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India-Pakistan

War against education

2014-09-04

[DAWN] THE political turmoil in Islamabad seems to have eclipsed all other crises in the country. Amongst these is the religious krazed killers' assault on education in 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... , which is gaining ground. A school in Turbat, district Kech, was torched by an outfit calling itself 'Al Jihad' late on Monday. The forces of Evil left pamphlets in the area warning people not to send their children to English-medium schools and to only educate them at madressahs. The principal of the targeted school has said he had been receiving threats from unknown individuals for several months. This is far from the first incident of its kind in Balochistan. A school was set on fire by unknown assailants in Panjgur a few days ago while a number of educational institutions were attacked in the same district in May. At that time, a group calling itself Al Furqan al Islami had grabbed credit for the violence; then, too, the forces of Evil had issues with the teaching of English, while they also railed against coeducation. The attacks led to the lengthy closure of schools in the area while a number of parents reportedly relocated to Quetta and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... so as to continue their children's education.

Link

Terror Networks

Osama wanted to change Al Qaeda name

2011-06-25

[Emirates 24/7] As the late Osama bin Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... watched his organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that Al Qaeda was suffering from a marketing problem. His group was killing too many Mohammedans and that was bad. The West was winning the public relations fight. All his old comrades were dead and he barely knew their replacements. Faced with these challenges, Bin Laden, who hated the United States and decried capitalism, considered a most American of business strategies. Like Blackwater, ValuJet and Philip Morris, perhaps what Al Qaeda really needed was a fresh start under a new name. The problem with the name Al Qaeda, bin Laden wrote in a letter recovered from his compound in Pakistain, was that it lacked a religious element, something to convince Mohammedans worldwide that they are in a holy war with America. Maybe something like Taifat Al Tawhed Wal-Jihad, meaning Monotheism and Jihad Group, he wrote. Or Jama'at I'Adat Al Khilafat Al Rashida, meaning Restoration of the Caliphate Group. As bin Laden saw it, the problem was that the group's full name, Al Qaeda Al Jihad, for The Base of Holy War, had become short-handed as simply Al Qaeda. Lopping off the word "jihad," bin Laden wrote, allowed the West to "claim deceptively that they are not at war with Islam." Maybe it was time for Al Qaeda to bring back its original name. The letter, which was undated, was discovered among bin Laden's recent writings. Navy SEALs stormed his compound and killed him before any name change could be made. The letter was described by senior administration, national security and other US officials only on condition of anonymity because the materials are sensitive. The documents portray bin Laden as a terrorist chief executive, struggling to sell holy war for a company in crisis. At the White House, the documents were taken as positive reinforcement for President Barack B.O. Obama's effort to eliminate religiously charged words from the government's language of terrorism. Words like "jihad," which also has a peaceful religious meaning, are out. "The information that we recovered from bin Laden's compound shows Al Qaeda under enormous strain," Obama said on Wednesday in his speech to the nation on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. "Bin Laden expressed concern that Al Qaeda had been unable to effectively replace senior forces of Evil that had been killed and that Al Qaeda has failed in its effort to portray America as a nation at war with Islam, thereby draining more widespread support." Bin Laden wrote his musings about renaming Al Qaeda as a letter but, as with many of his writings, the recipient was not identified. Intelligence officials have determined that bin Laden only communicated with his most senior commanders, including his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahri, and his No. 3, Mustafa Abu Al Yazid, according to one US official. Because of the courier system bin Laden used, it's unclear to US intelligence whether the letter ever was sent. Al Yazid was killed in a US Arclight airstrike last year. Zawahri has replaced bin Laden as head of Al Qaeda. In one letter sent to Zawahri within the past year or so, bin Laden said Al Qaeda's image was suffering because of attacks that have killed Mohammedans, particularly in Iraq, officials said. In other journal entries and letters, they said, bin Laden wrote that he was frustrated that many of his trusted longtime comrades, whom he'd fought alongside in Afghanistan, had been killed or captured. Using his courier system, bin Laden could still exercise some operational control over Al Qaeda. But increasingly the men he was directing were younger and inexperienced. Frequently, the generals who had vouched for these young fighters were dead or in prison. And bin Laden, unable to leave his walled compound and with no phone or Internet access, was annoyed that he did not know so many people in his own organization. The US has essentially completed the review of documents taken from bin Laden's compound, officials said, though intelligence analysts will continue to mine the data for a long time.

