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February 28, 2008

UK: Wife Of Muslim Bomber On Trial

On February 4, five men were jailed for assisting the men who carried out the failed bomb attacks upon London Transport on July 21, 2005. On Wednesday February 27, the wife of one the 21/7 bombers and four other individuals went on trial at the Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) in London.

31-year old Yeshiemebet Girma from Stockwell is the wife of Hussain Osman. When Osman failed in his attempt to blow up a London tube train, he used his brother's passport to flee to Italy. Osman traveled to Brighton, and then Paris, and passed through Milan and Bologna before he was captured in Rome on July 29, 2005. His capture had happened after his cellular phone calls to his brother were traced. He was extradited to Britain on September 22, 2007.

Osman's brother Abdul Waxid Sherif was among the five individuals convicted and given jail sentences on February 4, 2008. Sherif was given a 10-year jail term.

On Tuesday February 19 last week, a 25-year old man from Brighton pleaded guilty to assisting Hussain Osman evade capture. 25-year old Mohamed Kabashi is the former boyfriend of Yeshiemebet Girma's sister, Mulumebet Girma.

Yeshiemebet Girma is currently on trial with Mulumebet Girma, aged 23, and her brother Esayas Girma, aged 22. All are from Stockwell. Also on trial are 24-year old Shadi Abdelgadir from Brighton, East Sussex, and 22-year old Omer Almagboul, also from Brighton.

The prosecutor in the case is Max Hill, who is maintaining that the accused assisted Hussain Osman ten ways, including providing him with cash, dressing his injury, washing his clothes, getting rid of incriminating material, searching on the internet to find out the state of the police investigation, giving him clothes and a car.

The five accused all deny assisting Osman to escape and also deny charges of failing to disclose information which could have caused Osman to be apprehended in the United Kingdom. Osman's wife Yeshiemebet additionally denies a charge of failing to disclose information which could have prevented an act of terrorism.

Max Hill said on Wednesday: "Yeshi Girma had prior knowledge of the events of 21/7. She had some information about what the bombers intended to do on 21/7, but failed to bring this to the attention of the police."

"Had the bombers successfully and completely detonated the bombs on busy Tube trains that day, there would have been carnage and mass murder."

"Armed with that prior knowledge of what was going to happen, Yeshi Girma could have attempted to prevent the attacks, which, but for shortcomings in the production of the explosive devices, would have killed and injured many people."

The prosecutor maintained that tapes of radical Islamic preaching were found with the fingerprints of Yeshiemebet Girma and her brother Esayas Girma. These were tapes by preachers such as Abu Hamza al-Masri and Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal.

Max Hill said that Yeshiemebet Girma had allowed Hussain Osman to take their young son to a training camp in Cumbria (the Lake District) where Osman met the other 21/7 bombers.

He also maintained that on the night of July 21, 2005, Hussain Osman had stayed in a rented apartment in Brighton with with Shadi Abdelgadir and Omer Almagboul. With them in the apartment were Esyas and Mulumebet Girma and also Mohamed Kabashi, the boyfriend of Mulumebet Girma.

After Hussain Osman had been in Brighton for two days he returned to London where, using his brother's passport, he then boarded a Eurostar train to Paris on July 26, 2005.

The trial continues.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

Spain: Twenty Islamists Convicted

News from AFP, DPA, AKI, Reuters, VOA, International Herald Tribune and CNN:

On Wednesday, Spain's High Court found 20 Islamic radicals guilty of belonging to terrorist groups. However, the prosecution had failed in its attempts to link them to an actual plot to blow up the Spanish High Court, which would have gained more serious jail sentences upon conviction.

The trial began on October 15, 2007, when thirty individuals were accused of being part of a plot to drive an explosives-laden truck outside the High Court and then to detonate it.

The alleged leader of this plot had been Abderrahman Tahiri aka Mohammed Achraf, an Algerian who was born in the United Arab Emirates. As recounted then by WR:

This individual is said to have formed four cells to attack Spanish targets since 2000. Tahiri had been jailed in a prison near Salamanca between 1999 and 2002 for credit card fraud, and it was while in prison that he gathered most of his recruits. He spread his ideas to other prisons, according to letters recovered from jail inmates.

Tahiri was in Switzerland using his alias when he was detained. He was extradited to Spain to stand trial, and prosecutors want him to serve 46 years in jail. The group that Tahiri was acting for, Martyrs for Morocco, is said to have Al Qaeda links. It was disbanded in 2004.

Tahiri is said to have ordered one of the other accused - Kamara Birahima DIadie, Mauritanian national - with acquiring a ton of dynamite with which to carry out proposed bomb attacks.

The plot had been to attack the High Court (Audencia Nacional) in Madrid using 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of explosive in a truck. Other targets were a train station in central Madrid, and the HQ of the Popular Party. This party was in power, led by Jose Maria Aznar, when the Islamist group was uncovered in 2004.

There are connections between this trial and the trial of 28 people who are charged with the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004 which killed 191 people. One of the accused in the current trial (Abdelkrim Benesmail) is a witness at the other train bomb trial.

Benesmail had earlier been convicted for membership of terror group GIA (Groupe Islam Arme) as had Allekema Lamari. Allekema Lamari had been one of seven people who blew themselves up in an apartment in the Madrid suburb of Leganes on April 3, 2004 (pictured). This explosion also killed one police officer and wounded 11 more.

Another individual who is currently under protection has provided evidence for both trials.

34-year old Abderrahmane Tahiri, alias Mohamed Achraf, received the highest sentence this Wednesday, that of 14 years. Tahiri was imprisoned for 14 years for being the head of a terrorist group. However the National Court (High Court) found that his plan to set off a truck bomb did not legally constitute "conspiracy" as it was no more than an "undeveloped individual plan".

The sentence against him, issued by a three-judge panel, included the statement: "The conception of a possible terrorist objective does not constitute the existence of conspiracy, but is an activity that is part of belonging to a terrorist group."

Tahiri had created one terror cell in Topas, a town in northern Spain. He had exchanged letters with inmates in jails across Spain, aas had other suspects. These letters of recruitment were for attacks to be carried out ince the inmates were freed, the judges' statement read.

The twenty convicted individuals had been found guilty of recruiting others in prison to become part of terror cells. Of these, 18 (including Tahiri) were found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Two others were found guilty of collaborating with the terror group. These individuals received jail sentences ranging from five to fourteen years.

Prosecutors had asked for sentences ranging from 8 to 43 years for the plot to blow up the High Court, but the case for such a plot was not satisfactorily proven.

Ten others, mainly Algerians, were acquitted of all charges against them. Nine had been accused of belonging to a terrorist group and one for collaboration with such a group.

The majority of those who had been on trial had been arrested in October 2004. The trial had concluded in January, but the sentencing had only happened on Wednesday.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:31 PM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2008

Britain's Muslim Terror Trainers Guilty

On Tuesday February 26, after a trial lasting more than four months, it was announced that five men were found guilty of partaking in terror training on UK soil. The leader of the group, Mohammed Hamid, called himself "Osama bin London". Before his arrest, Hamid had boasted to his followers that he had been organizing terror training camps in Britain for thirteen years.

Hamid was found guilty by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court of three counts of "soliciting to murder" and three counts of providing terrorist training. He was found not guilty on two other counts of soliciting murder and not guilty of providing training in weaponry. He was also found not guilty of possessing a document containing information useful to a terrorist.

Four others had been on trial with him. After 22 days of deliberation, a jury found three of these individuals - Kibley Da Costa, Muhammad al-Figari and Kader Ahmed guilty of attending terror training camps in Britain. 41-year old property developer Mousa Brown was found not guilty, and was freed from custody.

Reporting restrictions were lifted when the sentences were announced. It was then revealed that two of Osama bin London's followers, Muhammad Kyriacou, 19, and Yassin Mutegombwa, 23, had pleaded guilty on Tuesday to attending the training camps at a separate hearing. Under Section 6 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006, receiving training in terrorism is illegal. Kyriacou and Mutegombwa, who both came from south London, were both given a three year and five month jail sentence. Mutegombwa's 18-year old brother Hassan had been convicted at an earlier trial of seeking funds for terrorism training overseas while at one of the camps run by "Osama bin London", and had been given a 10-year jail sentence.

45-year old Muhammad al-Figari from Tottenham, north-east London, was found guilty of two counts of partaking in terrorist training camps and two counts of possession of a record containing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. He has found not guilty of a third count of containing such a record. Figari had been born in Trinidad as Roger Michael Figari. He came to London in 1989. He worked as a chauffeur for the BBC, and later became a convicted drug smuggler. He also had convictions for theft and assault.

Somali- born Kader Ahmed of Plaistow, East London, had been found guilty on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 of two counts of attending terror training camps, and was cleared of another similar count. Kader Ahmed had been 17 when arrested. During the trial he said that an undercover officer who had infiltrated the group was "James Bond" and said he had invented his evidence.

24-year old Kibley da Costa from West Norwood in south London was found guilty of providing terror training, guilty of two counts of attending terrorist training sessions and one count of having a document containing information useful to a terrorist. He was given a jail sentence of four years and eleven months. He had been born in Jamaica to a Christian family and had arrived in Britain in 1995. He had worked as a bus driver, though this employment ended after he had run over a drunken man, who later died.

The trial of Mohammed Hamid aka Osama bin London had started on Monday October 10, 2007. On the same day, his accomplice Attila Ahmet had pleaded guilty to three counts of soliciting to murder. Ahmed, aka "Abu Abdullah" had been a close associate of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the firebrand preacher at Finsbury Park Mosque. When Hamza was arrested and placed in custody in 2004, Attila Ahmet had continued to preach at the Finsbury Park Mosque, and in the streets outside when the mosque trustees had prevented their access. He and his followers finally lost control of the mosque on February 8, 2005, when the trustees, accompanied by police, changed the locks on the doors.

Attila Ahmet, Muhammad Al-Figari, Yassin Mutegombwa and (now cleared) Moussa Brown were arrested in London raids that began on September 1, 2006.

Mohammed Hamid, Attila Ahmet, Mohammed al-Figari and Kader Ahmed will be given sentences at a later date. Attila Ahmet has other charges which are to remain on file.

Osama bin London

Mohammed Hamid was born in 1957 in Tanzania to Muslim parents who had come from India. Aged five, he came to Britain with his family, settling in the town of Heckmondwike and later Batley in West Yorkshire. He came to London while only 12, moving into a home with his elder brother. Here he became involved in crime and drugs. His first offense was for stealing fish fingers and a tin of sweetcorn from a shop. He gained convictions for robbery, burglary and cannabis possession, and at aged 19 he was in borstal (a young offenders' prison). He eventually became addicted to crack cocaine.

