Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Accused terrorist questions victims’ daughter in court after falling-out with lawyer
2023-06-01
[IsraelTimes] Wasim a-Sayed, 34, a Paleostinian from Hebron, is on trial for murder of the Kaduri couple in 2019 and Moldovan foreign worker Ivan Tarnovski in 2022

A Paleostinian man accused of murdering an elderly Israeli couple and a foreign national in a string of terror attacks in Jerusalem has fallen out with his public defender, who asked to stop representing him.

The presiding judge at the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday rejected the lawyer’s request to stop representing Wasim a-Sayed. However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
the feud led to an absurd situation in which the accused killer interrogated family members of the murdered couple as they took the stand.

A-Sayed addressed Yehuda and Tamar Kaduri’s daughter from behind a partition, because the family had requested to not have to see his face, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

Speaking in Hebrew, he asked the victims’ daughter and son-in-law technical questions about photos taken in the Kaduris’ apartment.

He was indicted in April 2022 for the three murders, along with two more attempted homicides, over a period of three years.

According to the indictment submitted to the court, a-Sayed, 34, from the city of Hebron in the West Bank, joined the Salafia Jihadia jihadist group in 2011 and swore allegiance to Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in 2014.

After his release from a Paleostinian prison in January 2019, he allegedly decided to carry out attacks against Jews in Jerusalem.

Shortly afterward, according to law enforcement officials, he stabbed the Kaduris to death in their apartment in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of the capital — a case that police struggled for years to crack.

The investigation also found that a-Sayed was responsible for the attempted murder of teenager Hadar Bezalel days before murdering the couple.

The indictment said a-Sayed had been arrested and placed in Israeli administrative detention, without trial, for around two years at some point following those crimes due to his affiliation with Islamic State — though he was not suspected at the time of the murders.

He was released in March 2022, it said, and within days allegedly committed his next murder after he crossed into Israel illegally and looked for a target in Armon Hanatziv again.

He eventually randomly entered an apartment building and the unlocked home of two sleeping foreign workers. Believing them to be Jews, he stabbed the men in their sleep, killing Ivan Tarnovski and critically injuring his roommate.

A-Sayed was arrested hours later while trying to cross the security fence near Jerusalem again. The knife he was carrying, and his history of administrative detention, led him to be transferred to the custody of the Shin Bet for further questioning.

At the time of a-Sayed’s arrest, police were not aware that he was responsible for any of the murders.

"I decided that I would murder Jews but I wouldn’t tell anyone about it. It would only be between myself and my God. I decided that the Islamic State is my path. I looked for Jewish victims. I wanted to murder a man or a woman, but no children," a-Sayed told his interrogators, according to Channel 13.
Related:
Wasim a-Sayed: 2022-04-16 ‘I looked for Jewish victims,’ suspect in 2019 Jerusalem killings told investigators
Related:
Salafia Jihadia: 2012-02-06 Morocco’s king pardons Islamists
Salafia Jihadia: 2012-02-06 Morocco’s king pardons Islamists
Salafia Jihadia: 2012-02-07 Morocco's king pardons Islamists
Link


Africa North
Morocco’s king pardons Islamists
2012-02-06
Morocco’s King Mohammed has issued pardons to several leading Islamists, signalling a less hardline approach after moderate Islamists came to power in an election last year. The prisoners covered by the pardon included leading figures in Salafia Jihadia, an Islamist group authorities say helped orchestrate a wave of suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003, which killed 45 people.

International human rights groups say after those attacks, hundreds of Islamists were jailed on fabricated charges, sometimes after being tortured.
Link


Africa North
Morocco’s king pardons Islamists
2012-02-06
Morocco’s King Mohammed has issued pardons to several leading Islamists, signalling a less hardline approach after moderate Islamists came to power in an election last year. The prisoners covered by the pardon included leading figures in Salafia Jihadia, an Islamist group authorities say helped orchestrate a wave of suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003, which killed 45 people.

International human rights groups say after those attacks, hundreds of Islamists were jailed on fabricated charges, sometimes after being tortured.
Link


Africa North
Morocco's king pardons Islamists
2012-02-07
Morocco's King Mohammed has issued pardons to several leading Islamists, signalling a less hardline approach after moderate Islamists came to power in an election last year. The prisoners covered by the pardon included leading figures in Salafia Jihadia, an Islamist group authorities say helped orchestrate a wave of suicide kabooms in Casablanca in 2003, which killed 45 people.
But that was before leading Islamist thinkers decided that the hard jihad of the sword is much too dangerous when the kaffirs bring big guns to the knife fight, and decided to go for the soft jihad of the law instead. So perhaps this will work out for the king...
International human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
groups say after those attacks, hundreds of Islamists were tossed in the clink on fabricated charges, sometimes after being tortured.
Link


Africa North
Al Qaeda Seeking Revenge against Morocco — Anti Terrorism Expert
2011-01-07
[Asharq al-Aswat] Moroccan political analyst Dr. Mohamed Darif, who specializes in studying Islamist groups, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Moroccan authorities have dismantled dozens of terrorist cells since 2002 thanks to the pre-emptive security approach pursued by Morocco which had made it possible for the Moroccan authorities to foil a large number of these terrorist cells' plans.
Dr. Darif added that the continuous news in Morocco of terrorist plans being foiled and terrorist cells being dismantled can be explained by the logistical and technical abilities developed by the Moroccan security services, which has allowed Rabat to monitor the activities of such groups.