Link

India-Pakistan

Dupe URL: The great debate: is violent jihad against Islam?

2011-04-17

Pakistan joins the discussion started by Dr. Fadl and his fellow jihadi prisoners in Egypt. DURING the mass movement against then president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, concern was raised that radical and violent actors could try to exploit the situation in pursuit of their objectives. However, a smooth transition in Egypt has proven wrong apprehensions of violence by jihadist groups. There has been violence, some quite nasty, but mostly it's not been reported. After the transition, it was claimed that Mubarak had crushed the jihadists in the 1990s and those that had remained were unable to mount a serious challenge. Some commentators have argued that mass movements are not the domain of jihadists. Many others have denied the presence of jihadist networks in Egypt. Further explanations have been given in this regard but a major element that has not really been factored in is the in-depth debate that challenged the militant narrative in Egypt. Egypt passed through a violent phase in the 1990s when the government made all-out efforts to dismantle jihadist groups in the country. The Mubarak regime had filled up the prisons with thousands of suspects. Although rejection of violence by the Muslim Brotherhood had shrunk the space for violent actors in Egyptian society, the discourse facilitated among captive members of the Islamic Group (Gamaa Islamiyah) and Al Jihad, the two main jihadist groups in Egypt, on the issue of the legitimacy of pursuing a violent path, contributed much towards countering violent ideological tendencies. The debate was initiated among thousands of imprisoned members of the Islamic Group and questioned the justification of violence for achieving their stated goals. After the discourse, reading and furtive conversations, the detainees came to feel that they had been manipulated into pursuing a violent path. Although it was difficult to start the debate as initially it had faced strong opposition both inside and outside the prisons, at some point the imprisoned members of Al Jihad, the most violent group in Egypt and led by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, also began to express an interest in joining the non-violent initiative. But Dr Fadl, the architect of Al Qaeda’s ideological paradigm, was the man who turned the initiative into a great debate. Fadl, an Egyptian physician and scholar, was one of the first members of Al Qaeda’s top council and proponent of the literature that Al Qaeda used for indoctrination. His book Compendium gave Al Qaeda the licence to murder all those who stood in its way. Al-Zawahiri had declared the book a victory from God. Later, Fadl accused Al-Zawahiri of adding new chapters to his book and rephrasing it in parts, which caused a rift between the two. Al-Zawahiri’s amendments to Fadl’s work provoked a debate among the imprisoned leaders of the Islamic Group in the late 1990s. They started to examine the evidence and felt that they had been manipulated into pursuing a violent path. In 2001, Fadl was arrested in Yemen and handed over to Egypt. Fadl joined his former colleagues in prison and started revising his previous work and came up with a title Rationalising Jihad in Egypt and the World. This new book attempted to reconcile Fadl’s well-known views with sweeping modifications from Compendium. Apart from covering many critical issues including the conditions for jihad in foreign lands and the killing of innocent civilians, Fadl critically examined the question of takfir and observed that there were various kinds of takfir, and that the matter was so complex that it must be left to competent Islamic jurists, and that members of the public were not qualified to enforce the law. He cautioned that it was not permissible for a Muslim to condemn another Muslim. The debate provided an opportunity to Islamic Group and Al Jihad members to review their strategies and give up violence. At the same time, on a societal level, it helped to strengthen non-violent narratives. One has not even heard echoes of such a discourse in Pakistan, although the dire need for that cannot be emphasised enough. Religious scholars in Pakistan have issued more than a dozen conditional religious decrees against suicide attacks, stating that there is no justification for such attacks on Pakistani soil. However, in the decrees they have not failed to mention that terrorist attacks are a reaction to the government’s policies. There has been intentional evasion of talking about extremism mainly on the ideological front. This attitude of putting the entire burden on the state and shirking one’s own responsibility has almost become the norm in Pakistan. Fear for personal security, as much as any other factor, has hindered the initiation of a debate on such sensitive issues. A number of religious scholars from all schools of thoughts hold contrary views on the militant discourse but these views either do not have support within their sectarian domains or the scholars do not want to expound their thoughts vociferously for fear of risking their lives. Very few scholars have been willing to speak out in the face of personal threats. Allama Javed Ghamdi is one such scholar who has been the voice of reason in the ideological proliferation in Pakistan. But the clergy in Pakistan does not accept his narrative because of his modern credentials. There is an urgent need to find the voice of reason among the clergy, which has an influence in the militant circles and can courageously initiate debate on critical issues. In this context, one example is a young Deobandi scholar, Muhammad Ammar Khan Nasir, son of Maulana Zahidul Rashidi, who wields influence in the Deobandi school of thought and is well respected even among militant groups in Pakistan. Nasir, in his newsletter, Al Sharia, has declared that it is not permissible on religious grounds for non-Afghan Muslims to fight against international forces in Afghanistan. He has argued that Pakistan is in agreement with the international community in Afghanistan and if the government supported the Taliban it would be going against the principles of Islam. An interesting point... He has also spoken about the militants’ limited understanding of world politics and stated that they required intellectual guidance. He has urged the clergy to abandon its state of denial and recognise, rather than justify, the Taliban’s weaknesses. The debate initiated by Ammar Nasir has formed the basis for an intellectual discussion among Deobandi scholars. This is a ray of hope that the intellectual discourse is still intact in the religious community in Pakistan. But the crucial question is: can these discussions be transformed into something close to the great debate in Egypt? The writer, Muhammad Amir Rana, is editor of the quarterly research journal Conflict and Peace Studies.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan joins the great debate: is violent jihad against Islam?