In 2001 he was even questioned about possible involvement in a kidnapping incident.

He told the court of his crack addiction. "I became very addicted. I could not keep my life together. I had to [send] my daughter and my son away from the house. There was not even a spoon left in the house because I sold everything to keep my habit, my addiction. I just had one blanket and that was it. I was living like a squatter, like a tramp."

He claimed to have found his spiritual salvation on a trip to a mosque with his brother, but it appears he became radicalized on a trip to India. It was here he met his second wife, who moved back with him to London, living with him in a house in Almack Road in Hackney, east London.

With four children by her, bringing the total of his offspring to six, he opened the al-Koran bookshop at the Homerton end of Chatsworth Road in Hackney around 1996. He also worked as a volunteer youth worker, and on Sundays trained a young soccer team. After 9/11 he began preaching at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park.

He spent three months in Pakistan from January to March 2002. He had brought hospital equipment, and had gone into North-West Frontier Province, where he visited camps for Afghan refugees in Chaman.

In 2003 at Speaker's Corner, he met the four men who would later carry out the failed bombings on London Transport on July 21, 2005 - Muktar Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed, Yassin Omar and Hussain Osman. Hamid, like most of the 21/7 bombers, attended the Finsbury Park Mosque at the time when its leadership passed from hook-handed Abu Hamza to his deputy Abu Abdullah (Attila Ahmet).

Hamid and Muktar Ibrahim set up an Islamic bookstall in Oxford Street in London's West End. Muktar would go on to become the leader or "emir" of the July 21 cell. On May 3, 2004, Muktar Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed, Yassin Omar, Hussain Osman and another of the cell's associates, Adel Yahya, were photographed attending a terror training camp in the Lake District in northern England. This camp was one of the training camps organized by Mohammed Hamid.

In October 2004, Eritrean-born Muktar Ibrahim and Hamid were arrested at their Oxford Street bookstall for breach of the peace. When Hamid was arrested at this time, he told police officers that he was called "Osama bin London". He also said: "I've got a bomb and I'm going to blow you all up'."

Ibrahim had fled from the scene and may have escaped, had a passer-by not tripped him up. Ibrahim was due to attend Horseferry Road Magistrates Court. Muktar Ibrahim did not show up as he had gone to Pakistan. It was in Pakistan that he had learned how to make explosives.

Ibrahim did not reappear in front of police until after he had tried to detonate an explosive-filled rucksack on a Number 26 bus on July 21, 2005. Hamid had exchanged 155 calls and SMS messages to the four 21/7 bombers. He used the alias "Al-Quran" in these calls. On the evening of July 7, when four Muslim bombers had killed 52 people on London Transport, Hamid had written a message to Ethiopian-born, Hussain Osman who would later try to blow up a tube train carriage on 21/7. The message read: "Assalam bro, we fear no-one except ALLAH, we will not change our ways, we are proud to be a Muslim an we will not hide. 8pm Friday at my place, be there food and talk, AL-QURAN."

Hamid would hold frequent meetings at his home in Clapton. It was here that he would hold Friday evening prayers. Often, these meetings were co-run by Attila Ahmet. Hamid had interested police since his 2004 arrrest. In September 2005, MI5, Britain's homeland intelligence agency, managed to secrete a surveillance bug inside Hamid's home. This was to provide valuable information which was used in the trial.

On June 16 2006, Hamid was recorded telling his house-guests that they were "soldiers of Allah" who were "fighting for sharia law." He said: "The whole aspect is for you to get shahada [martyred] for you to be shaheed [martyr]."

An undercover officer from Special Branch was chosen to infiltrate the group. This individual met Hamid at his Oxford Street bookstall on April 6, 2006. Here he pretended to be a Christian, and was "converted" over a period of half an hour by Hamid.

Hamid told him that mobile phones, DNA and the Iraq War had been predicted in the Koran. Hamid gave the undercover police officer a new name - "Dawood". The officer would come to Hamid's home in Clapton to attend his meetings. Dawood would also go with Hamid on one of his terror training exercises in the New Forest in Hampshire, and also he attended a paintballing exercise at White Waltham in Berkshire.

Bizarrely, while Mohammed Hamid was radicalizing young Muslims, the BBC used him as a poster boy for "moderate Islam". He was filmed at his Oxford Street bookstall doing his da'wah activities, and was even shown with other individuals, including some of those now found guilty, attending a paintballing exercise. The BBC aired the finished result as a documentary called "Don't Panic I'm Islamic" on June 12, 2005, less than a month before the 7/7 attacks.

A researcher for this documentary, Nasreen Suleaman, told Woolwich Crown Court that after the failed bombings of July 2005, Hamid had contacted her. He told her of his associations with the bombers. She said she had no feeling of obligation to inform the police of this. Suleaman claimed she had told senior managers at the BBC but had been told not to report the information to police.

The BBC had actually paid Hamid and convicted terror trainer Mohammed al-Figari to attend a paintballing exercise at Delta Force, a center in Tonbridge in Kent. After shooting each other with paint pellets, the group was shown engaged in prayer. This event took place in February 2005. Merely for appearing in the documentary, the BBC paid Hamid £300 ($596).

Nasreen Suleaman had told the court: "There are many, many British Muslims that I know who for the past 15 or 20 years have been going paintballing. It's a harmless enough activity. I don't think there is any suggestion, or ever has been, that it's a terrorist training activity."

Suleaman thought that paintballing would be a "fun" way of introducing Hamid. She is either ignorant or dishonest. Paintball activities have been used to secure convictions of members of the "Virginia Jihad" group, led by Ali al-Timini. This group had links with Pakistani and Kashmir-based terrorist entity Lashkar-e-Tayba. Paintballing exercises are additionally used as recruitment aids by Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Hamid's recorded conversations were to be incriminating. During a trip to the Jameah Islamic School near Crowborough where Hamid ran another training camp, "Dawood" recorded Hamid discussing the bombings of July 7, 2005 with Attila Ahmet.

Hamid said: "You know what happened on the tubes, right, how many altogether, four people shaheed [martyred]. Allah wa Allah I have to say this is as well, but four people got shaheed, right, how many people did they take out?"

When told "Fifty two" he replied: "Fifty two, that's not even a breakfast for me"

Ahmet responded: "I know it's not." Hamid continued: "That's not even a breakfast for me, for me in this country, do you understand me? Now, at the same time, how I look at it, I would take my breakfast and I still be with my children and my wife and I'll be looking after them. Remember the Jack the Ripper? Remember this people that never get caught, right, don't let your ego go forward, let your intelligence go forward for the sake of Allah, use your hikma [wisdom] and be effective, effective, see how many gets it, see how many you can take at the same time, see how long you can last out, then if you have to go, then you're going for a good reason."

In another recorded speech, Hamid said: "As they wage war in our lands, you know it's halal [permissible] for you to do it here. You cannot say 'yeah but brother, I didn't come from that land.' That's your family that's being put to the sword, that's your family's honour that being put to the sword. That's Allah's honour being disgraced."

Hamid ran terror camps in the Lake district, Saint Albans, Berkshire and also in a wooded area near Lyndhurst in Hampshire. In December 2004, he had also taken Kader Ahmed on a minibus trip to Loch Ness in Scotland. The Lyndhurst camps took place from April 28 to May 1, 2006, and again on June 2 to June 4, 2006. Training also took place in the grounds of the Jameah Islamiyah school in Sussex. This building, with more than 100 rooms, had become an Islamic school in September 2003, though by 2005 an inspection showed that only nine pupils were registered. The school had also been connected with reports of abuse of students. Abu Hamza tried to purchase this building in the late 1990s.

At one of Hamid's camps in Great Langdale in the Lake District, police had seen groups of men engaged in strange activities on two weekends in May 2004. MI5 were called to investigate. An agent called 1259 gave evidence to the trial in October last year. He testified that: "There were about 10 males leopard crawling - moving low and flat along the ground. They were doing press-ups and sit-ups - hard physical activity - and there was an anti-ambush drill, reacting to effective enemy fire." Hamid was found not guilty of organising weapons training at this camp.

Abu Hamza had visited Jameah Islamiyah building five times. He was also said to have set up camps in the 58 acres of the school grounds. Additionally, Hamza had considered buying sites for terror training in Wales and Lancashire before (allegedly) choosing instead to establish a training camp in Bly, Oregon.

Four of the individuals who were arrested in September 2006 at the same time as Attila Ahmet and Mohammed Hamid were said by the Spanish Interior Ministry to have been suspected of participating in terrorist training in North Africa in the spring of 2004. The ministry said that one individual, whose initials are "M.H." had been born in Tanzania in 1957. This is almost certainly Mohammed Hamid.

Attila Ahmet

Born in London in 1964 to Turkish Cypriot parents, Attila Ahmet had been a soccer coach. He trained youth teams, the Sydenham Boys, Athenlay, and Fisher Athletic. He was nicknamed "Attila the Hun" at this time, even though he was not a radical Muslim then. He became a radical around 1998.

Brian Miller, chairman of the Bexley League, said: "He was a nutter, very volatile and took it far too seriously. Once I had to referee the managers - not the game."

On October 14, 2004, Ahmet had given an interview to American TV channel PBS. He said: "Allah mentioned jihad in the Quran 26 times, and Allah mentioned quital 79 times. Quital is fighting by a physical fighting -- 79 times... People see us as extremists because we don't compromise the religion of Allah. We accept it with every word and every utterance of our beloved prophet Muhammad, that no Muslim can turn away from one ayah of the Quran, one verse of the Quran. If we don't accept this, we actually become disbelievers."

He expressed his contempt for British Islamic representatives at the Muslim Council of Britain, and said they were heretics: "They have invented their own religion and [are] brainwashing the ignorant Muslim that doesn't fully understand the Quran. And this is how they're going, with the support of Tony Blair, to turn fellow Muslims against me or against the likes of Osama bin Laden and etc. and etc. and etc. The ultimate thing is that they're turning them away from the prophet, peace be upon him."

At Finsbury Park Mosque, Attila Ahmet would call non-Muslims "filthy disbelievers".

Ahmet would sometimes lead the talks at Mohammed Hamid's home, and he also took part in terror training sessions. At a speech he made in Hamid's home in Almack Road on March 31, 2006, Ahmet said: "The kuffar today, what do they do? When the mujahideen hid and a handful... trapped 500 filthy American soldiers, what did they do? You know, 'We need cover, cover cover.' So they sent in their aeroplanes and bombed the brothers."

"Allah says they are cowards. It's an obligation for Allah to fulfil jihad. Allah says it is quite easy for him to punish the kuffar... but Allah says 'No, I've left you to fulfil that duty if you really believe it.'"

