One can be found here and Part Two here
Two American nationals, Syed Haris Ahmed and Eshanul Islam Sadequee, were alleged to have used the internet to send reconnaissance videos of Washington "targets" to Younes Tsouli at his home in Shepherds Bush, West London. In March 2005, these had met with members of an apparent cell of Canadian terrorists who were arrested on June 2, 2006. These Canadian individuals have not yet had their trials, but some of these are believed to have had internet links with Younes Tsouli.
The Canadian suspects - twelve adults and five minors - had all come from the Toronto/south Ontario region. The adults were named then as Fahim Ahmad, 21; Jahmaal James, 23; Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19; and Steven Vikash Chand, 25, all of Toronto; Zakaria Amara, 20; Asad Ansari, 21; Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30; Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21; Saad Khalid, 19; and Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, all of Mississauga; Mohammed Dirie, 22 and Yasin Abdi Mohamed, 24.
Since their initial arrests and charges made, some were issued bail, though bail hearings for all are now being individually placed under judicial review.
The oldest of those arrested, 43-year old Qayyum Abdul Jamal, had apparently used the Mississauga Muslim Community Centre as a venue to radicalize young visitors, stated the Globe & Mail. Jamal, who was a bus driver and father of four, was not an imam. He had cleaned the mosque and had sometimes run errands. Five of the young people arrested had worshipped at this mosque. Jamal had also led Friday prayers at the one-room Al-Rahman mosque. Other suspects attended the Salahuddin Islamic Centre in Kennedy Road, Scarborough, Toronto.
Immediately after the arrests, there were claims that members of the group had been on "terror training" outdoor exercises, that they were intending to attack the CBC building in Toronto, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the offices of the intelligence agency CSIS (Canadian Security and Intelligence Service). They were also said to have planned to stage an ambitious assault upon the Ottawa Parliament building to kidnap hostages in an attempt to have Canadian troops withdrawn from Afghanistan. The group were said to have tried to acquire three metric tons of ammonium nitrate. This fertilizer, which can be used to make bombs, was apparently purchased by Saad Khalid, one of the arrested individuals, but the authorities substituted it with an inert substance.
The plot to storm the Ottowa parliament had apparently been suggested by a former Hindu and convert to Islam, Steven Vikash Chand. He also called himself Abdul Shakur. He had been a member of the Royal Regiment of Canada from June 2000 until April 2004. Chand's lawyer Gary Batasar was given an eight page dossier of the allegations. The plan had been to take politicians hostage until they agreed to withdraw Canada's 2,300 Afghanistan-based troops, and to behead hostages until that aim was achieved. The dossier claimed that Chand, then aged 25, personally wanted to decapitate Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
A month after the arrests, the "mole" who had secretly worked as an agent for the CSIS for two years revealed himself on CBC's "Fifth Estate". To the surprise of many, he was Mubin Shaikh of the Toronto mosque Masjid-i-Noor. In 2005 Shaikh had argued vehemently for sharia law to be introduced in Ontario. He told CBC that the suspects were "fruitcakes... with the capacity to do some real damage."
Shaikh ran a training camp attended by the suspects. This was held north of Toronto in a field in the village of Washago, Ontario. Here they dressed up in camouflage, used guns in target practice and made a video to recruit others for jihad.
Shaikh's involvement with the CSIS came when he heard that Canadian national Momin Khawaja had been arrested in the spring of 2004. Khawaja had links with the now-jailed "Operation Crevice" cell who planned to blow up British targets. Khawaja allegedly intended to supply the British jihadists with radio-controlled detonators. Shaikh did not believe Khawaja (who still awaits trial) was a jihadist. CSIS then asked Sheikh if he would monitor a group of individuals.
The wife of Zakaria Amara, one of the accused Canadian suspects, said of Mubin Shaikh: "I know this man. May Allah curse him and make him suffer." Zakaria Amara had apparently posted poetry onto Muslim websites since 2002, when he was aged 16. One poem included the words: "Yes I know my bones are very tender/And by Allah, you won't see me surrender." In an internet discussion he had suggested that if someone wanted to engage in terrorist training "then go to Peshawar or Kashmir and train properly."
Fahim Ahmad (pictured) was said to be the "emir" or leader of the group. He had allegedly rented a car that had been used in August 2005 by two Somali Canadians to smuggle weaponry into Canada. These individuals, Yasin Abdi Mohamed and Ali Mohamed Dirie, were among the list of suspects.