2011-04-17

Pakistan joins the discussion started by Dr. Fadl and his fellow jihadi prisoners in Egypt. DURING the mass movement against then president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, concern was raised that radical and violent actors could try to exploit the situation in pursuit of their objectives. However, a smooth transition in Egypt has proven wrong apprehensions of violence by jihadist groups. There has been violence, some quite nasty, but mostly it's not been reported. After the transition, it was claimed that Mubarak had crushed the jihadists in the 1990s and those that had remained were unable to mount a serious challenge. Some commentators have argued that mass movements are not the domain of jihadists. Many others have denied the presence of jihadist networks in Egypt. Further explanations have been given in this regard but a major element that has not really been factored in is the in-depth debate that challenged the militant narrative in Egypt. Egypt passed through a violent phase in the 1990s when the government made all-out efforts to dismantle jihadist groups in the country. The Mubarak regime had filled up the prisons with thousands of suspects. Although rejection of violence by the Muslim Brotherhood had shrunk the space for violent actors in Egyptian society, the discourse facilitated among captive members of the Islamic Group (Gamaa Islamiyah) and Al Jihad, the two main jihadist groups in Egypt, on the issue of the legitimacy of pursuing a violent path, contributed much towards countering violent ideological tendencies. The debate was initiated among thousands of imprisoned members of the Islamic Group and questioned the justification of violence for achieving their stated goals. After the discourse, reading and furtive conversations, the detainees came to feel that they had been manipulated into pursuing a violent path. Although it was difficult to start the debate as initially it had faced strong opposition both inside and outside the prisons, at some point the imprisoned members of Al Jihad, the most violent group in Egypt and led by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, also began to express an interest in joining the non-violent initiative. But Dr Fadl, the architect of Al Qaeda's ideological paradigm, was the man who turned the initiative into a great debate. Fadl, an Egyptian physician and scholar, was one of the first members of Al Qaeda's top council and proponent of the literature that Al Qaeda used for indoctrination. His book Compendium gave Al Qaeda the licence to murder all those who stood in its way. Al-Zawahiri had declared the book a victory from God. Later, Fadl accused Al-Zawahiri of adding new chapters to his book and rephrasing it in parts, which caused a rift between the two. Al-Zawahiri's amendments to Fadl's work provoked a debate among the imprisoned leaders of the Islamic Group in the late 1990s. They started to examine the evidence and felt that they had been manipulated into pursuing a violent path. In 2001, Fadl was arrested in Yemen and handed over to Egypt. Fadl joined his former colleagues in prison and started revising his previous work and came up with a title Rationalising Jihad in Egypt and the World. This new book attempted to reconcile Fadl's well-known views with sweeping modifications from Compendium. Apart from covering many critical issues including the conditions for jihad in foreign lands and the killing of innocent civilians, Fadl critically examined the question of takfir and observed that there were various kinds of takfir, and that the matter was so complex that it must be left to competent Islamic jurists, and that members of the public were not qualified to enforce the law. He cautioned that it was not permissible for a Muslim to condemn another Muslim. The debate provided an opportunity to Islamic Group and Al Jihad members to review their strategies and give up violence. At the same time, on a societal level, it helped to strengthen non-violent narratives. One has not even heard echoes of such a discourse in Pakistan, although the dire need for that cannot be emphasised enough. Religious scholars in Pakistan have issued more than a dozen conditional religious decrees against suicide attacks, stating that there is no justification for such attacks on Pakistani soil. However, in the decrees they have not failed to mention that terrorist attacks are a reaction to the government's policies. There has been intentional evasion of