On another occasion he made reference to Abu Hamza and also Abdullah el-Faisal (both of these preachers were jailed for soliciting murder). Ahmet said: "So what do we do then, are we still accepting this or are we going to make change, what is it we're scared of, better to go to prison or die or whatever than staying on..."

"It's like Sheikh Faisal said, Sheikh Abu Hamza said, I'm trying to spoon feed it to you, you know the trust, act upon it. Like the brother said, we need to start encouraging each other and stop making it a mockery of Islam."

In one recorded speech Ahmet said: "Allah said he loves those that fight with their lives and their wealth and their family's wealth as well in his cause. So this is what we were talking about - why are we scared to meet our death?"

He boasted that he was the "number one Al-Qaeda in Europe" and said he would attack anyone who was considered an enemy of Muslims. The court heard a recording where he returned to the subject of the MCB. He said: "In reality these people need to be taken out."

Hamid and Ahmet also discussed the shedding of blood as a means to implement Sharia. The Houses of Parliament were mentioned as a possible target by Ahmet who said: "The House of Parliament, the big people, the MPs, the police, the army, the city slickers are all halal [permitted]."

The court also heard how, at a training session in the grounds of the Jameah Islamiyah school, Attila Ahmet had sang a version of Harry Bellafonte's calypso tune, the Banana Boat Song.

The lyrics used by Ahmet were: "Come mister Taliban, come bomb England, before the daylight come, you wanna see 10 Downing Street done. Come mister Taliban, come implement sharia. Come mister Taliban, come bomb England, before the daylight come, Inshallah it will be done."

Ahmet's early plea of "guilty" to three counts of soliciting murder may have happened as he was finding prison life inside Belmarsh jail to be harsh. The Guardian states that after only a few hours of interrogation at the high-security Paddington Green police station, where he was taken after his arrest, he had panic attacks. These appeared to be induced by claustrophobia.

Inside Belmarsh, he was apparently paranoid, and accused fellow defendants of being spies for MI5. Other defendants said that he was "cracking up" inside Belmarsh jail, and claimed he had pleaded guilty in an attempt to be freed early from prison.

Peter Clarke, assistant commissioner for specialist (terror) operations at London's Metropolitan Police said: "Hamid and Ahmet are dangerous people who between them carried out the recruitment, grooming and terrorist training of young men."

Though neither of these men were accused of directly assisting the 21/7 bombers to plot their attacks, it appears certain that they had contributed substantially to their radicalisation.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:31 PM | Comments (4)

February 25, 2008

King John, Sharia and England

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

King John, Sharia and England

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, recently mused about sharia law in Britain on BBC radio. He suggested that having only one system of law was "a danger". His comments sparked outrage, and numerous articles appeared, ostensibly "explaining" sharia. Many of these were patronizing or inaccurate, attempting like Williams to avoid the plain fact that in marriage, Muslim law discriminates against women.

In one article from the Guardian, Elizabeth Stewart mentioned briefly that in 1213, King John offered to become Muslim and submit Britain to the rule of sharia law. Stewart wrote: "But the Moroccan ruler decided that a king who was prepared to betray his own religion and subjects would probably not make a good ally, and turned him down."

This episode allegedly happened in 1213, two years before the unpopular monarch was forced to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede on June 19, 1215.

The story was taken up again by Graham Stewart in the Times more than a week later. The story is better known in the Muslim world than it is in Britain. Even in the 19th century, when study of Britain's Medieval period was more popular than now, historians mentioned that the story was little-known.

The British Embassy in Rabat, Morocco, states on its website: " Morocco and Britain have longstanding political and trading links. Diplomatic relations date back to at least 1213 AD, when King John of England dispatched envoys to seek the support of Mohammed El-Nasir, Morocco's fourth Almohad ruler. It seems that Mohammed El-Nasir was not impressed by what he heard of the English King, and informed the envoys that King John was unworthy of an alliance with him."

So what is the background of this tale, and does it have validity? The earliest mention of this delegation to Morocco is made by the historian Matthew Paris, a Benedictine monk. Paris wrote a massive history of the world in several volumes, a history that started with Creation and continued until his present day.

Paris drew many details of King John's life and times, such as the signing of Magna Carta, from the writings of another monk historian, Roger of Wendover, Prior of Belvoir, who died in 1236. Roger wrote a chronicle called "Flores Historarium" ("Flowers of History"), but no mention of King John's mission to Morocco is mentioned here.

King John's Reign

King John's reign was an unhappy one. He was born in 1167, the youngest of Henry II's sons. When Henry died in 1189, he left no lands to John, even though he was his favorite son. This led to John being called "John Lackland" by his peers, a nickname which would later stick to John after he became monarch in 1199, as he lost several territories in France during his reign.

Historical romances have treated John's elder brother Richard favorably. Richard I ("Coeur de Lion" or Lionheart) was a fine warrior but in many ways a bad king. He was anti-semitic and banned Jews from his coronation, leading to massacres of Jews in London. Richard gave John land and titles. Henry II had brought in a tax called the "Saladin tithe", to cover the costs of sending troops to recapture Jerusalem, which had fallen to Saladin's armies in 1187. (The fall of Jerusalem is the subject of the movie "Kingdom of Heaven").

In all of Richard's reign, he spent only six months in England and much of this time was spent raising taxes. The Third Crusade had some victories but failed in its objective to recapture Jerusalem. On Richard's return he was captured by Leopold, Duke of Austria in 1192 and imprisoned by Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. He was freed in 1194 after a ransom was paid. Once freed, Richard was away fighting the King of France, Philip Augustus. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Walter, ruled in his stead. Richard was killed by an arrow while attacking the castle of Chaluz.

John had unsuccessfully tried to seize power from Richard in 1194 while the latter was a prisoner, but was subsequently pardoned. The fierce system of taxation introduced to pay for the Third Crusade would lead to runaway inflation by the time John was made king. Richard's battles with the French king would kindle conflicts of interest among the nobles in northern France who managed part of the Angevin/Plantagenet monarch's territories. Hubert Walter supported John's ascension to the throne, and as Lord Chancellor he kept England under some administrative and financial control. After his death on July 13, 1205, John's problems escalated.

The successor to Hubert Walter as Archbishop of Canterbury created a rift between English bishops and monks of Christ Church, the cathedral monastery at Canterbury. The monks wanted one of their own, Reginald, to become Archbishop, and John and the bishops wanted John de Frey (John de Gay). Both were elected by their supporters, but Pope Innocent III declared both elections invalid and instead chose Stephen Langton. On June 17, 1207, Innocent inaugurated Langton in Viterbo. John would not let Langton enter the country, and seized the property of the monks who had opposed him.

In 1207, John decided to tax the clergy. In the north of England in particular, Cistercian abbeys held massive lands, and used profits from farming and mining to increase their wealth. Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, led a clerical rebellion against John and had to flee the country.

On March 24, 1208, Innocent issued an interdict, which meant that all churches were locked. No services were held except for baptisms and confessions of the dying. The following year, Innocent excommunicated John. John responded with attacks upon church leaders and property, and Innocent officially deposed him in 1212. To ensure the deposition Innocent ordered Philip Augustus, King of France, to carry it out, continuing the war between England and France.

John's problems with the Angevin territories in France had started in 1202 when his nephew Arthur was murdered. The population in Brittany blamed John and staged a rebellion. John mounted several war campaigns in northern France, raising taxes to pay for these doomed endeavors. By 1206 he had lost control of Normandy, Anjou, Maine and parts of Poitou.

On May 13, 1213, John surrendered England to the Pope as a fiefdom of the Papacy. In the same year Stephen Langton finally returned to England to take up the role of Archbishop of Canterbury. After compensation was made to the Church, the interdict was lifted on June 29, 1214.

The religious crisis had weakened John and in May 1215, a civil war broke out with the barons, who seized London. Langton sided with the barons when they forced John to sign the Magna Carta in June of the same year. Innocent excommunicated the barons, suspended Langton and ordered him to remain abroad. Langton did not return to Britain until 1218, after John had died.

John died as a fugitive. The barons had invited Prince Louis of France to fight their cause, offering him the throne of England as a reward for victory. John was working his way around the eastern coast of England, by the tidal mud flats of the Wash. Here, on October 12, 1216, his baggage train carrying his personal treasure sank in the mud. Roger of Wendover wrote that John's "treasures, precious vessels and all the other things which he loved with so much care" were swallowed up by "bottomless whirlpools." The king made his way to Swineshead in Lincolnshire, where he died a few days later of a fever.

Matthew Paris' Account

The original account of John's sending a team to Morocco and offering to subject Britain to sharia rule was written long after these supposed events. Matthew Paris (c1200 to 1259) would have barely begun puberty when the envoy was sent to Morocco.

The full text (in Latin) can be found online at Stanford University's Medieval and Modern Thought Text Digitization Project. It is contained in Volume II of the Chronica Majora, on pages 559 to 564 (618 to 623 of the pdf document). The section is entitled: "Qualiter rex desperans miserit ad admiralium Murmelin".

An English translation from 1924 begins: "How the king in despair sent to the Amir ul-Muminin

He therefore sent most secret envoys with all haste, namely Thomas of Herdington, Radulfus, son of Nicholas Esquire, and Robert of London, a cleric, to the Admiralius Murmelius, King of Africa, Morocco and Spain, who is commonly known as Miramumelinus (i.e. Amir ul-Muminin), announcing that he was fully prepared to hand over himself and his kingdom and to hold the same from him, and if it pleased [the Moorish king] would become his tributary. That he would not merely relinquish the Christian faith, which he considered vain, but would adhere faithfully to the law of Mohammed.

Which, when the said envoys had secretly received, they arrived at the court of the said prince. They found a few armed men at the first gate guarding the inner approaches with drawn swords. At the second entrance (courtyard) to the palace they found soldiers armed to the fist and smarter than the former ones, and as one might judge, stronger and more noble than the others. In the second entrance of the inner palace they found what were apparently more powerful, more ferocious, and more numerous soldiers than in the first. When they were quietly ushered in, by permission of the amir himself (for their great king is called admiralius) the envoys, on behalf of their king that is of England, saluted respectfully and explained fully the reason of their coming, delivering a royal letter, which was clearly translated by an interpreter who had been called in. This having ben understood, the king closed the book he had been perusing...."

The story is described in brief in a book from 1842, "The Church History of Britain, From the Birth of Jesus" by Thomas Fuller, prependary of Sarum. He wrote: "King John, thus distressed, sent a base degenerous, and unchristian-like embassage to Admiralius Mermelius, a Mahometan king of Morocco, then very puissant, and possessing a great part of Spain; offering him, on condition he would send him succour, to hold the kingdom of England as a vassal from him, and to receive the law of Mahomet. The Moor, marvellously offended with his offer, told the ambassadors, that he lately had read Paul's epistles, which for the matter liked him very well, save only that Paul once renounced that faith wherein he was born and the Jewish profession: wherefore he neglected King John, as devoid both of piety and policy, who would love his liberty, and disclaim his religion: a strange tender, if true."