Answering a question about some people's suspicions about why so many terrorist cells have been uncovered in Morocco - with Rabat claiming to have dismantled as many as 70 terrorist cells since 2002 - Dr. Darif told Asharq Al-Awsat that the skeptics need only ask themselves one question, and that is: Is Morocco truly being targeted by Al Qaeda?"

Dr. Darif stressed that there are a number of reasons why Morocco would be targeted by Al Qaeda to this extent, not least of which is that Morocco is one of the few countries that has announced its full commitment to the global war on terror. Darif added that the ruler of Morocco, King Mohammed VI, was visiting Mauritania when 9/11 occured, however he cut short this visit and returned to Morocco where he announced that Rabat was fully committed to waging war against terrorism.

Dr. Mohamed Darif stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat that ever since this time, Al Qaeda has had a vendetta against Morocco. He also added that we should not forget that one of Al Qaeda's leading commanders, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, was jugged by the Moroccan authorities in December 2001 and later handed over to Syria. Morocco was also known to have taken part in the controversial US "extraordinary rendition" program, with Guantanamo Bay detainees being rendered to Morocco, including senior member of Al Qaeda Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, who is accused of being a "key controller" for the 9/11 attacks, as well as former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed, who has subsequently spoken about the torture he suffered there.

Dr. Darif also told Asharq Al-Awsat that some people have said that the 16 May 2003 Casablanca bombings which resulted in the deaths of 45 people were planned by Al Qaeda -- and carried out by their affiliate organization Salafia Jihadia -- in retaliation for Moroccan security cooperation with the West, particularly the USA.

Further evidence of Morocco's commitment to combating terrorism, according to Darif, can be seen in the case of the two Moroccan embassy staff who were kidnapped in Iraq in 2005. Rabat completely refused to negotiate with Al Qaeda for their release, and in fact, the Moroccan Senior Council of Clerics which is headed by King Mohamed VI met [at this time] and issued a statement condemning Al Qaeda as an organization that has nothing to do with Islam.

Darif also indicated that when the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
changed its name to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in January 2007, it issued a statement threatening violence against Morocco if any officials appeared on satellite television to condemn them.

Darif also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Moroccan authorities' success in dismantling this huge number of terrorist cells is, most of all, due to the authorities' awareness that their country is being targeted, and has therefore sought to develop strong relations with security apparatus in western countries and the Arab world, particularly Soddy Arabia, Syria, and Jordan.

Darif also indicated that the majority of those jugged in Morocco do not belong to any single organization, for the jihadist salafist ideology is prevalent throughout Morocco. As a result of this, the Salafist jihadists who have been jugged by Morocco are of different trends, and vary in their attitudes towards the authorities which is something that has made it even more difficult for the Moroccan authorities to open a dialogue with them.

Darif added that the majority of cells that have been dismantled since 2005, such as al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, the Ansar al-Mahdi group, al-Murabatoon al-Judud, Fatah al-Andulus, and others, were also accused of trying to recruit fighters for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Link


Africa North
Morocco sentences Al Mourabitoun Al Jodod terrorists
2010-04-03
[Maghrebia] A Sale court on Thursday (April 1st) sentenced eight members of Morocco's "Al Mourabitoun Al Jodod" (New Fighters Group) terror cell to 4-8 years in prison, MAP reported. The group, which operated in Laâyoune, Guelmim, Boujdour Agadir and Beni Mellal as part of the radical Islamist Salafia Jihadia movement, plotted to carry out attacks on tourists and civilians in Morocco. The terror cell was dismantled last May.
Link


Africa North
Morocco rejects dialogue with jailed Islamists
2010-03-19
[Maghrebia] The Moroccan government will not hold talks with jailed Islamists, Communications Minister and government spokesperson Khalid Naciri told Magharebia in an exclusive interview on Monday (March 15th).
"What part of '20 years' didn't you understand?"
Naciri told Magharebia that the Islamists' request for a reconciliation dialogue was "not on the government's agenda".

When many Islamist detainees arrested under the Terrorism Act recently released letters and statements disavowing their terrorist ideology and affiliation, they hoped to convince Moroccan authorities to accept their calls for dialogue.

Since the 2003 Casablanca bombings, Moroccan authorities have tracked down Islamist terrorists and arrested more than 1,000. The government's latest position may represent less flexibility than was evident last May, when then-minister of the interior, Chakib Benmoussa, said that there were are certain ways in which Salafia Jihadia prisoners could get out of jail -- including by royal pardon -- if they showed remorse and changed their thinking.