talking about extremism mainly on the ideological front. This attitude of putting the entire burden on the state and shirking one's own responsibility has almost become the norm in Pakistan. Fear for personal security, as much as any other factor, has hindered the initiation of a debate on such sensitive issues. A number of religious scholars from all schools of thoughts hold contrary views on the militant discourse but these views either do not have support within their sectarian domains or the scholars do not want to expound their thoughts vociferously for fear of risking their lives. Very few scholars have been willing to speak out in the face of personal threats. Allama Javed Ghamdi is one such scholar who has been the voice of reason in the ideological proliferation in Pakistan. But the clergy in Pakistan does not accept his narrative because of his modern credentials. There is an urgent need to find the voice of reason among the clergy, which has an influence in the militant circles and can courageously initiate debate on critical issues. In this context, one example is a young Deobandi scholar, Muhammad Ammar Khan Nasir, son of Maulana Zahidul Rashidi, who wields influence in the Deobandi school of thought and is well respected even among militant groups in Pakistan. Nasir, in his newsletter, Al Sharia, has declared that it is not permissible on religious grounds for non-Afghan Muslims to fight against international forces in Afghanistan. He has argued that Pakistan is in agreement with the international community in Afghanistan and if the government supported the Taliban it would be going against the principles of Islam. An interesting point... He has also spoken about the militants' limited understanding of world politics and stated that they required intellectual guidance. He has urged the clergy to abandon its state of denial and recognise, rather than justify, the Taliban's weaknesses. The debate initiated by Ammar Nasir has formed the basis for an intellectual discussion among Deobandi scholars. This is a ray of hope that the intellectual discourse is still intact in the religious community in Pakistan. But the crucial question is: can these discussions be transformed into something close to the great debate in Egypt? The writer, Muhammad Amir Rana, is editor of the quarterly research journal Conflict and Peace Studies.

Link

Great White North

Canadian court frees Egyptian terrorist

2009-12-01

A federal court on Monday ordered the release of an Egyptian man convicted of terrorism in his home country and who was later detained in Canada for eight years as a possible national security threat. "The court is satisfied that the threat Mr. (Mohamed) Mahjoub poses to national security or the safety of any person can be neutralized by the imposition of conditions on his release from detention," said the ruling. Mahjoub came to Canada in 1995 and was granted refugee status the following year. He was detained in 2000 under a rarely-used security measure that permits secret court hearings and indefinite jailing of foreigners suspected of terror ties, without charges. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged Mahjoub was a high-ranking member of an Egyptian Islamic terrorist organization, the Vanguards of Conquest -- a radical wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad or Al Jihad. He was convicted in Egypt in absentia in 1999 for offenses relating to the Vanguards of Conquest's activities and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. In 2007, Canada's Supreme Court ordered his release after quashing the anti-terrorism measure used to detain him, as unconstitutional. The government amended the act and issued a new security certificate against him days later. Mahjoub was still released two months later on stringent conditions akin to house arrest while fighting his deportation to Egypt, or alternately detention in Canada. But in March 2009, he returned to prison voluntarily as his wife and his stepson, who had agreed to act as sureties and supervisors, "could no longer live with the stringent conditions of his release," said court documents. The new bail conditions provide that Mahjoub will be permitted to live alone but will remain under surveillance. He will also be permitted unsupervised outings while fighting extradition to Egypt and the "reasonableness" of the government's case for holding him under security measures contained in Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Link