According to a pdf document from the NEFA Foundation (page 4), Fahim Ahmad and another Canadian suspect, Jahmal James, had met with Syed Haris Ahmed and Eshanul Islam Sadequee in Toronto in March 2005.
More British Arrests
Shortly after the Canadian arrests, two people were arrested in Northern England. One was a 21-year old man called Aabid Khan from Bradford, Yorkshire. He was arrested on June 5, 2006, as he arrived at Manchester Airport on a plane from Pakistan. The other arrested individual was a 16-year old youth from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, who was arrested on June 7. Various police raids had taken place, including a raid on an internet cafe. The two individuals were charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiring to cause public nuisance by using poisons or explosives under Section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Police confirmed to the Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper that the ongoing inquiry was related to the arrest of the 17 suspects in Canada, and that a third individual was being sought.
Four more people were arrested in East London on June 19 and 20, 2006. A BBC reporter claimed: "Police are trying to establish whether they were giving support to an alleged al-Qaeda cell in Canada."
On June 30, the trial began at the Old Bailey of the 16-year old schoolboy, Aabid Hussein Khan and a third man, 21-year old Sultan Muhammad. None of the suspects were in the courtroom in person. They remained in custody and appeared via a video link. Aabid Khan was also charged with having a computer for the purposes of "commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism". Sultan Muhammad was accused of having a compact disc which led to a suspicion of a "potential act of terrorism".
The 16-year old schoolboy was the grandson of "one of the leading figures in British Islam, who has been a vocal critic of terrorism". The home of this leading Islamic scholar, who has not been identified, was also raided by police.
The trial of the school boy and the older men was adjourned. They appeared at the Old Bailey on March 2, 2007 accompanied by another man, 28-year old Ahmed Sulieman, and the trial was adjourned again. On July 20, 2007, their trial was adjourned until November, 2007. The trial still has not been brought to a conclusion, but it seems apparent that the case deals with use of the internet to plan terror.
Younes Tsouli's British Connections
The BBC's security correspondent, Gordon Corera claimed that At-Tibyan, one of the websites set up and maintained by Younes Tsouli, had been linked with three British trials where convictions were secured.
Yassin Nassari was a regular user of the At-Tibyan website, which had a forum. 28-year old Nassari and his Dutch-born wife arrived at Luton airport in Bedfordshire on an Easyjet flight from Amsterdam on May 13, 2006. On May 30, 2007, a jury at the Old Bailey heard that Nassari's wife Bouchra El Hor had written him a letter, which was found in their luggage. This seemed to be a "farewell" letter prior to her husband's imminent "martyrdom", though she successfully argued that it referred to marital difficulties.
She wrote: ""The moment has come where you and I have to separate for the cause of Allah. I am so proud, my husband, and I am happy for you that Allah had granted you this chance to be a Mujihad in the cause of God. I am writing to let you know that you have my support and to remind you to be strong and do not let Satan influence you... to remind you that jihad is now compulsory and we are now obligated to protect Islam, to help our brothers and sisters to fight the kuffar."
"I really wish I could go with you because I too feel obliged to do all this and look to participate in any way I can. God willing, I will do anything in my power to raise our son the best way I can so he can be a righteous Muslim. I will also tell him all about his father so he can be proud of him and follow in his footsteps."
Nassari, a drop-out from Westminster University, was charged with "possessing an article for the purposes of terrorism and possession of a document of record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism". In his airport luggage Nassari had a laptop in his possession. This carried blueprints of an Al Qassam 1.5 missile - the home-made rocket used by Palestinian Islamists against Israel.
Nassari was sentenced to three and a half years' jail on 18 July, 2007. He smiled when sentenced. His wife Bouchra el Hor was acquitted of "failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism." On the At-Tibyan website, Nassari had called himself "Mock Turtle". Here he shared jihadist videos with Tsouli's accomplice, Tariq al-Daour.
The At-Tibyan web forum was also used as a vehicle of communication by a group of students from Bradford University. On July 27, 2007 four students - Akbar Butt, aged 20 from Southall in London, Awaab Iqbal, aged 20 from Rochdale, Usman Malik, aged 21 from Wolverhampton, and Altzaz Zafar, aged 20 from Rochdale, Lancashire were jailed from 27 months to three years. They were found guilty of possessing material useful for terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. This related to material on their computers, including a US military manual which detailed how to make explosives, and a suicide bombing manual.
