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| Great White North |
| Canadian accused of conspiricy in US terror indictment |
| 2011-12-10 |
| A man in custody in Canada was indicted on Friday on U.S. charges that he helped coordinate Tunisian jihadis believed responsible for separate suicide attacks in Iraq in 2009 that killed five American soldiers outside a U.S. base and seven people at an Iraqi police complex. Faruq Khalil Muhammad `Isa, a 38-year-old Canadian citizen and Iraqi national, was nabbed in January on a U.S. warrant after an investigation by authorities in New York, Canada and Tunisia. Muhammad `Isa is being held in Edmonton, where he's fighting extradition to federal court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists. Muhammad `Isa never left Canada as part of the alleged conspiracy, and his attorney said Friday that the U.S. has no jurisdiction. His attorney, Bob Aloneissi, said, "All the evidence was gathered here. There's just no tie. ... This should be done for a legal reason and not a political reason." An extradition request revealed on Friday offered fresh details on wiretap evidence and an interview of Muhammad `Isa that U.S. authorities claim link him to the terror network. Authorities say the group used a suicide bomber to detonate an explosives-laden truck outside the gate of the U.S. base in Mosul, Iraq, in April, 2009, killing the five soldiers, and it also staged a suicide bombing on the Iraqi police station in March, 2009. The extradition requests says the evidence shows that "the goal of the attacks was to compel the United States government to remove its armed forces from Iraq." A U.S. Department of Justice investigator interviewed Muhammad `Isa in January with an FBI agent and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police corporal present, the request says. The interview "was conducted in compliance with United States law," with Muhammad `Isa signing a waiver before volunteering to answer questions, it says. During the interview, Muhammad `Isa admitted he corresponded by email from Canada with two of the terrorists while they were in Syria, and knew that they were planning to kill Americans. The documents allege he corresponded with "facilitators" who were trying to get the jihadis into Iraq, and wired one of them $700. On wiretaps, Muhammad `Isa was overheard last year discussing with someone in Iraq how he used code words when he discussed the Iraq operation, the papers say. "For example, when I want to name the brothers, I say the farmers -- because they plant metal and harvest metal and flesh," the papers quote him. He also explained that he used the word "married" to mean "in the afterlife." U.S. officials alleged that the day after the attack that killed the five soldiers, Muhammad `Isa asked in an electronic communication, "Did you hear about the huge incident yesterday? Is it known?" He also identified the bomber as "one of the Tunisian brothers," to which a facilitator responded, "Praise God." In the interview, Muhammad `Isa told investigators that by "huge incident" he meant an explosion, the papers show. The papers say: "When asked if he believed that it was a religious duty for Muslims to travel to Iraq and fight Americans, (Muhammad `Isa) stated that he believed it was the duty for every Muslim who lived in Iraq to fight American `invaders.'" If convicted in a civilian court, Muhammad `Isa faces life imprisonment. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 He'll also have to listen to Country & Western music 24 hours a day. Cruel and unusual punishment! |
| Posted by: Canuckistan sniper 2011-12-10 14:26 |
| #1 If convicted, he'll spend the rest of his days eating Halal Canadian bacon, drinking non-alcoholic Moosehead, and praying on a mat made of recycled tuques. For recreation they will throw him out on the ice, so the other inmates can use him as a puck. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-10 09:04 |