Great White North

Judge relaxes bail rules for Canadian terror suspect

2009-03-24

A federal court has relaxed some bail conditions of Toronto terrorism suspect Mahmoud Jaballah, loosening round-the-clock supervision by allowing him to remain at home alone for up to six hours on weekdays. Justice Eleanor Dawson also extended his curfew and paved the way to letting Jaballah attend his son's wedding this summer. Although it was premature to rule on whether he can attend the ceremony, "as a matter of principle, every effort should be made to permit this," Dawson ruled. That ruling, released Friday, also lets Jaballah's children use a video-gaming system at home, provided certain conditions are met, such as not connecting it to the Internet. The judge also upheld the right of the Canada Border Services Agency to conduct "overt surveillance" on Jaballah while he is out in public with his family. The ruling came days after a judge agreed to send accused terrorist Mohammad Mahjoub back to jail after Mahjoub said he prefers life behind bars to the harassment by investigators his family faced while he was on bail. But Jaballah's lawyer, Barbara Jackman, said the conditions are still too restrictive. She had requested Jaballah be allowed to stay home without a supervising surety round the clock, which would have let his wife work full-time. "(The court) is not going to let him stay at home alone long enough for her to have a full-time job," Jackman said. The agency said that request would increase the risk of Jaballah communicating with unauthorized or prohibited people. Dawson imposed several conditions on Jaballah being left at home alone. He must notify CBSA before his supervisors leave, the home's computer room must remain locked, with a contact switch installed on the door, and he cannot receive visitors or deliveries. Dawson ruled against Jackman's request that Jaballah's son, a university student, be allowed to have a wireless computer in the house. Jaballah is accused by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of involvement with the Egyptian Al Jihad. He is also allegedly linked to Canadians with suspected terrorism ties. The Egyptian refugee was released under house arrest in May 2007. The Canadian government wants to deport him back to Egypt, but Jaballah says he will face torture there.

Link

India-Pakistan

Taliban split into two factions in Bajaur Agency

2008-07-29

Taliban in the Bajaur tribal district split into two factions after infighting between two militant organisations in Mohmand Agency led to the killing of eight members of one group on July 18. Pro-Baitullah Mehsud Taliban leader Umer Khalid killed eight members from the Shah Sahib militant group, including its chief and deputy chief, on July 18. "We, four commanders, are resigning from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) over the killing of mujahideen in Mohmand Agency," Salar Masood, a spokesman for the four commanders, told Daily Times on Monday. "We will form our own group -- Tehreek-e-Taliban Al Jihad -- to continue jihad against the United States," Masood said on the phone from an undisclosed location in the Bajaur region. Maulvi Munir, Dr Abdul Wahab and Maulvi Abdul Hameed are the three other commanders who left the TTP. "Innocent mujahideen were killed in Mohmand. This is against shariah. Mujahideen do not kill innocent people," Masood said. Then his lips fell off. He charged the Baitullah Mehsud-led TTP with "deviating" from the real cause of fighting the Americans inside Afghanistan. "We took up the matter with Baitullah Mehsud but he did not take our concern seriously," he said. "Pooh! Be off with you!" The rift between the Taliban, according to observers, would weaken Baitullah Mehsud. They believe the infighting among militant organisations would help the government exploit the situation. "Taliban leader in Bajaur Maulvi Faqir must be upset at this development because the four commanders are quite influential," the observers said on condition of anonymity.

Link

Terror Networks

An Al Qaeda mastermind questions terrorism.

