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France charges Al-Qaeda suspect deported from Pakistan

2013-10-13

[Al Ahram] A French-Algerian man suspected of Al-Qaeda ties and deported from Pakistain this week has been charged with terror offences, French judicial officials said Saturday. Intelligence officials believe Naamen Meziche was once connected to Al-Qaeda's so-called "Hamburg cell," which planned the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Deported Tuesday, he was charged and remanded in jug in Gay Paree Friday for criminal conspiracy in relation with a terrorist enterprise, with a view to carrying out criminal acts, the source said. Meziche had been in Pak custody since being tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... in May 2012 in the southwest of the country along with three other suspected French jihadis, who were sent back to La Belle France in April and charged on the same count. Born in Gay Paree in 1970, Meziche left La Belle France in the early 1990s for Afghanistan, then Germany where he is alleged to have come into close contact with the "Hamburg Cell." He has been known to intelligence officials for more than a decade, though he has no criminal record in Europe. French law gives authorities broad powers to detain and prosecute a suspect for intending to carry out terrorist acts or contacting organizations suspected of terrorism. Though Meziche is suspected of being a long-time Al-Qaeda member, no proof has yet emerged of his involvement in any specific act of terror, and security officials are divided about how big a player he is. One French anti-terror officer told AFP this week Meziche was "a big fish -- right in the ... heart of Al-Qaeda." But another source close to the case said it was "hard to say if he is an active player or a bit of a has-been."

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan Expels French Al-Qaida Suspect

2013-10-09

[An Nahar] Pakistain on Tuesday deported a Frenchie accused of links to al-Qaeda and suspected of recruiting Islamist fighters, diplomatic sources told Agence La Belle France Presse. Intelligence officials believe the man, Naamen Meziche, was once connected to al-Qaeda's so-called "Hamburg cell", which planned the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Meziche has been in Pak custody since being tossed in the clink Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! in May 2012 in the southwest of the country along with three other suspected French jihadis, who were sent back to La Belle France in April. He was escorted onto a flight from Islamabad and arrived in Gay Paree Tuesday afternoon French time, a diplomatic source said. French police are expected to question him about links to myrmidon networks. At the time of his arrest, French intelligence officials described Meziche, who also holds an Algerian passport, as "an important al-Qaeda cadre linked to the Hamburg cell", but his genuine significance in jihahi circles is unclear. The case is likely to spark strong interest in La Belle France, where memories are still fresh of the murderous rampage by Mohammed Merah in March last year. Merah rubbed out seven people in southwest La Belle France after returning from spending several months in Pakistain, saying he was acting on behalf of al-Qaeda. The three others arrested along with Meziche in southwest Pakistain were incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... on their return to La Belle France for "associating with wrongdoers with a view to committing terrorist acts". Sources say Meziche is likely to face charges under the same section of French law. It gives authorities broad powers to detain and prosecute a suspect for intending to carry out terrorist acts or contacting organizations suspected of terrorism. Though Meziche is suspected of being a long-time al-Qaeda member, no proof has yet emerged of his involvement in any specific act of terror, and security officials were divided about how big a player he is. One French anti-terror officer told AFP this week Meziche was "a big fish -- right in the historic heart of al-Qaeda". But another source close to the case said it was "hard to say if he is an active player or a bit of a has-been". Western and Pak intelligence officials have described Meziche, aged around 43, as close to Younis al-Mauritani, an important al-Qaeda figure arrested in Pakistain about six months before him. According to the Pak military al-Mauritani was personally charged by the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... with planning attacks against targets in the U.S., Europe and Australia. The fact that Meziche was arrested in the company of three young Frenchies in a part of Pakistain where numerous Islamist faceless myrmidons circulate added to suspicions he was in the business of recruiting young Europeans for extremism.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan expels Frenchmen over militant links

