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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

German-Afghan man being tried on Qaeda charges

2012-03-20

[Pak Daily Times] A German-Afghan man whose information prompted terrorism warnings across Europe in 2010 went on trial in western Germany on Monday; on charges he was a member of al Qaeda and another terrorist group. Ahmad Wali Siddiqui I happen to know from experience that Germans are named Fritz, or Rudi, or Heinrich, or something like that, unless they're Helgas. No self-respecting Schweinehachsenfresser would be named Ahmad. looked relaxed as his trial opened at a court in the western city of Koblenz. No pleas were entered under the German system and Siddiqui did not immediately address the charges against him, telling the court about his upbringing and how he immigrated to Germany as a teenager. The 37-year-old was captured by US troops in Afghanistan in July 2010 and, while in jug, provided details on alleged al Qaeda plots supposedly targeting European cities. No attacks materialised. He is accused of membership in al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and faces a possible 10 years in prison. Prosecutors alleged that Siddiqui trained with both terrorist groups in Pakistain and in the border region with Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, with an aim of taking part in jihad, or holy war. Authorities had said he was one of about a dozen radical Mohammedans who left the northern German port city of Hamburg in 2009 to pursue terrorist training in the border region. Another member of the group, German-Syrian dual national Rami Makanesi, was convicted last year in a Frankfurt state court of membership in al Qaeda and sentenced to four years and nine months. He was placed in durance vile in Pakistain in June 2010 and then extradited to Germany. Before going to Pakistain, Siddiqui and several other suspects met at Hamburg's al Quds mosque, the prayer house that had served as a gathering point for some of the September 11 attackers before they moved to the US to attend flight schools in 2000, German intelligence officials said.

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Europe

Al-Qaeda member sent to jail in Germany

2011-05-11

[Arab News] A German-Syrian dual national who has admitted belonging to Al-Qaeda has been convicted of membership in a terrorist group and given a prison sentence of four years and nine months. The Frankfurt state court also found Monday that Rami Makanesi trained at an Al-Qaeda paramilitary camp in Pakistain's lawless border region. Judge Thomas Sagebiel said the defendant cooperated fully with Sherlocks - opening the way for a plea deal under which prosecutors and the defense agreed to a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The 25-year-old was nabbed in Pakistain in June 2010. He was extradited two months later. Prosecutors said Makanesi was planning to return to Germany to raise funds for Al-Qaeda and also be in place for terrorist operations if needed.

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Europe

German Jihad: homegrown terror moves to the next level

2011-05-10

Osama bin Laden may be dead, but al-Qaida is alive and well in Germany. Each month, an average of five Islamists leave the country for terrorist training camps in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. Recent arrests in Düsseldorf show just how dangerous homegrown terror has become. It isn't easy being a militant Islamist, as Dieter Abdeladim el-K. and Hans Jamil S. learned on a Tuesday two weeks ago. The two men were sitting in a two-room apartment on Witzelstrasse in the German city of Düsseldorf, complaining to each other about how complicated it is to build a functioning bomb. "Bomb is not so difficult as detonator," said Abdeladim el-K., "because detonator more dangerous than bomb." The al-Qaida handbooks make it all sound so easy. You buy charcoal lighters and extract the hexamine, and already you have a component for a bomb. Apparently the method works everywhere, except possibly in Germany, where charcoal lighters have a different chemical composition than in other countries. In Düsseldorf, investigators would later discover a cooking pot the two men may have wanted to use to boil down the lighters. The apartment was under surveillance, as were the men's phones and computers. The police had been listening in on the two men's conversations for weeks, except when the sound of the television or the washing machine drowned out what they were saying. On Wednesday, when the men, speaking in broken German, began discussing "making an attack at bus stop" or possibly on a bus, the federal prosecutor's office decided to move in rather than wait until the would-be terrorists had built their bomb and were ready to use it. On the morning of Friday, April 29, police arrested Moroccan national Abdeladim el-K., 29, German-Moroccan electrician Jamil S., 31 and German-Iranian student Amid C., 19, who was on the verge of taking his final examinations prior to graduating from high school. At the center of the investigation in Düsseldorf was Abdeladim el-K., who investigators believe was the leader of the cell. He had allegedly brought the virus of Islamist terror from Afghanistan to Düsseldorf and had been in contact with Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a senior member of al-Qaida. The two men had apparently met in an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan, and it appeared that el-K. was al-Qaida's man for the Rhine-Ruhr region of western Germany. Most Have Attended Training Camps Much has changed in the Islamist terrorist scene in Germany in the almost 10 years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but one constant has remained. Like the 9/11 attackers, the overwhelming majority of militant jihadists in Germany have attended training camps run by al-Qaida or affiliated groups. In these camps, would-be terrorists receive instruction on terrorism techniques and are given orders to be carried out in Europe. The camps are still in the Hindu Kush region that straddles Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, but now they are somewhat farther to the south than before, in the border area between the two countries. The Western invasion of Afghanistan did not change that. Neither have countless military offensives or US drone attacks. Osama bin Laden is dead, as are many of his closest associates. But the recruitment of new blood is still going strong. The terror network has been continually transforming itself, as new terrorists have come up through the ranks, running individual camps and smaller organizations, before disappearing from view again. Al-Qaida today resembles an army whose battalions were torn apart after the invasion of Afghanistan and whose surviving troop units are now operating more or less autonomously. But there are still many soldiers willing to fight, including some from Germany. "So many people arrive every month that there are problems finding places for them to stay," says Rami Makanesi, a suspected al-Qaida member from Hamburg who also attended a training camp in the Hindu Kush region. Paradoxically, the new structure, with its many splinter groups, makes it easier for Islamist fanatics to latch onto one of the organizations. "In the last few years, the threat level in Germany from al-Qaida has actually increased," says German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, a member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU). Excerpt from the first part of a two-part report in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

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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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