2008-05-27

by Lawrence Wright Last May, a fax arrived at the London office of the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al Awsat from a shadowy figure in the radical Islamist movement who went by many names. Born Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, he was the former leader of the Egyptian terrorist group Al Jihad, and known to those in the underground mainly as Dr. Fadl. Members of Al Jihad became part of the original core of Al Qaeda; among them was Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant. Fadl was one of the first members of Al Qaeda’s top council. Twenty years ago, he wrote two of the most important books in modern Islamist discourse; Al Qaeda used them to indoctrinate recruits and justify killing. Now Fadl was announcing a new book, rejecting Al Qaeda’s violence. “We are prohibited from committing aggression, even if the enemies of Islam do that,” Fadl wrote in his fax, which was sent from Tora Prison, in Egypt. Fadl’s fax confirmed rumors that imprisoned leaders of Al Jihad were part of a trend in which former terrorists renounced violence. His defection posed a terrible threat to the radical Islamists, because he directly challenged their authority. “There is a form of obedience that is greater than the obedience accorded to any leader, namely, obedience to God and His Messenger,” Fadl wrote, claiming that hundreds of Egyptian jihadists from various factions had endorsed his position. Two months after Fadl’s fax appeared, Zawahiri issued a handsomely produced video on behalf of Al Qaeda. “Do they now have fax machines in Egyptian jail cells?” he asked. “I wonder if they’re connected to the same line as the electric-shock machines.” This sarcastic dismissal was perhaps intended to dampen anxiety about Fadl’s manifesto—which was to be published serially, in newspapers in Egypt and Kuwait—among Al Qaeda insiders. Fadl’s previous work, after all, had laid the intellectual foundation for Al Qaeda’s murderous acts. On a recent trip to Cairo, I met with Gamal Sultan, an Islamist writer and a publisher there. He said of Fadl, “Nobody can challenge the legitimacy of this person. His writings could have far-reaching effects not only in Egypt but on leaders outside it.” Usama Ayub, a former member of Egypt’s Islamist community, who is now the director of the Islamic Center in Münster, Germany, told me, “A lot of people base their work on Fadl’s writings, so he’s very important. When Dr. Fadl speaks, everyone should listen.” Although the debate between Fadl and Zawahiri was esoteric and bitterly personal, its ramifications for the West were potentially enormous. Other Islamist organizations had gone through violent phases before deciding that such actions led to a dead end. Was this happening to Al Jihad? Could it happen even to Al Qaeda?

Link

India-Pakistan

Hafsa students chant jihadi slogans

2007-07-12

About 90 female students of Jamia Hafsa chanted “Al Jihad, Al Jihad” when they were brought on Wednesday evening to the Pakistan Sports Complex (PSC). Sources said the security around the complex was tightened to an unprecedented level. The students were either arrested or had surrendered to the Rangers during the military operation against the Lal Masjid brigade. Sources said they were taken to PSC’s Iqbal Hostel in Jinnah Stadium from Adiala Jail or somewhere else in Islamabad. Punjab Constabulary policewomen had been deployed inside the rooms where the girls were kept while Rangers troops were guarding the sports complex, they added. Before the Lal Masjid standoff the girl students were seen brandishing sticks when they announced their anti-vice campaign.

