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Arabia

Attempt on prince aimed at deterring repenters: Al-Fifi

2011-01-13

We can be sure it hit targets painted in exactly the right spots on the floor and ceiling of that reception room in the palace, but beyond that the evidence was too misty to be certain. [Arab News] Ex-Saudi bully boy Jaber Al-Fifi has revealed more details about the failed attempt to assassinate Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Prince Muhammad bin Naif in August 2009. The would-be assassin, Abdullah Asiri, died in the suicide kaboom. Al-Fifi said Al-Qaeda was responsible for the liquidation attempt, which aimed to undermine Saudis' faith in a program encouraging Islamic fascisti to turn themselves in. It certainly seems wise, in retrospect, not to stop for a last coffee with the AQAP master bomb maker on the way to surrendering to the authorities... Al-Fifi told Homomna (Our Concerns), which aired on Saudi Television's Channel 1 on Tuesday night that the details of the operation was revealed to him by the military commander of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Known to the rest of the world as Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula, but the Saudis have their little peculiarities on such subjects. Qasim Al-Rimi. He said the commander told him that the only way to reach Prince Muhammad was by sending in Islamic fascisti who pretended to give themselves up to the authorities. "If we were accepted and given an audience with the prince, we would detonate the explosives, killing him as well as us," Al-Fifi said. He said Saudi authorities would then doubt the intentions of any Al-Qaeda member who offered to turn himself in, ultimately discouraging Islamic fascisti from surrendering. Al-Fifi said he did not know what was in the explosives belt, but said it must have been highly volatile. Belt? I thought that master bomb maker put it up his brother's bum. The prince's guards would have notices a bomb belt, surely. "I believe that the material put into the belt was a very small amount but highly explosive. This was why Asiri was able to get through the detectors at the airport," he said. Al-Fifi said it was the brother of Asiri who prepared the explosives and the belt. He said the brother was also an Al-Qaeda member and lived in Yemen. "Asiri was chosen to execute the operation because he was Saudi and the last name in the list of 85 most wanted terrorists," he said. Al-Fifi said Al-Qaeda was very secretive about such operations and would only talk to those directly involved in executing them. "The leaders would only speak to the cut-throats about their role in the operation and would not tell them the role of others involved," he said. He said a Yemeni national was sent on a reconnaissance mission to Soddy Arabia to find out how to enter the Kingdom and get an audience with Prince Muhammad before Asiri was assigned the task of killing the prince. He did not reveal the name of the Yemeni man, but said he was supposed to go back to Soddy Arabia again to carry out the operation himself. "There were differences over his suitability and finally (deputy leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) Saeed Al-Shihri chose Asiri to carry out the operation," he said. Al-Fifi said the explosives were tested on a rock before they were put in the belt around Asiri's waist. "Only 200 grams was used and it completely destroyed the rock," he said. It sounds impressive to me, but I really haven't a clue about such things. Does Saudi security employ bomb-sniffing dogs... or perhaps trained bees? Al-Fifi said the Al-Qaeda plotters forgot to put poison in the explosives, which would have killed any injured person within only four seconds. I'm sure I recall that the heat of the explosion would break down the poison's chemical structure. He thanked Saudi authorities for allowing him to perform Haj and to see his family. He expressed his worry that people would not forget that he had worked for Al-Qaeda. "I want to meet with people to tell them that I have repented and am no longer a terrorist," he added.

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Arabia

Former militant slams media for linking Al-Qaeda to Saudi Arabia

2011-01-07

[Arab News] Accusing the media of trying to link Al-Qaeda to Soddy Arabia, Jaber Al-Fifi, a former Islamic exemplar who was No. 20 on the Kingdom's list of 85 most-wanted terrorists, told the Saudi Channel 1 on Tuesday evening that the organization depends primarily on non-Saudi recruits in Afghanistan under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden. "I made the vow of allegiance to a man named Abu Baseer who was a Yemeni and an assistant to Bin Laben," he said on the program "Homomna" ("Our Concerns"). Al-Fifi returned to the Kingdom from his voluntary exile in Yemen, announced his repentance and was rehabilitated at Prince Muhammad bin Naif Center for Religious Advice. "The organization in Yemen was shaken up after its leader and field commander Muhammad Al-Aoufi gave himself up to the Saudi authorities benefiting from the pardon given to Islamic exemplars," he said, adding that most of the members could not believe their ears when they heard the news. Al-Fifi told his interviewers that the first news that came to them about Al-Aoufi was that he was sold to the Saudi authorities by some Yemeni tribes, but they now believe he gave himself up voluntarily. "After this incident, Al-Qaeda leaders began to tighten their grip on us," he said. "I stayed in a house for a long time doing nothing. It is then that I began to think of going back home." Al-Fifi, who was a former Guantanamo detainee, said he decamped Taif to Yemen through the Fifa Mountains. "My escape was orchestrated by Youssef Al-Shihri, the Islamic exemplar who was killed at a Jazan checkpoint while dressing like a woman," he said. He recalled that his exodus, with seven other former Guantanamo prisoners, followed a dinner party organized in Taif by Al-Aoufi and Saeed Al-Shihri (incumbent leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen) during which they called for operations inside the Kingdom and said their Islamic exemplar operations were legitimate, according to a fatwa. He said he stayed at home for a year following his return from Guantanamo and got married until he was talked into rejoining Al-Qaeda during the dinner party. He said most of the invitees to the dinner had no idea about Al-Qaeda terrorist operations in the Kingdom and thought that they were only targeting the Americans. "I was against any terrorist operations inside the Kingdom," he said. Al-Fifi said they chose to escape to Yemen because it was a lot easier to enter the country and forge the necessary identity papers. He said he thought he would not give the oath of allegiance after the one he had given to Bin Laden but was compelled to give a similar oath to the Yemeni Abu Naseer. Al-Fifi, who worked under the alias Hamza Al-Taifi and Abu Abdullah Al-Shabhawani, said before he turned himself in he had been asked to go to Somalia, Afghanistan or Iraq.