The Almohad king Mohamed el-Nasir (Muhammad an-Nasir, also called Mohammed III) ruled from 1199 to 1213 (or 1214), and was succeeded by Youssef II, who ruled until 1223. In July 1212, the year before the emissaries went to court him, Mohamed el-Nasir had been defeated in southern Spain by an alliance of Christian princes. The battle was called the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa by Christians, and the Battle of Al-'uqab by Muslims. It is unlikely that John would have sought the protection of a king who was militarily weakened, especially when John was facing the wrath of the Papacy and the entire Holy Roman Empire.

The Moroccan king is not specifically named by Matthew Paris. The titles given to him are not personal names. "Admiralius Murmelius" appears to means admiral or Emir Mirmelius (King of Africa). Miramumelinus appears to be a corruption of Emir el Muminin or "the commander of the faithful". This title was usually used to denote a Caliph, and in Spanish chronicles, the term "Miramamolin" was used to describe the Almohad rulers, who were also perceived as Caliphs. It is doubtful that Paris meant Nasir's successor Youssef, who was far less powerful.

Roger of Wendover made a brief mention of the King of Morocco (an-Nasir) in his "Flowers of History", stating in an appendix (my rough translation from the Latin): "In those days the king of Marroch then ruled thirty and numerous more armies of pagans, among which it was asserted there were six ten times a hundred thousand, storming out of Africa to land at Spain, ruling the land of Spain, and later provinces beyond, in time it will be heard that the Crusaders' general will make war on them, of which Richard, king of the great English, whose fame fills the whole Orient and even will terrify many Africans, of whom it is noted that he was taken and imprisoned and bartered, and who then prepares to go back to war against the King of France. All, therefore, in disbelief are made to retreat to their own lands."

Graham Stewart wrote in the Times that Matthew Paris was "a propagandist, intent on misrepresenting the King's position. On the other hand, he claimed an impeccably placed source for the story. Paris was a monk at St Albans Abbey where the guardian was Robert of London, supposedly one of King John's Moroccan posse."

The only other Medieval author to mention the envoy to the Moroccan king is Thomas Walsingham, a Benedictine monk at St Albans, Hertfordshire. He died in 1422. Walsingham resided at the same abbey where Matthew Paris had worked. Walsingham's account, a reworking of Paris's version, is contained in the book "Gesta Abbatum Sancti Albani" (records of the Abbey of St Albans).

King John was not a fortunate monarch, but his reputation suffered at the hands of chroniclers. Paris presented illustrations in his history, detailing the "atrocities of King John".

Even his death from illness was used as an excuse to malign him. In 1670, William Prynne's History of King John was published. Apparently quoting a story from the Chronicler of St Albans (Matthew Paris), he wrote that after losing his treasure in the Wash, John went to Swineshead Abbey. The king said he would inflate the economy so that a halfpenny loaf would cost twenty shillings.

A monk heard this and decided to give John "such a drynke, that all Englonde sholde be glad and joyful." The monk found a toad, pricked it with a brooch pin and dropped its blood into a goblet, which was topped up with ale. This was brought to John, and the monk said: "Wassayll, for never of all your lyfe dronke ye of so good a cup". Both drank, and both grew ill, with the monk dying in the abbey infirmary. John "commanded for to trusse, but it was for naught, for his belly began to swell, and within two days he died, on the morrow after St Lukis daye."

In the Victorian era, Thomas Fuller wrote of another account from Matthew Paris concerning King John. In 1212 "Peter, of Wakefield in Yorkshire, a hermit, prophesied that John should be king of England no longer than next Ascension-Day; after which solemn fesival, (on which Christ, mounted on his glorious throne, took possession of his heavenly kingdom,) this opposer of Christ should no longer enjoy the English diadem; and, as some report, he foretold that none of King John's lineage should after him be crowned in the kingdom. The king called this prophet "an idiot-knave"; which description of him implying a contradiction, the king thus reconciled, - pardoning him as an idiot, and punishing him as a knave with imprisonment in Corfe-Castle (Dorset). The fetters of the prophet gave wings to his prophecy; and, whereas the king's neglecting it might have puffed this vain prediction into wind, men now began to suspect it of some solidity, because deserving a wise prince's notice and displeasure. Far and near it was dispersed over the whole kingdom...."

Matthew Paris may have heard of the tale of the envoy to Morocco from Robert of London, and may have reported it faithfully. But whether he took the tale to be true, too much circumstantial evidence suggests it is mere propaganda. John's war with the Church was not taken lightly by monks and clergy, and he continued to be punished in literature written centuries later. The mythological tales of Robin Hood cast him as a villain. Shakespeare added to the popular myth of John as a weak and scheming monarch in his play, Life and Death of King John, first performed in 1596.

The Moroccan king was not in a position to grant favors in 1213, and though John was rash and desperate, his decision to offer Britain as a fiefdom of Pope Innocent III was a more successful solution to his problems. The barons cared more about their own survival than the reputation of the king. John was portrayed by religious chroniclers as an enemy of Christendom. Later political historians portrayed him as a tyrant who reluctantly accepted the Magna Carta, a document which would eventually lead to the formation of secular law.

The tale of John offering to become a Muslim is colorful and entertaining. It is however, almost certainly untrue, a myth born from malice.

Adrian Morgan

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Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:20 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2008

Iran: Islamic Law - Elderly Man Sentenced To Jail, Lashes, For Walking A Dog

On Tuesday, Italian news agency AKI provided a news story, later picked up by Fox News that would shock most Westerners.

A 70-year old man was walking his dog in the street outside his home in Shahr Rey, a suburb of Tehran. He was arrested, handcuffed and later taken before an Islamic judge. The judge found the elderly man guilty of "disturbing public order" and commanded that the man be sentenced to four months' jail, and additionally to be given 30 lashes.

Such bizarre rulings highlight a severe prejudice at the heart of Islam, a prejudice which stems from the time of Mohammed, founder of Islam.

The Hadiths of Imam Muslim are generally regarded as "sahih" or "authentic". Book 10, Chapter 41 of his collection of these oral traditions is entitled "Command of killing of dogs and then its abrogation, and prohibition of keeping them but for hunting and protection of lands or cattle or similar."

The first Hadith of this chapter (Number 3809) reads: "Ibn 'Umar (Allah be pleased with them) reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) giving command for killing dogs."

Number 3810 from this chapter states: "Ibn 'Umar (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) ordered to kill dogs, and he sent (men) to the corners of Medina that they should be killed."

Number 3813 states: "Abu Zubair heard Jabir b. 'Abdullah (Allah be pleased with him) saying: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) ordered us to kill dogs, and we carried out this order so much so that we also kill the dog coming with a woman from the desert. Then Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) forbade their killing. He (the Holy Prophet further) said: It is your duty the jet-black (dog) having two spots (on the eyes), for it is a devil."

Other Hadiths in this chapter such as 3822 state that dogs can only be kept for hunting: "Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who kept a dog which is neither meant for hunting nor for watching the anitmals nor for watching the fields would lose two qirat every day out of his reward; and there is no mention of the fields in the hadith transmitted by Abu Tahir."

Iran

Zoroastrians existed in Iran for centuries before Islam took control. For them, a dog was a noble friend to man and protector of herds. Anyone who injured or harmed a dog would receive severe punishments - if one injured or killed a pregnant dog, the transgressor would be killed.

The traditional history of treating dogs well by followers of the indigenous religion of Iran has led to a somewhat schizophrenic attitude towards dogs. Zoroastrians are a minority who still try to cling to their customs, despite the oppression that has befallen them under the Ayatollahs. Dr Andrew Bostom describes some of the cruelties carried out against Zoroastrians' dogs as part of a pattern of persecution against their owners.

In such a climate, condemning dogs and their owners has become an Islamic duty in post-revolutionary Iran. In the city of Urumiyeh in the north-west of Iran, local law followed religious edicts against dogs. In 2001, police enacted a policy of confiscating short-legged dogs.

Urumiyeh cleric Hojatolislam Hassani (Hojatoleslam Gholamreza Hassani) has been supportive and influential in such policies. In 2002, he preached: "I demand the judiciary arrest all dogs with long, medium or short legs - together with their long-legged owners. Otherwise I'll do it myself."

Hassani declared that ownership of a dog was an act of moral depravity. With no sense of irony, he declared: "In our country there is freedom of speech, but not freedom for corruption."

In June 2002, police in Urumiyeh ordered that no-one could sell any dogs, and issued penalties to anyone walking a dog in public.

In the capital, Tehran, dog ownership had then been on the rise. The recent case of the 70-year old man being given a jail sentence and lashes is seen by AKI as an "example case", where the harshness of the sentence "seems to want to panic the owners of dogs that despite repeated warnings by the police, continue to defy the authorities by taking their dogs outside their homes."

In September 2007, Radio Free Europe reported that police in Tehran, where dog ownership is increasing amongst the young, had set up a "dog prison". Anyone found walking a dog in the open has their pet carted off to the canine jail, and only regains their dog when they have paid a fine.

One young woman whose dog was confiscated said that she was insulted by police when she went to retrieve her dog. She said: "They said, 'We want to get rid of Western culture.' They said, 'You live in an Islamic country, it's not right to have dogs. Are you not Islamic? Why does your family allow you to own a dog?' They insulted me, they even told me that they hope my dog will die. But there was nothing I could do but cry. You can't imagine how badly I was insulted."

The ban against walking of dogs in the capital has caused confusion. One young man even found himself arrested for placing notices about his lost dog.

In November last year, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was criticized after he allowed his security team to use dogs to sniff for explosives at a venue where he was due to appear. Ahmadinejad was appearing at the national press exhibition in Tehran. For two hours, four sniffer dogs were set to work while journalists and others were ordered to stay outside.

The four dogs had been imported, already fully-trained, and had cost £314,000 ($617,170).

Earlier this month, AKI reported that Ahmadinejad was again criticized by religious leaders for having four guard dogs. These had been brought in from Germany, costing £82,974 ($163,0850 each.

The double standards of Ahmadinejad having dogs while others were banned led to the Fars news agency publicly defending the president. It stated: "First of all these dogs are only of a German breed, bought as puppies, but grown and trained in Iran in the hands of Iranian instructors. The purchase of these dogs was authorised by a fatwa issued by several ayatollahs who approved the use of these animals if the only goal was to guarantee personal security and not infringe on any religious rule."