2013-04-05

[Dawn] Pakistain has deported three Frenchies who have been held in secret since they entered the country illegally 10 months ago to fight NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... troops in neighbouring Afghanistan, officials said Thursday. Investigators are expected to question the men in La Belle France, where the case is likely to draw parallels with Mohammed Merah, the 23-year-old who rubbed out seven people in southwest La Belle France in March 2012 after returning from Pakistain. Investigators said Pak police incarcerated Please don't kill me! the trio on May 28 last year after they entered the country illegally from Iran. They were enjugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... along with Naamen Meziche, another Frenchie of North African extraction previously known to Western security services as an alleged member of Al Qaeda. "They said they came to Pakistain to deepen their knowledge of Islam and to fight in Afghanistan," one investigator told AFP on condition of anonymity. Meziche's arrest was announced last June but French and Pak officials had kept quiet about the other three. At the time, Pak officials said Meziche was probably heading to Somalia. But Western experts said he had been en route to Pakistain's semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border, said to be an Al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold. Investigators believe Meziche could have been taking the other three to the tribal belt close to the Pak-Afghan border. Officials say the three men left La Belle France in January 2012, telling their families in Orleans south of Gay Paree that they were going on pilgrimage to Mecca in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... . But five months later they were detained in Pakistain. On Thursday a French diplomatic source confirmed that the last of the three suspects was now back on French soil, after being deported over the last 48 hours. Their precise link to Meziche, who will also be deported, remains unclear. It also remains unclear whether they will face trial. A new law banning French citizens from going abroad for krazed killer training came into force last December, only after their arrest.

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India-Pakistan

Captured French 'Qaeda' man headed toSomalia: Officials

2012-06-23

(Sh.M.Network)- Pak officials said Thursday that a French al Qaeda bully boy linked to the 9/11 attacks was probably heading to Somalia when he was captured near the Iranian border. Naamen Meziche was placed in long-term storage Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in May after disclosures by Younis al-Mauritani, captured inPakistainlast year and apparently tasked by the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... to plot attacks onAustralia, Europe and theUS. "Meziche was probably on his way to Somalia when he was caught," one Pak security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. The official said it was difficult to know exactly what route Meziche was taking on the day of his arrest. Western experts said he had been en route toPakistain's semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border, a stronghold of al Qaeda and the Taliban. But another security source suggested he was in transit fromIran, en route to Somalia. "Recently lots of al Qaeda people left Pakistain to move toYemen or Somalia. The tribal belt is a very important place for jihadis on their way, because there they can get the support, logistics and contacts to move on," the source told AFP. Pak agents are interrogating Meziche and information has been shared with American, French and German intelligence agencies, the first security official said. "Eventually he will be deported toLa Belle France," he added. The arrest came with Islamabad under huge US pressure to do more to eliminate the threat from al Qaeda and other hard boyz sheltering on its soil. Pak-US relations have been in freefall since Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in Pakistain in May 2011. Born in 1970 and of Algerian descent, security sources say Meziche is an "important" al Qaeda figure in Europe who was linked to the 9/11 attacks as a member of the Hamburg cell that theUSsays criminal masterminded the 2001 hijackings. He reportedly recruited jihadists at a notorious mosque in the northern German city, which authorities closed in 2010 for breeding fanatics.

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India-Pakistan

Officials: 'Important' al Qaeda leader captured in Pakistan

2012-06-22

Pakistain has captured an "important" al Qaeda leader, Naamen Meziche, during an operation near the Pakistain-Iran border, officials said on Wednesday.   Meziche is believed to have links with cut-thoat groups based in Europe, and media reports say he may have played a role in the 9/11 attacks. More from Tolo News: French 'al Qaeda' man held in Pakistan, official says A French krazed killer linked to an al Qaeda leader who plotted attacks against the West has been placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in Pakistain, just months after his associate was held, a Pak official said Wednesday. The security official described Naamen Maziche as "an important leader of al Qaeda" and "among the very close associates" of Younis al Mauritani, but declined to say whether he was wanted in connection with a specific plot. He added Maziche was jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! by "intelligence agencies" close to the Iranian border, but did not say when or whether Western agents took part in the raid. Mauritani, a senior al Qaeda leader believed to have been responsible for planning attacks on Australia, Europe and the US was jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! Sept. 5. He was cooled for a few years You have the right to remain silent... with two other ranking operatives in the suburbs of Quetta, the main city in Pakistain's Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Province that borders Iran. The Pak official said Maziche was jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! after Mauritani told interrogators that the Frenchie had entered Pakistain from Iran and intended to travel on to Africa. "The intelligence agencies have been tracking Maziche since then, and at last, after a successful operation he was jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! . At the moment he is being questioned about his purpose for entering Pakistain," the official said.