Link

Great White North

Canada set to release terror suspect on bail

2007-03-08

A Canadian judge has signaled her intention to free Mahmoud Jaballah, a man Canadian authorities believe helped relay communications between cells responsible for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. "The Federal Court judge (Carolyn Layden-Stevenson) yesterday indicated that she was prepared to release Mr. Jaballah from detention on strict terms and conditions," Jaballah's lawyer Barb Jackman said on Wednesday. Well, as long as they're strict about it... Jaballah was one of five foreign Muslims that Canada arrested between 2000 and 2003, with the intention of deporting them on suspicions of terrorism. Two others have already been freed on bail and a third will soon be released. For those who have been or are being released, the judges have determined that they can neutralize any threat to Canadian security by applying stringent restrictions, such as electronic ankle bracelets and government monitoring of phone calls. The Supreme Court handed down a decision last month that upheld the security certificates under which the men have been held, but said that it was unconstitutional for them to be detained indefinitely without trial on the basis of secret evidence. Independently of the Supreme Court decision, however, Judge Layden-Stevenson had already been preparing the ground for releasing Jaballah. "I think she's certainly conscious of the judicial trend of releasing the men," said Matthew Behrens, an activist with the group Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, who has fought the security certificates. Jaballah, an Egyptian who taught in a Toronto Muslim school, was arrested two weeks before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The government told the courts it believed he had engaged in terrorism in Egypt, including serving as a relay between cells of the Egyptian group Al Jihad, particularly those that engaged in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998. It also said he had been associated with numerous participants of terrorist groups. The Federal Court ruled last October that "a reasonable observer would find grounds to believe that he was, or is, a member of a terrorist group, and of the AJ (Al Jihad)," but that he should not be deported to Egypt lest he be tortured. Jaballah, who denies the accusations against him, is free to leave Canada at any time but he says he was tortured in Egypt before he arrived in Canada in 1996. Lawyers for Jaballah and the government will return to court on March 22 to go over conditions under which he would be released. Jackman said that Layden-Stevenson had signaled her intention now so that initial steps could be taken, such as checking the Jaballah home for electronic monitoring.

Link

Iraq

Abass Khalil Ibrahim sentenced to life

2006-03-21

In the fourth case, on Dec. 14, 2005 (speedy prosecution, we need more of that), CSF apprehended Abass Khalil Ibrahim during a raid on the senior leadership of the Revolutionary Ghadab Brigade associated with Al Tawhid Al Jihad. During interrogation, the defendant acknowledged “repairing” (CentCom's scare/sneer quotes, not mine) cars for Abu Anas and the Revolutionary Ghadab Brigade knowing that they are terrorist organizations. The defendant also detailed his involvement in the Mujahideen, recruiting six individuals for Abu Anas and Al Tawhid, possessing and using a forged citizenship identification card and identifying a number of individuals who were associated with Abu Anas and the Revolutionary Ghadab Brigade. The defendant was charged with violating Article 194 of the Iraqi Penal Code for organizing, heading, leading or joining armed groups. The trial court found the defendant guilty of the charge and sentenced the defendant to a life sentence. (One of the few hard sentences I've seen given. Nine other case results listed at link.)

Link

Iraq-Jordan

IRGC reinforcing ties to Zark, attacking UK troops in southern Iraq

2005-09-13

An Iranian military source has disclosed an initiative on behalf of al-Quds Corps, which is affiliated to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, to reinforce its relations with Ansar al-Islam Organization in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Qa'idat Al Jihad Fi Bilad Al Rafidain (The Base of Jihad in the Land of the Two Rivers) in the center and south of Iraq. Qods Force is the elite of the IRGC. They're the ones who run Hezbollah and are currently protecting Saif al-Adel, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, Saad bin Laden, and the rest of the al-Qaeda leadership. They also supported Sadr and are apparently giving the insurgents IEDs originally designed for use by Hezbollah against Israelis in Lebanon. The Iranian officer, who is a former colonel in al-Quds Corps told Al Sharq Al Awsat that officials from the Revolutionary Guard have recently met with leaders of Ansar al-Islam and the Jihad organizations in Ramadan headquarters near the Iranian-Iraqi borders. They discussed the acceleration of military operations against the British forces in the south of Iraq. He added that the commander of a commando group in 'Badr Corps' which is affiliated to the supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq has previously received instructions from the command of 'Badr Corps' stating the acceleration of attacks targeting British militants. The source connected between the last attacks against the British forces, and the new Iranian military strategy and the competent security authorities for the affairs of the Kurds. There were several indications that the Kurdish-Iranian parties have received aids from Kurds in Iraq. Iran has accused the Iraqi Kurds, the US, and the UK of stirring up trouble in Iranian Kurdistan and the ethnic Arab region of Khuzestan. It may well be true, though I tend to doubt it - Iran is brutal enough to provoke low-level rebellions without any significant outside meddling.

Link

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