On November 15, 2005 a dog belonging to an Iranian breed usually used for hunting appeared at the shrine of Imam Reza, the Shia "eighth imam". The shrine is at Mashad, close to the Afghan border, and is frequently filled with pilgrims. The dog wound its way through the labyrinthine complex of Ostan-e Qods-e Razavi and found its way to the inner sanctum, where Imam Reza's tomb is situated.

The dog then remained beside the tomb. It appeared to have a conjunctival condition, but witnesses claimed it was "crying". The dog also let out a howl, which was seen as an act of mourning for the Imam. The dog had avoided treading on carpets around the tomb. The dog was eventually removed, but it briefly became a celebrity, with its image sold on postcards outside the shrine. A guard said the dog would be treated well because ""like many of those who come on pilgrimage here it has been called by Imam Reza and is seeking refuge."

This is how the story was treated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News (IRIB):

Weeping dog in pilgrimage journey

Tehran, Nov 20 - Unprecedented enough, a mourning shepherd dog made its way into the holy shrine of Imam Reza (A.S.), in the northeastern city of Mashad, the Iranian daily Entekhab reported Sunday on its website.

The dog picked its way through the tomb's pilgrims to come close to the reticulated sepulture of the eighth infallible successor of Islam's prophet.

It was then that the sheep dog began to stun the pilgrims by laying head on the ground 3 meters away from the sepulture and weeping in weird tone.

Witnesses said the newcomer was first intercepted by a gate-keeper who saw a dog trying to calmly creep into the complex.

'I couldn't believe my eyes. I tried to keep it away. I mouthed the gesture 'go away' in a calm manner and it obeyed', the gatekeeper told Entekhab.

The dog then tried the shrine's special parking lot and succeeded to enter the premises. Security cameras monitored a dog which hid itself besides a stone-loaded truck and slunk into Azadi courtyard, the holy shrine's main corridor.

The dog was courteous enough not to step on the tomb's carpets. Its movement caught no attention until it arrived two to three meters away from the sepulture. Witness pilgrims were interrupted to watch the dog crouching in the vicinity and sheding tears.

A movie record of the dog's journey will be released soon.

Blind People and Muslim Taxi Drivers

Though the Koran makes no mention of dogs as unclean, many Muslims do feel that dogs are forbidden to them by their religion. As a personal choice that is acceptable, but increasingly in the West there are cases of Muslim taxi drivers who refuse to take blind passengers who have with them their guide ("seeing eye") dogs.

Daniel Pipes presents a selection of cases from America and Europe where Muslim cab drivers have discriminated against blind people with guide dogs.

In Britain, for example, even though the Disability Discrimination Act prevents cab drivers from refusing guide dogs in their vehicles, the law is regularly flaunted. Even the BBC uses a cab firm where a Muslim driver has refused to take a blind woman and her dog.

On a cold rainy night, a blind woman, 39-year old Mrs Jane Vernon, had just finished an appearance on BBC television's Newsnight program. She had been invited onto the current affairs program because she is legal officer at the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and wanted to get home to Hammersmith, west London, where she lived.

The BBC has a contract with a company called Niven's and Co, a minicab company, to drive its clients home. But when the mini-cab containing Abdul Rasheed Majekodumni arrived to take her home, he refused to let her into the cab.

Mrs Vernon said: "This experience was very upsetting. I was tired and cold and just wanted to get home but this driver made me feel like I was a second-class citizen, like I didn't count at all."

She rang the firm. She said: "The owner of the minicab firm, Niven Sinclair, was also very insensitive, telling me that what had happened to me wasn't really very important, and I should have more respect for other people's culture. They have shown very little respect for my rights as a disabled person and have never once offered me an apology."

Faced with such an attitude, she sued. On October 5, 2006, Majekodumni was fined £200 ($375) by Marylebone Magistrates Court. He was also ordered to pay £1,200 ($2,251) for not complying with the regulations of the Disability Discrimination Act.

At the end of last year, a young Muslim in Leicester was granted permission to allow his guide dog to enter his mosque.

17-year old Mahomed Khatri had become blind in 2005. His sight had already been affected by myopia since birth, and when he was aged eight he lost the sight in his right eye. After 20 operations to attempt to save the sight in his left eye, he became blind as a result of a detached retina.

Mahomed said: "I didn't used to like dogs and was a bit scared of them but after some sessions with the (Guide Dogs for the Blind) association I have become more confident."

A labrador retriever is being trained for him, and if things work out, he should become the owner of the dog this summer. The dog was selected as the breed does not dribble saliva as much as other breeds. Mahomed said: "It's going to make a big difference to my life because I will become more independent and not have to rely on my parents to take me everywhere. I'll be able to go to prayers much more."

Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain held a meeting to review whether such a dog could be allowed inside a mosque. He said: "The Koran does not have rules about guide dogs but it does allow Muslims to use dogs for hunting. Therefore the line we are taking is that if Muslims can eat meat bitten by dogs then using the animals as guides should not be a problem. We will inform the congregation on why the decision was taken. Mahomed still has to complete his training to be given the dog. If he's successful, the mosque will be the first in the country, maybe in the world, to do something like this."

The dog will not be allowed inside the prayer hall at the Al Falah mosque in Leicester. Instead, it will be housed in a purpose-built kennel outside the prayer hall.

After numerous cases in Britain where restaurants and taxis owned by Muslims have refused access to blind people with guide dogs, the MCB conducted a study last year and ruled that Muslims should allow these.

Whether the MCB approves or not is irrelevant. The issue is one of the law of the land. Under Article 31A of the Disability Act such discrimination against blind people is illegal. Despite the recent musings of the Archbishop of Canterbury there is one law for all citizens in Britain, no matter their faith.

The MCB's decision is irrelevant to many Muslims in Britain. On February 6 this year, a Muslim-owned taxi company was ordered to pay £665 for refusing a blind couple and their two guide dogs to travel in a cab. ABS Aldridge taxi company, based in Walsall, is owned by Suhil Dad.

The couple, Paul and Susan Nicholls, who had been attending their daughter's wedding celebrations, had rung the company for a taxi. Initially they were told they would not be given a cab. On a second call, the person at the company attempted to charge them twice the fee for hiring a minibus.

The case was taken up by the local council's trading standards department. Mr Dad was unable to trace which of his employees had discriminated against the couple. Mr and Mrs Nicholls, who have been blind from birth, were awarded £100 compensation. They said they would donate this to the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:27 PM | Comments (0)

Belgium: Moroccan Islamist's Alleged Murders To Be Investigated

On Monday February 18 in Morocco, 23 individuals were arrested. By Tuesday, 32 people were in custody. Police claimed that a major Islamist terror network had been broken, claiming: "a major terrorist network with Jihadist (holy war) roots, which was preparing to carry out acts of violence on the national territory."

The leader of the group was a Moroccan man called Abdelkader Belliraj who lived mainly in Belgium. Two of the 32 detained people also had been formerly residing in Belgium.

One of the arrested men was Mustapha Moatassim, the secretary general of a small Islamist party which had contested 2007 elections but not won a seat. The party was called Al Badil Al Hadari (Civilizational Alternative) Party. Later it was announced that Moroccan prime minister Abbas El Fassi had officially banned the party.

The Moroccan Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa in which he revealed that weaponry had been seized from some of the suspects' homes - including nine Kalashnikovs, two Uzi machine guns replete with six magazines and a silencer, seven Skorpio sub-machine pistols with ten chargers and 5 silencers, 16 automatic pistols and other munitions and detonators.

Benmoussa said the "Belliraj" network had been founded in 1992, and had established links with GICM (Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain), the group which carried out the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, killing 191 people. The Belliraj group had also developed links with GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat), a group now allied with Al Qaeda that calls itself "Al Qaeda in the Maghreb".

The group had planned to carry out explosive-based attacks in Morocco, as well as targeted assassinations of military, civilian, political and Jewish civilian targets.

The Interior Minister claimed the group had funded itself with proceeds of crime, notably a heist at the HQ of BRINKS in Luxembourg in 2001, which raised almost $4 million. The money was laundered in various ways in Morocco. Additionally, gold items stolen in Belgium were melted down as ingots by one of the group based in Morocco.

Chakib Benmoussa also claimed that between 1986 and 1989 Abdelkader Belliraj, the group's leader, had carried out six murders in Belgium.

Today, Flanders News via Expatica reports that in Belgium these claims of murder are now being examined by federal public prosecutors, Brussels public prosecutor's office and the federal police.

Several of Belgium's daily newspapers have suggested that among the six alleged victims of Abdelkader Belliraj was the assassinated rector of Brussels' Grand Mosque, and also the president of the co-ordination committee of Jewish organisations in Belgium.

A spokesman from the Belgium Justice Ministry confirmed that the case was being examined and claimed to be pleased that "dangerous terrorists" were in detention.

Euronews states that Abdelkader Belliraj is thought to have murdered the Grand Mosque rector Abdullah al-Ahdal and his deputy because they had opposed the death fatwa which had been made against Salman Rushdie. The fatwa was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini on February 14, 1989, suggesting that the murder of these two individuals were among the last of those supposedly carried out by Belliraj.

The murder of Joseph Wibran, president of the co-ordination committee of Jewish organisations in Belgium (CCOJB), also took place in 1989. 48-year old Joseph Wibran was killed on October 3, 1989 in the parking area outside Erasme Hospital in Brussels where he worked as head of the immunology department.

Joseph Wibran's murder has never been solved, and at the time it was thought that he had been killed by Palestinian terror group Abu Nidal.

The shooting to death of Abdullah al-Ahdal and his deputy in March 1989, was thought at the time to be carried out by a Lebanese group called "Soldiers for Truth", stated analyst group Stratfor. Abdullah al-Ahdal had openly condemned Khomeini for making the fatwa, and it was thought that this criticism had led to his murder, as well as that of his deputy, Tunisian-born Salim el-Beher, who was 40 years old.

The group Soldiers for Truth had themselves made the claim that they were responsible for the deaths in a statement to a Beirut news agency, stated Reuters at the time.

Saudi-born Abdullah al-Ahdal, aged 36, had been rector of the Grand Mosque in Brussels for six years before he was shot. The mosque was connected with the World Islamic League. His assistant Salim el-Beher had been in Brussels for 10 years and worked as librarian at the mosque.

Their murders took place on March 30, 1989 in the mosque office. They were both shot in the head and neck at close range.

Shortly before, and speaking through his translator, Abdullah al-Ahdal had appeared on state-run French language channel RTBF where he condemned Rushdie's book as "tendentious" and "gratuitously blasphemous of all religions including that of Abraham."

He said: "You must make a distinction between Islamic society and this country. Khomeini is responsible for his own country, but we are in a democratic country where everybody has the right to express his own thoughts and express themselves as they want."

Mr Ahdal had also condemned the manner of the fatwa as being un-Islamic. He said: "You can't condemn a man to death like that."