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Arabia

Al-Fifi regrets turning his back on Saudi generosity

2010-12-29

[Arab News] In his third appearance on Saudi TV on Monday, Jaber Al-Fifi, who was No. 20 on the Kingdom's list of 85 most-wanted bad turbans, expressed regret at turning his back on the Saudi government's generosity. "The Saudi government assisted me in getting married, paid for my rent and furnished my apartment. It also paid for my father's medication. I then turned my back on them and went out to fight," said Al-Fifi on the Saudi Channel 1 program, Homomna (Our Concerns). In the most recent episode of his interview, the 36-year-old spoke about his time in the mountains of Tora Bora, Guantanamo Bay and Yemen where he joined Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. "Terrorism was born without any knowledge of the true Islamic religion. Takfir (declaring another out of the fold of Islam) was done without any evidence or profit behind prison walls by politicized Arabs and Afghans," he said. He added that Saeed Al-Shihri, a wanted bad turban and leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, encouraged gun-hung tough guys who had repented after their release from Guantanamo to rejoin Al-Qaeda and that non-Saudi gun-hung tough guys pressed him and others to fight the Kingdom. "The Saudi gunnies absented themselves from religious sermons while in prison and focused on remaining patient until they were released and able to go back and fight their own country," he said. Al-Fifi said he was caught in Pakistain where he was handed over to US soldiers and flown to a prison in Kandahar. "I stayed there for 14 days after which I was transported to Guantanamo; there were many Arabs and Afghans there," he said. Speaking about the US detention camp, he said conditions were very bad and that inmates were tortured and mistreated. "We were kicked, beaten and thrown into prison like sacks. We were not allowed to extend our hands out of our blankets, make the Adhan or talk to our neighbors," he said. Al-Fifi recalled that he spent five years in five different prisons before finally being released. "I could not believe myself when I arrived in the Kingdom. I looked for signs to show that I was in my country but could find none. I realized that I was in the Kingdom when I spoke to a man who answered me in a Saudi dialect," he said. Al-Fifi said he relapsed back into terrorism and decamped to Yemen after going through a rehabilitation program at Prince Muhammad bin Naif Center for Counseling and Care. "I was looking for martyrdom and was deeply affected by the war in Gazoo and the atrocities in Iraq. I went to Yemen because it was easy to enter," he said. Further episodes of Al-Fifi's interview are to be broadcast over the next few weeks.

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Arabia

Reformed militant's confessions to be aired on TV

2010-12-21

[Arab News] Saudi Channel 1 is to air on Tuesday an interview with Jaber Al-Fifi, the thug who was No. 20 on the Kingdom's list of 85 most-wanted deviants that was published several years ago by the Ministry of Interior. Al-Fifi? That sounds kinda... ummm... swish. In the interview, Al-Fifi will speak about his experiences, how he was recruited by Al-Qaeda, his travels to "havens of terrorism" and how he became an expert in explosives. The interview will be broadcast in the program Himoumina (Our Concerns). On his release from Guantanamo Bay, 36-year-old Al-Fifi was brought back to the Kingdom and made to join a rehabilitation program initiated by Prince Muhammad bin Naif. He, however, managed to escape to Yemen where he rejoined Al-Qaeda but then subsequently gave himself up to Saudi authorities and announced that he had repented of deviant thought. This will be Al-Fifi's second appearance on TV in which he speaks about terrorist organizations, and how they recruit young men and women and make them hostile to the Kingdom. In his first appearance on Saudi TV on Nov. 29, Al-Fifi, who was born in Taif and codenamed Abu Jafaar Al-Ansari, spoke about the plans and conspiracies being carried out by organizations connected to foreign powers to attack Saudi targets and interests. He said these plans were made in coordination with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the mountains of Yemen. Adel Al-Sobaie, associate professor at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, and Saeed Al-Siraiha, a researcher in youth issues, will participate in the program and speak about the exploitation of youth for devious purposes from the religious and social perspectives. They will also highlight the factors that drive young men and women to adopt an Islamic myrmidon mindset. The program gains special importance in the light of a recent announcement by the Ministry of Interior that it has jugged 149 members of organizations that hold devious thoughts. The ministry said the detainees were planning terrorist acts against Saudi organizations and personalities.

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