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Europe

German-Afghani Terror Suspect Links Iran To Al-Qaida

2012-03-28

Ahmad Wali Siddiqui says in trial that Islamic Theocratic Republic supports the terrorist group. KOBLENZ -- Ahmad Wali Siddiqui, a German-Afghani who is alleged to have been a member of al-Qaeda, said on both Monday and Tuesday during his trial that Iran harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. The revelations were fresh evidence of Shi'ite Iran's ongoing support of Sunni snuffies in al-Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. "Life in Germany is not good. You live with gays, lesbians and Jews. Islam rules here," Siddiqui, 37, told his mother in Hamburg in a wiretapped telephone conversation disclosed during his trial. He is charged with being a member of a terrorist organization. A group of German Islamists planned to return from Pakistain in 2010 to mount attacks targeting Europe's economy. American forces in Kabul jugged Siddiqui in 2010 when he was on his way to Germany. He said during the trial that two of his fellow conspirators -- Rami Makanesi and Naamen Meziche -- flew from Vienna to Tehran so as not "to not get caught." An Iranian-operated travel agency in Hamburg arranged their trip. Makanesi and Meziche established contact with a controller known as "Dr. Mamoud," who works for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Siddiqui continued. The travel route allowed the two men to travel unimpeded to the eastern Iranian city of Zahedan, which serves a hub for snuffies seeking to enter Afghanistan and Pakistain. Dr. Mamoud "welcomed them" to Zahedan and from the border city they made their way into Pakistain, Siddiqui said. Pak authorities jugged Makanesi in 2010 while disguised as a woman wearing a burka. Meziche is believed to be in Iran. Presiding Judge Angelika Blettner poised tough questions to Siddiqui about his views toward the West and Jews. She said his anti-Jewish and homophobic comments revealed contempt for life in Germany. When asked by federal prosecutor Bernd Steudl who had taught him to hate Jews, gays and lesbians, Siddiqui replied that "every mujahideen [people involved in jihad] holds this opinion." Siddiqui said at the trial, "I have nothing against Jews." Other than what he was taught... Sources connected to the trial said it is expected to reveal an intricate network among al-Qaeda members, the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran, and other Islamic terrorist groups operating in Europe, Afghanistan and Pakistain.

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Europe

Al-Qaeda plotted to take hostages

2010-10-30

(KUNA) -- Al-Qaeda planned to take hostages in Mumbai-style attacks on Britain, France and Germany to demand the release of the criminal mastermind of the September 11 atrocities, according to a former associate of Osama bin Laden Friday. Noman Benotman said that bin Laden wanted to force the Americans to release Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is awaiting trial for his part in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. Benotman, a Libyan and former Afghanistan terrorist camp trainer, said that he was present at several discussions about the plot and believed it has now been reactivated. Osama bin Laden 'living comfortably in Pakistain' he said: "I have information that I consider to be reliable, according to which al-Qaeda in North Wazoo is training how to carry out multipleparallel hostage takings in order to enforce the release of a prisoner." Bentomans claims are backed by separate developments in al-Qaedas command structure, which suggest it is preparing for a major operation, the paper added. Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi, who is counted among al-Qaedas most sophisticated planners, has rejoined the terrorist group after he was freed in return for Iranian diplomats kidnapped by the organisation. Adnan al-Shukrijuma, an al-Qaeda operative, has been given a senior operational role, made responsible for training teams for attacks on Western targets. Counter-terrorism experts say Benotmans claims deserve attention. Berlin-based Guido Steinberg, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said: "In the past all of his information proved to be right. " Now based in London, Benotman is a consultant with the Quilliam Foundation, which monitors the activities of violent Islamist groups. He was a ranking member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an al-Qaeda affiliate founded in 1995 by Libyan jihadists who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. In 2001 though, Benotman broke with al-Qaeda after bin Laden rejected the LIFGs calls for an end to strikes outside Afghanistan. Intelligence suggesting that an al-Qaeda commander boasted that he had sent hard boyz to Britain and Germany as part of a Mumbai-style plot caused an alert across Europe last month, although no evidence of attack planning has been uncovered. Ahmed Siddiqi, a German national, was jugged in Afghanistan in July and told US interrogators about the plot, the Telegraph went on. The key members of the team are thought to include Shahab Dashti, a German of Iranian descend who featured in a 2009 jihadist video calling on Western Mohammedans to support al-Qaeda. Rami Makanesi, a German of Syrian origin, is also believed by US and European intelligence services to be a member of the group. European intelligence officials believe Siddiqi and other members of the team were recruited by Naamen Meziche, a French national of Algerian origin, from a Hamburg mosque. Mamoun Darkazanli, a German who led prayers at the mosque, was identified by the 9/11 Commission as having links to al-Qaeda. In 2003, Spain sought his extradition from Germany on charges of membership of al-Qaeda, the paper concluded.

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