The Brussels Grand Mosque in Cinquantenaire Park (pictured) was opened by Saudi monarch King Khaled Ibn Abdul Aziz al-Saud in 1978.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2008

Philippines: Is Dulmatin, Islamist Bali Bomb Planner, Dead?

On October 6, 2005 the US State Department announced that a reward of up to $10 million was being offered to an Islamist called Dulmatin and a reward of $1 million for the capture of his associate, Umar Patek. The rewards were being offered under the Rewards for Justice scheme.

Dulmatin was described as an electronics specialist with training in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, a senior figure in the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist organization. Dulmatin was thought to have been one the planners of the bombings on Bali island, Indonesia on October 12, 2002. A total of 202 people were killed, including 88 Australian, 25 British and 7 American victims.

Half Javanese, half-Arabic, Dulmatin used various aliases in his flight from justice. He called himself Amar Usman, Joko Pitoyo, Joko Pitono, Abdul Matin, Pitono, Muktarmar, Djoko and Noval. His real name is thought to be Amar Usmanan.

In late 2005, Dulmatin and Umar Patek had ben hiding, according to various sources, in the Liguasan Marsh on Mindanao, the largest of the Philippines' southern island. This region is both the home base of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who have been negotiating with the government for autonomous territory, and also Abu Sayyaf. The latter group is an Islamist terror group with links to Al Qaeda and also Jemaah Islamiyah. The most deadly terror attack by Abu Sayyaf took place on February 27, 2004, when they bombed a ferry in the Bay of Manila. In the enduing fire and panic, 116 people died.

The Abu Sayyaf group has also been responsible for numerous beheadings and kidnappings, both of local people including teachers, members of the military and foreign tourists. It has centers on the southern islands of Basilan, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi.

Dulmatin and Patek had been staying at a secret location in Liguasan with the approval of renegade members of MILF. Here they were with the reputed leader of Abu Sayyaf, Khadaffy Abubakar Janjalani. With them were said to be two other fugitive Jemaah Islamiyah members, Zulkifli bin Hir and Abdul Rahman Ayub. The latter individual is the brother-in-law of Australian "Jihad Sheila" Rabiah Hutchinson.

In January 2006, their hideout in Mindanao was bombed by the Philippine military, and they fled to the island of Jolo in Sulu province. Here, Abu Sayyaf members were generally led by one-armed horse-riding rebel Radullon Sahiron (aka Commander Putol), and have mounted armed insurgencies against the military. The US has a military presence on Jolo, where it is engaged with training of Filipino troops.

In September 2006 it was reported that Umar Patek had been injured, and apparently killed on the 4th of that month near the village of Lugas in southern Jolo. It was later reported that Patek was still alive, and there were suspicions that the man who was reported seriously injured may have been Janjalani.

On Wednesday October 4, 2006, Dulmatin's wife, Istiada Oemar Sovie, aka Amenah Toha, was arrested in Patikul in the mountainous southern portion of Jolo island. She was with her two children aged 6 and 8, and was thought to have been engaged in logistical operations for the rebels, as well as cooking and acting as a nurse.

On December 27, 2006 the Philippines military announced that a body that had been found buried in forest territory near Pakitul had been identified as that of Khadaffy Janjalani. In late January 2007, after DNA matching with samples from his 72-year old father, it was announced that the body was undoubtedly that of Janlalani. Some of his family refused to believe this.

In a similar scenario to that surrounding the discovery of the death of Janjalani, it now appears that Dulmatin has been confirmed dead. On Tuesday January 15 this year on the island of Tawi-Tawi, a Catholic priest and two others were kidnapped by rebels in Panglima Sugala town. As they were being taken away, 53-year old Father Reynaldo Jesus Roda struggled, and was shot in the head. Fr. Roda was director of the Notre Dame school in Tabawan town and belonged to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation. Also snatched in the kidnapping raid was Omar Taup, who taught at the Notre Dame school and a fisherman, Hussin Sahirul.

On January 31, an army raid on a house in Sitio Lubok, Panglima Sugala, led to an exchange of fire, and one individual was seriously injured. Another Abu Sayyaf member, assumed to be Wahab Upao, was left dead.

Two weeks later, soldiers recovered a bloody T-shirt that was assumed to have been worn by the man seriously injured in the firefight. The following day, a shallow grave was found, and it was then believed that this contained the body of Dulmatin.

Dr Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group is the foremost expert on Jemaah Islamiyah. She said: "We are pretty sure that Dulmatin is not dead, despite the fact that the Philippine military announced about eight times that he is. I think that we would have heard from other sources if Dulmatin had in fact been seriously wounded or killed. He was wounded at one stage, but there's no other reporting coming in from people in Indonesia. I just think we would have heard more if the body that they uncovered is really his."

There has been considerable argument over whether the body found in the shallow grave in Tawi-Tawi is that of Dulmatin. An Indonesian professor at Mindanao State University maintains that Dulmatin died in May last year. Professor Octavio Dinampo claimed that a cleric, Mohammad Sulaiman, had told him that Dulmatin had been shot in Sulu (Jolo). The cleric said that he had witnessed the terrorist's secret burial in Indonesia. His story has been contradicted by a source with ABS-CBN News who claims to have been with Dulmatin as late as December 2007.

Kristie Kenney, US Ambassador to the Philippines, suggested that officials should wait until DNA testing could confirm that the corpse was that of Dulmatin.

On Tuesday February 19 this week, those DNA tests were in the process of being carried out, announced Philippine marine commandant Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino. These tests are being carried out by the FBI and Philippine police.

The DNA samples to be matched against the body have been taken from Dulmatin's wife and two children. The comparison tests could take as long as one or two months.

A report by Philippine marines has confirmed that so far, the clothing, height and build of the corpse matches that of Dulmatin. Additionally, there are wounds to the head, chest and right foot similar to injuries he was reported to have suffered in a recent battle with Philippine troops.

The information that a man had been injured in the house on Tawi-Tawi, and information on where he had been buried, had been supplied by an informant. This individual is an Abu Sayyaf member called Alfa Moha. If DNA testing confirms that the corpse is that of Dulmatin, then Moha could become extremely rich, with a reward of up to $10 million from the United States.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Muslim School Copied The Hate-Filled Books It Destroyed

The King Fahad Academy is based in Bromyard Avenue, Acton, West London, a stone's throw from the Westway (A40). It is funded by the Saudi Arabian regime, annually receiving 4 million. It caters for its pupils within five schools on the premises. There is a kindergarten, lower schools for boys and for girls, and two upper schools for the genders, educating students up to 18.

This school was founded in September 1985 mainly to provide education for the children of Saudi diplomats and the offspring of Muslims and Arabs in London. This school has attracted negative attention due to textbooks which show contempt for Christianity and other faiths, and particularly vitriolic passages against Jews.

In May 2004 the Telegraph reported that several parents had removed their children from the King Fahad Academy due its "fundamentalist" education and claims that it gave girl children an inferior education.

When the school had started, it had taught the British and Saudi curricula side by side, but in 1999 the Saudi government had ordered the school to concentrate on the Saudi curriculum at the expense of the British. Girls in 2004 were given little physical exercise and learned no technology other than "home technology".

One parent, daughter of former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, withdrew her two daughters from the school. Dr Mai Yamani, a research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said: "The books they taught the girls from kept going on about idolatry and sin and how to avoid it. It was about the fires of hell, torture in the grave and how to make sure that your ways are not those of the infidel."

"The school is trying to make sure that the Saudis who go there abide by the system of state control in Saudi Arabia. The method is 'loyalty to the system and hostility to the outsider'."

Dr Yamani said: "They consider that the mind of a girl is less capable of absorbing education."

A father of two teenage girls at the school said in 2004: "It used to be a wonderful school that taught the two traditions side by side. Now only one lesson in six is taken in English. The children would not have the standard to even read the paper by the time they reach A-level. It has arrived at a situation where the school seems to be saying: 'This is the only correct version of Islam'. It's such a fundamentalist approach."

The Telegraph quoted Ofsted inspector Dr Nasim Butt, who had formerly taught at the academy. He said: "A Saudi education is not going to create individuals who make that kind of contribution in a free society."

In the spring of 2006, US research by Freedom House showed that many Saudi "educational texts" were deeply hostile to outsiders. These books taught that "Jews and the Christians are enemies of the believer'' and that the "clash between the two realms is perpetual". Students were told not to greet, befriend, imitate or respect unbelievers. Spreading Islam through jihad was said to be a "religious duty". The research was published (pdf document) as Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance.

In June 2006, the Telegraph once again turned its attention to the King Fahad Academy in the light of Freedom House's report, but senior staff at the school refused to comment on the content of books used.

The material used to teach the Saudi curriculum at King Fahad Academy became a source of intense debate when a teacher who had been fired from the academy brought his case to an employment tribunal. Colin Cook had taught at the school for 18 years. He maintained that at Watford Employment Tribunal that he had been unfairly sacked for misconduct in December 2006 after he highlighted how cheating in examinations was covered up.

In legal documents presented to the tribunal, Mr Cook maintained that: "The schoolbooks presently in use describe Jews as 'monkeys' (or apes) and Christians as 'pigs'." He said that school students were asked to "mention some repugnant characteristics of Jews". Year One pupils were required to "give examples of worthless religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, idol worship and others."

Mr Cook also noted that he heard some students saying they wished to "kill Americans" referring to Osama bin Laden as a "hero" and praising 9/11.

The issues raised by Mr Cook led to a BBC Newsnight interview in February 2007, featuring the principal of the academy, Dr Sumaya Alyusuf. She refused to destroy the books.

Certain books from the Saudi curriculum were presented to her. She stated: "Yes, I do recognise these books, of course. We have these books in our school. These books have good chapters that can be used by the teachers. It depends on the objectives the teacher wants to achieve."

Dr Alyusuf claimed that the racist sections of the books had been "misinterpreted". Interviewer Jeremy Paxman asked: "Will you now remove this nonsense from the Saudi Ministry of Education from your school?"

She responded: "Just to reiterate what I said earlier, there are chapters from these books that are used and that will serve our objectives. But we don't teach hatred towards Judaism or Christianity - on the contrary."

MP Louise Ellman condemned Ofsted inspectors for not picking up the content of the books in the previous inspection, which had taken place in March 2006. Ms Ellman said: "This whole situation is unacceptable. It is incitement. It is part of a deliberate Saudi initiative to install Wahabbism extremism among Muslims and in the rest of society. If Ofsted has not drawn attention to this, that is a failing of Ofsted."

She added: "It is unacceptable and we should look to see if this is happening in other schools as well. This is about teaching children. I think the school should take immediate action and so should the regulatory authorities."