On an internet chat room (apparently At-Tibyan) Usman Malik had conversations with a cousin in Syria who was later arrested as a suspected terrorist. The cousin advised him to have a cover story when going to Pakistan for terror training. The group had a British contact on the chat room called Imran, who lived in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. He had invited them to come to his home, and to invent cover stories.
On this chat room, a 17-year old Muslim from Essex who was still at school had conversations with the four students. Mohammed Irfan Raja ran away from home to join these students, leaving behind a farewell message that appeared to show he intended to go on a jihad mission abroad. He arrived at Bradford with three CDs containing extremist material. He became disillusioned and returned home, and his parents contacted police. Raja was sentenced to two years' youth detention.
Peter Clarke, who heads the counter-terrorism unit at Scotland Yard said: "This was not an adolescent fantasy. These five young men had decided to become active jihadists and to seek training at camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan. It is clear these men were intent on committing terrorism overseas."
Another convicted individual who had links with Younes Tsouli's At-Tibyan website was Mohammed Atif Siddique. He lived at his parents' home in Alva, Clackmannanshire, in Scotland. He had been arrested on April 13, 2006 after several weeks of surveillance. He had tried to board a flight to Pakistan on April 5, 2006 with a laptop containing Al Qaeda propaganda.
Siddique studied computing at Glasgow College of Nautical Studies. A fortnight after his arrest, he was released without charge. On October 23, 2006 he was charged on five counts under the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006.
On September 17, 2007 Siddique was found guilty on three terrorism charges at Glasgow High Court. Evan Kohlmann, who had assisted the prosecution in the trial of Younes Tsouli and his associates Waseem Mughal and Tariq al-Daour, gave evidence at Siddique's trial. Siddique had used the internet to distribute terrorist material
According to Scotland's Daily Record, newspaper, Siddique was linked to "a plot to behead the Canadian PM". Siddique is believed to have been "radicalized on the internet by a man from the north of England.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is suspected of being a major recruiting agent for the terrorist cause. He is related to a central figure in the alleged Canadian plot."
Siddique was jailed for eight years on October 23, 2007. He had CDs and videos on bomb-making and weapons use that could have been used for terrorist purposes. He had also been found guilty of threatening to carry out a suicide attack in Glasgow.
The Implications Of Terrorist 007's Activities
Tsouli managed various websites, and hacked into other servers to use their space for his ends. Internet forums are protected by passwords, yet it is mostly possible to enter these as a "member". However, most forums have the ability to send private messages. Unless a hacker gains access to the pass codes of a forum administrator, these message spaces are generally inacessible.
Tsouli appeared to be careless at times, even though he ensured that in the case of his arrest he had made hacking manuals and instructions for creating web sites available to his audience. His activities on web forums appear to have been made quite openly.
He had retained evidence of one disturbing discussion on his computer. A message read: "We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America. The first target which will be penetrated by nine brothers is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy."
This apparently referred to the decommissioned aircraft carrier the USS John F Kennedy, normally based at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida. The message listed possible targets at the base: "These are clubs for naked women which are opposite the First and Third units."
The message indicated that the "doctors" would use three fishing boats and six Chevrolet GT vehicles to mount an attack and using rocket-propelled grenades to attack gasoline tanks. The message had arrived on February 12, 2005. Tsouli had replied: "He needs the recipe for making car bombs," and had sent instructions to the respondent.
What makes this more disturbing is that on June 30, 2007 a flaming Chevrolet Jeep containing gas cylinders and gasoline bottles was driven into the entrance of Glasgow airport. This was tied to two failed car bombs earlier discovered in London's West End. The arrested suspects were doctors, working for Britain's NHS.
There are no direct links to Tsouli in this plot, but his relaying and distribution of terrorist manuals and material has undoubtedly made it easier for such dangerous plots to become a reality.
When Tsouli stood trial at Woolwich Crown Court, there was some alarm that the presiding judge, Peter Openshaw, seemed unaware of the basics of the internet. At one early stage in the proceedings, he had asked: "What's a website?" As a result, the trial was adjourned so he could u