The most recent overture to imprisoned Islamists came in the form of a "Fairness Initiative" proposed by jailed Moroccan cleric Mohamed Abdelouahab Rafiki, also known as Abu Hafs. The letter containing the proposal was distributed by Forum for the Dignity of Human Rights in a press conference held last week.

The forum's head, Mustafa Ramid, said in a March 15th interview with Magharebia that the "initiative reflects the importance of the national interest, which means the necessity of opening the files of hundreds of prisoners".

"[I]n our opinion, even if there are terrorists amongst them, there are also innocent people who must be identified and released," said Ramid. "In addition, the government should review the cases of people who repented."

"Terrorism is not just a criminal behaviour; it's primarily an ideology, belief and conviction that must be abolished and defeated through dialogue," added the human rights leader. "The most important party qualified for dismantling terrorist thinking ... is the circle of Islamist prisoners."

In an interview with daily newspaper Ettajdid published on March 5th, Abu Hafs said: "We are a group of innocent people who are denying all accusations, and requesting to be released. We made mistakes and we admit it."
Link


Africa North
After expelling foreigners for proselytising, Morocco defends religious freedom record
2010-03-13
[Maghrebia] Moroccan Communication Minister and government spokesman Khalid Naciri on Thursday (March 11th) discussed the deportation this week of some twenty foreigners. The British, Dutch, American and New Zealand nationals, who worked at an orphanage near the Atlas mountain town of Ain Leuh, were expelled on Tuesday for allegedly trying to convert the children.

Naciri said that such "rare cases" of expulsion from the country are not linked to the practice of the Christian religion but rather to acts of proselytism", adding that "the same severity was used against the fundamentalist Muslims of the Salafia Jihadia group or against the over 100 Qur'anic schools contrary to dominant Muslim practice".

The Catholic Archbishop of Rabat and the head of the Evangelical Church in Morocco released a joint statement about the incident, saying that they "have always been able to act within the framework of the freedom of worship attributed to Christian foreigners", For his part, the president of the Rabbinical chamber of the Casablanca court on Wednesday stated that "all religions, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, are practiced without constraints or limits".

In related news, MAP reported that according to the 2009 Report on Human Rights Practices, released Thursday by the US Department of State, Morocco "supported and facilitated religious activities" of its 4,000--member Jewish community.
Link


Africa North
Kenitra jailbreak attempt foiled by guards
2010-03-11
[Maghrebia] Guards at Morocco's high-security Kenitra prison on Tuesday (March 9th) thwarted an attempted escape by ten convicted Salafia Jihadia terror cell members, MAP reported. The inmates reportedly planned to use the sewage system to reach the yard and then scale the wall by using ropes made of rugs and sheets.

In 2008, a jailbreak at the same prison attracted widespread attention from Maghreb bloggers. Nine Moroccans convicted for the deadly 2003 Casablanca bombings pulled off an unprecedented escape in a hand-dug tunnel some 25 metres long and 1 metre wide. All were later arrested.
Link


Africa North
Morocco denies bail for Salafia Jihadia terror cell suspects
2010-03-07
[Maghrebia] A Sale court on Thursday (March 4th) rejected a bail request from 12 alleged Salafia Jihadia terror cell members, MAP reported. The defendants, including a police commissioner and two police officers, are accused of financing terrorism, drug trafficking, theft and other criminal activities in Morocco and Spain.

Information provided by Spanish intelligence officials reportedly helped Moroccan authorities dismantle the network last June. Accused cell leader Abou Yacine previously served prison time for ties to the Ansar el Mehdi terror group.
Link


Africa North
Morocco postpones Salafia Jihadia terror cell trial
2010-01-16
[Maghrebia] A Moroccan court on Thursday (January 14th) postponed the trial of 12 alleged members of a Salafia Jihadia terror cell until February 4th in order to give defence attorneys more time, MAP reported. The defendants, including a police commissioner and two police officers, are accused of financing terrorism, drug trafficking, theft and other criminal activities.

Information provided by Spanish intelligence officials reportedly helped Moroccan authorities dismantle the group last June. Accused cell leader Abou Yacine previously served prison time for ties to the Ansar el Mehdi terror group.
Link


Africa North
Ceuta terror cell case begins in Morocco
2009-08-26
[Maghrebia] Court hearings began Monday (August 24th) in Morocco for a police commissioner, officer and gendarme accused of belonging to a Salafia Jihadia terror cell dismantled last June in Ceuta, MAP reported. Eight people were arrested in connection with the case, including three Spanish nationals of Moroccan origin. The other five suspects will appear in court next month. The cell allegedly established relations with French terrorist Robert Richard Antoine Pierre, alias Abou Abderrahmane, and other terrorists in Sweden, Morocco and Afghanistan.
Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More