The school responded to the negative publicity it was receiving by announcing on February 7, 2007, that sensitive passages in school text books would be removed. Dr Sumaya Alyusuf said: "I would like to make it clear that the controversial pages within the books are not taught within the academy. However, in view of the public interest I have decided to remove those chapters from the books. The school is currently moving towards an international curriculum and new books are being developed for that curriculum."

Dr Alyusuf claimed that her pupils had suffered discrimination due to the publicity, with one local store erecting a sign claiming pupils from King Fahad Academy were not welcome. She insisted that even though they did not feature in the curriculum, the offending pages had been "torn out" of the books, and said: "The press interest in these unused chapters has shocked us."

The school was claiming to be teaching the Swiss-accredited international baccalaureate.

The Newsnight interview spurred questions in parliament on February 8, 2008. Jim Knight, Secretary of State for Education was asked about the King Fahad Academy and the allegations of racism and religious extremism. The minister responded: "All independent schools must comply with standards set out in the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2003 as amended. The Department is making inquiries in relation to allegations of racism and extremism at King Fahad Academy to establish whether the school complies with the statutory requirements."

Jim Knight announced on the same day that he had ordered an inquiry into the King Fahad Academy. He said: "I have therefore asked the department to make enquiries in relation to the recent allegations surrounding King Fahad Academy, and to confirm whether the school complies with its statutory requirements on promoting tolerance and harmony."

On February 15, Ofsted school inspectors arrived at the school. They published their findings in a report dated February 26, 2007. Bizarrely, when one does a search on Ofsted for a copy of this report, would-be parents are instead directed to the earlier and criticized report based upon an inspection made from March 13 - 16, 2006.

The 2006 Ofsted report, which praised the school for offering "a balanced education and opportunities to develop their intellect and skills" can be downloaded as a pdf document. To find the more critical report based on the February 2007 inspection, one has to look on a Saudi Arabian government website.

The 2007 report states: "This was an unannounced visit conducted by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors and two additional inspectors; one of whom was a Muslim inspector. The visit was at the request of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), following a complaint. The complaint related to allegedly unsuitable teaching materials and approaches which might contravene the independent school regulations. The complaint referred to textbooks which might be considered to contain racist comments or exercises and which were the subject of publicity in a recent Newsnight television broadcast. The DfES requested that inspectors focus on standard 1 (the quality of education provided in the school) and standard 2 (the provision for pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development). Within this overall brief, inspectors were asked specifically to judge whether the school assists pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures in a way which promotes tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions (regulation 2(e))."

"Inspectors scrutinised a large amount of documentation on the curriculum provided by the school in response to a request from the DfES, together with the covering letter from the school. Documentation included information on curriculum plans, schemes of work and copies of the two textbooks to which the television programme had referred. Inspectors had copies of the previous school inspection report (March 2006), the subsequent action plan submitted to the DfES and a copy of the transcript of the television programme. They looked at further textbooks and reference materials currently in use to support the Islamic Studies teaching programme, which were provided on arrival at the school."

"Immediately on arrival in school, inspectors asked to see where books were stored. They examined  the book store, which is kept locked, and were informed that apart from this, book resources are kept in individual classrooms and do not go home...."

"...One inspector looked at the arrangements for the disposal of unwanted books.""

The 2007 report maintained that "The textbooks referred to in the television programme have all been removed and are no longer available as a teaching resource. Inspectors are satisfied with the school's responses and explanations as to their previous very limited availability and usage. The school and the inspectors agree that these materials are inappropriate for the international curriculum that the school is developing."

On October 29, 2007 a report by Policy Exchange was published. This report, available as a downloadable pdf document, was entitled: "The Hijacking Of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK". Researchers had collected materials from mosques and Islamic institutions across Britain between 2006 and 2007.

On pages 9, 10 and 51 to 58 of this document, Saudi books at the King Fahad Academy were discussed.

One book, entitled "Al-Hadith wa'l thaquafa al Islamiyya" (Prophetic Tradition and Islamic Culture), aimed at 12-year olds, states: "The Jews are a people who were moulded with treachery and backstabbing throughout the centuries, and they do not keep their word nor honour their promise."

This book states: "You will not find any confusion in which the Jews did not play a role... Their attempt at trying to immerse nations in vice and the spread of fornication. The Jews controlled this kind of trade and promoted it. They manage the bars in Europe and the United States and in Israel itself."

The same book maintains that the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion - widely recognized to be a 19th century Russian forgery - are in fact authentic.

Another Saudi-produced book found at the academy entitled "Al-Hadith" (Prophetic Traditions) maintains that "The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of the Muslim, and they will never be pleased with the Muslims..."

Other books found at the academy included "Al-Tawhid" (Monotheism), which advises against socializing with non-Muslims: "sever all connections with the unbelievers, so he does not love them, support them, or live amongst them. One of the great requirements for hating the unbelievers and showing enmity towards them is to stay away from their ceremonies and celebrations."

"Sharh Kitab al-Tawhid" (Commentary on the Book of Monotheism) is another school book found in the school. The "Book of Monotheism" is Kitab al-Tawhid, the only surviving text by Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792), the founder of Saudi Wahhabism.

The "Commentary" states: "The basis of Islam is the divine unity. This requires bearing witness that 'There is no god but God'; it therefore is incumbent on the people of Islam that their aim in jihad is to guide mankind to Islam, and to enter into it. It is, therefore, preferable to call them to Islam before fighting them, even if the summons had already reached them before that. But if it had not already reached them, it is necessary to summon them before fighting them."

The issue of these books at the King Fahad Academy have once again resurfaced in the news. The Watford Employment Tribunal concerning 58-year old Mr Colin Cook, initiated more than a year ago, is once again in progress.

Mr Cook, who had converted to Islam, claimed on Tuesday, February 19, that though the school had been persuaded to shred 2,000 individual books, photocopies of these had been made.

Mr Cook also claimed that when school principal Dr Sumaya Alyusuf had appeared on BBC Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman, she had been lying. He told the tribunal: "Dr Alyusuf simply lied about her knowledge of the contents of the books and tried to pretend that the books were not taught in the school. She failed to repudiate the racist views expressed in the books. The truth is she cannot go against the Saudi ministry of education. She is their puppet."

He also savaged the 2006 Ofsted report, saying that it was "very inadequate. This is partly due to what the Academy did not tell the inspectors and partly due to, at best, incompetence by Ofsted."

He described to the tribunal a school trip to a soccer museum in December 2005. When pupils visited the Arsenal Football Club museum, some students from the academy started shouting "Saudi, Saudi, Saudi". They fought with pupils who were not Saudi. Mr Cook said: "Apparently we were the first school ever to be thrown out of the museum, which was humiliating. None of the Saudi pupils was challenged over their behaviour by (King Fahad) management."

The King Fahad Academy has educated the children of now-jailed Islamist preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri, and also the children of Abu Qatada, who has been described as "Al Qaeda's ambassador in Europe".

The hearing, in which Mr Cook is demanding £135,000 ($265,065) compensation and damages for losing his £35,000 ($68,720) per annum job as an English teacher, is continuing.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:00 PM | Comments (0)

Morocco: Islamist Party Banned

On Monday February 18, 23 individuals were arrested in Morocco, accused of being part of an Islamist network. By Tuesday the amount of detainees had risen to 32.

On Tuesday, information about the reasons for the arrests were vague. The group was said to have links with Islamist groups in Morocco and abroad. Moroccan police had claimed that ""a major terrorist network with Jihadist (holy war) roots, which was preparing to carry out acts of violence on the national territory."

The leader was named as Abdelkader Belliraj, a Moroccan who also lived in Belgium. Two leaders of minor Islamist political parties were also arrested. Mustapha Moatassim was secretary general of the Al Badil Al Hadari (Civilizational Alternative) Party. This party, only given authorised status in 2005, had contested 2007 elections but had not gained any seats.

Now, according to Middle East Online and state news agency Maghreb Arabe Presse, Moroccan prime minister Abbas El Fassi has announced that the Al Badil Al Hadari party has been banned by prime ministerial decree. This decision was taken "on account of the proven links between the (dismantled) network and the creation of this party."

Weaponry has also been found, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The cache included nine Kalashnikovs, two Uzi machine guns replete with six magazines and a silencer, seven Skorpio sub-machine pistols with ten chargers and 5 silencers, 16 automatic pistols and other munitions and detonators.

The network had financed itself through crime, with proceeds from a 2001 robbery at the HQ of Brinks, Luxembourg being smuggled into Morocco. The amount from this raid was nearly $4 million. The money was then laundered through businesses, tourism projects and real estate.

Additionally, jewellery stolen in Belgium was also smuggled into Morocco. The jewellery was melted down to produce gold ingots by one of the individuals arrested.

Morocco's Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa gave a press conference yesterday, where he explained that the weaponry had been retrieved from the addresses of the suspects. Benmoussa said the group had been in contact with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001.

From 2001 to 2004, the "Belliraj" network was connected with the Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain, or GICM. In 2001, 2003 and 2004 the group had links with the GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) in Algerian terror training camps in 2005.

Since the end of 2006, GSPC has become officially allied to Al Qaeda, and now goes under the name "Al Qaeda in the Maghreb".

The Interior Minister said the group had tried to get terrorist training from the Hizbullah-run camps in Lebanon in 2002. He said that the "Belliraj" network was planning to use explosives in terror attacks, to assassinate Moroccan ministers, civil officials, military heads and some Moroccan Jewish citizens.

Chakib Benmoussa gave further details of Abdelkader Belliraj, leader of the network. This individual had aliases such as "Ilyass" and "Abdelkrim". Between 1986 and 1989 he had carried out six murders in Belgium, and had set up his terror network in 1992. In 1996 the group had also tried to assassinate Moroccan Jewish citizens, and had planned other attacks between 1992 and 2005.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

Hizb ut-Tahrir Exploiting Latest Muslim "Cartoon Crisis"

Cartoons and Arson

For a week, beginning on Sunday February 10, teenage youths rioted in Danish cities. The riots began in Aarhus before the controversial cartoon of Mohammed, founder of Islam, was reproduced in Danish newspapers. On Tuesday February 12, five individuals were arrested and three were detained. Danish intelligence agency PET (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste) announced that the three detained individuals had been arrested in connection with a plot to murder 73-year old illustrator Kurt Westergaard.

Westergaard's image of Mohammed with his turban as a bomb was among 12 which had been published on September 30, 2005, by Aarhus-based newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The drawings had been commissioned by the newspaper after author Kare Blultgen said he could find no artist willing to illustrate his children's book on the life of Mohammed.

The publication of the 12 images led to rioting and protests around the world. These protests grew to a peak during February 2006, and by the end of that month at least 50 people had been killed. The anger had initially been stoked by Palestinian-born preacher Abu Laban of the Waqfs mosque in Noerrebro, Copenhagen. He sent a delegation to the Middle Eastern religious leaders. This delegation carried three extra images which had not been printed by Jyllands-Posten.

Westergaard and another illustrator, Franz Fuschel, were placed under police protection and had to go into hiding. On Wednesday February 13, Jyllands-Posten reproduced Westergaard's picture. By the end of last week, the picture had been shown in 17 Danish newspapers. It had also appeared in newspapers in Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Additionally, the Wall Street Journal, the Observer, and German newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine and Die Welt reprinted Westergaard's illustration over the weekend, leading to these editions being banned in Egypt.

The urban rioting by Danish youths became more widespread after Wednesday February 13, with fires and arson attacks in Aarhus, Tingbjerg (a district of Copenhagen) Ringsted and Slagelse, but appeared to end after Sunday. The school half-term commenced on Monday this week, and most of the youths that were rioting were still of school age.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Denmark

Danish Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) led an official protest against the cartoons on Friday February 15 in Copenhagen's Noerrebro district, attended by 1,500 people. Leading the demonstration was Danish HT leader Fadi Abdullatif.

Abdullatif has attracted controversy for his anti-semitic propaganda. In March and April 2002, Danish HT handed out leaflets in a Copenhagen square. These used Islamic Hadiths to justify threatening Jews. The leaflets contained the quote: "kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have been turned you out." They also maintained that "The Jews are a people of slander... a treacherous people... they fabricate lies and twist words from their right context."

Officially Hizb ut-Tahrir claims that it is opposed to violence, but the 2002 leaflets stated that suicide attacks against Israel were "legitimate" acts of "martyrdom".As a result of these leaflets, on October 2002, Fadi Abdullatif had been sentenced to a 60-day suspended prison sentence for distribution of racist propaganda.

In 2004, politicians from across the spectrum had demanded that HT should be banned in Denmark, but the director of public prosecutions ruled that the group could remain legal in the nation.

In the same year, Danish HT distributed leaflets which called for Muslims to kill members of the Danish government. Abdullatif had created leaflets calling for Muslims to go to Fallujah, Iraq, to fight Americans. He urged Muslims to "eliminate your rulers if they stand in your way". In August, 2005 Abdullatif was arrested, and in March 2006 he was officially charged with threatening the Danish government.

On August 17, 2006, Fadi Abdullatif was found guilty of threatening the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Additionally he was found to be in contravention of Denmark's anti-racism laws by calling for the killing of Jews on HT Denmark's website. He was sentenced to three months' jail.

On Friday, stated Jyllands-Posten newspaper, at the Noerrebro HT demonstration "a direct threat against Danish society was issued." Danish politicians were outraged that the leader of a prominent Muslim group, widely regarded as "moderate", was at the demonstration, photographed standing beside Fadi Abdullatif.

Kassem Said Ahmad is spokesperson for the Islamic Society in Denmark (Islamisk Trossamfund). On Tuesday February 12, after the men allegedly responsible for plotting Kurt Westergaard's murder had been arrested, Ahmad had called for dialogue in a press release. He also said he would support the battle against extremism. He wrote: "We extend a hand out to the Danish society to participate in dialogue in understanding and respecting each other."

In September 2006, Kassem Ahmad had appeared in a meeting with Kurt Westergaard at one of the artist's "safe-houses". A television crew was present. It was assumed the meeting would be a sign of reconciliation. When Westergaard did not publicly apologize, Ahmad stormed out of the meeting. He said: "I got angry and went away from the session. All attempts at dialogue were futile. I had expected repentance and an apology." He also refused to allow permission for the recorded material to be broadcast.

Kassem Ahmad's appearance with Hizb ut-Tahrir on February 15 this year was condemned by Henrik Dam Kristensen, integration spokesperson for the Danish Social Democrat party. He said: "If the Islamic Society chooses spokespeople who sympathise with the Hizb ut-Tahrir and participates in this sort of demonstration, then to me, the society has lost a large portion of its legitimacy."

One of the HT speakers at the demonstration said (translation): "Do you believe we will forget (the insults)? Do you believe we have forgotten? We have not forgotten and we will never forget. The government must know that they have seen nothing yet of the of the potential of the Muslims. If our reactions last time (i.e. during the cartoon crisis) were enough to give them a nervous breakdown, then they shall wait and see what happens when the Muslims resurrect the Khilafah and unite the whole Muslim world under its banner. The west must know that the Muslims are about to rob them of the political initiative, and on that day, dear fellow Muslims, we will hold them accountable for everything. We have not forgotten!"

One Danish politician wrote an angry response to Hizb ut-Tahrir on his website. Villy Søvndal is chairman of the Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti). He wrote (translation):

Hizb-ut-Tahrir: You are on the wrong path!

Hizb-ut-Tahrir has not only taken a wrong turn - they are at the wrong place. If they are so braid dead they really want the Kalifa and the Sharia, they are simply in the wrong country. They have nothing to do in Denmark and they will never reach their goals here.

With the age, I have learned that you must choose your struggles carefully. Therefore my advise to HT is - not friendly but nevertheless heartfelt - to seek other pastures.

There are - a tragedy in its own right - countries in the world that are much more fertile to the wet dream of these idiots. So, if they really want the Khalifa (Caliphate) or the Sharia, the potential is much higher in, for instance, Iran or Saudi Arabia. So, from me a clear appeal: You must press on - and it can only happen too slowly.

With their usual sense of timing the HT struck again as an extension of Cartoon Crisis version 2.0. With never failing precision they managed to pour petrol on the fire while talking directly to the Danes, who are fed up by religious fundamentalism, and to a minority of Muslims who seemingly cannot have enough of it.

Therefore, this is my message to HT and their followers - among them apparently the spokesman for Islamisk Trossamfund (Islamic Society in Denmark), who have gladly marched in a demonstration arranged by HT: Find other pastures. Your purpose has no perspective and no future in Denmark.

And to the ordinary Danes, who rightly are tired of the grotesque point of views and crazy demonstrations of HT: You are not alone. I too am tired of them. Let us therefore join forces and send them a message: Your unspirited idiocy has no right on earth, for in the long run nobody wants to live unfree, in ignorance and with your pathetic haplessness.

Some say that among the immigrants, HT are those who are doing best when it comes to education and jobs. I don't know - I'm not a sociologist. But I must conclude that they are extremely bad at all other aspects of life. And maybe that is the real tragedy: That people who are brought up in freedom, who have been offered opportunities that their parents in their home countries never could have offered them, nevertheless end as religious bigots and with hatred towards the society they live in.

To those who feel themselves attracted to HT, and who meet resistance in their life - just like everyone else meets resistance in their lives: Free yourself of the victim paradigm. Free yourself of the middle ages. Have the courage to use your common sense. Acknowledge, as a lesson in history, the superior qualities of democracy, acknowledge the equal rights of women and their authority. Acknowledge reason and knowledge as the basis on which you meet other people. Do this and you'll feel welcome in this society.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international group with a sense of common purpose. In February 2006, the group was behind some of the cartoon protests, and again it is trying to exploit grievances on the part of Muslim individuals to promote its own agenda.

International Hizb ut-Tahrir

On Wednesday February 20 protests had spread to Indonesia. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Danish and Dutch embassies in Jakarta, Indonesia. And here Hizb ut-Tahrir was organizing protests and making political capital from the event.

Once again contradicting HT's official claim to be against violence, Indonesia HT's official spokesman called for the death of those who defamed Islam such as Salman Rushdie and Theo van Gogh (who was killed on November 2, 2004). Muhammmad Ismail Yusanto also said: "We heard they have reprinted the cartoons to defend the freedom of speech while in fact they have thereby clearly and seriously insulted the Prophet Muhammad and Islam, and this has happened several times."

Yusanto led a 7,000-strong HT rally at which calls were made for an Islamic caliphate to govern the world in August 2007. Yusanto spoke at a HT rally in Lakemba, Sydney, Australia on January 28, 2007. He said to 500 people: "Sacrifice must be encouraged. If the capital (of the new Caliphate) fell and was occupied by the invading forces the rest (of the Caliphate) must be involved in an all-out war against the occupiers. Call for all military-aged Muslims to obtain military training and prepare for jihad. There is no victory and glory without hard work and sacrifice - no pain, no gain."

In Indonesia, the group has frequently colluded with the Front Pembela Islam (FPI or Islamic Defenders Front) a violent Islamist group which in February 2006 threatened tourists and stoned the American Embassy over the cartoon issue. After the tsunami of December 24, 2004, HT joined forces with FPI during the relief effort. One FPI member threatened to "chase down any Christian (relief) group that does anything beyond offering aid."

When in 2006 the nudes-free Indonesian version of Playboy was published, Hizb members promised to take to the streets alongside FPI who were already smashing windows at the magazine's offices. In June 2006 the Indonesian government suggested that Hizb ut-Tahrir and FPI could be officially outlawed due to their reputation for disrupting security and public order, but such a move was never made.

In Indonesia, HT took root in the 1980s, when KH Abdullah bin Nuh, the owner of the Al-Ghazali Islamic boarding school in Bogor, West Java, invited HT Asia-Pacific leader Abdurahman Albaghdadi from his home in Australia. It now claims to have 100,000 members. It is currently gaining popularity among students at University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

HT in Bangladesh also has a reputation for encouraging violence. In February 2006 HT organized a rally of 5,000 protesters at Dhaka. There were cries of "Death to those who degrade our beloved prophet!" and "Hang Culprits!" as HT members demonstrated against the Danish cartoons.

HT was introduced to Bangladesh by Golam Mowla who had encountered the group when he went to London to become a PhD student in 1993. He met Nasimul Gani and Kawsar Shahnewaj and by 2000 these, together with Mowla, had set up Bangladesh's first HT office.

In July 2004, Bangladesh HT was accused of making death threats against ten politicians. Mohiuddin Ahmed, leader of the Bangladesh HT, denied the claims. The Bangladesh group has a student wing, called Chhatra Mukti.

In September 2007 Bangladesh HT members were protesting against more insulting cartoons of Mohammed. These were part of a series created by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had represented Mohammed's head on the bodies of various dogs. On August 18, 2007 one local Swedish newspaper, Nerikes Allehanda had published one of these pictures. In November 2007 two terror suspects had been apprehended with a map of Vilks' home.

In Bangladesh, several HT members were arrested for protesting about the Swedish cartoons. At the same time, stated Dominic Whiteman, HY in Britain were busily recruiting Bangladeshis from the Brick Lane/Tower Hamlets region of east London, and taking out advertisements in British Bangladeshi newspapers.

The cartoon issue is one that is now being exploited by Hizb ut-Tahrir. The group was founded in Jerusalem in 1953<