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| Europe |
| Spiritual Leader Is Arrested in Norway |
| 2004-01-02 |
| OSLO, Norway (AP) - Mullah Krekar, the spiritual leader of the Iraq-based Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, was arrested Friday, his brother told The Associated Press. Excellent news. Police went to Krekar’s house in the morning and took him to a police station in Oslo, said Khalid Faraj Ahmad. ``They won’t allow me to go in. They want to take him,’’ he said. ``I don’t know what they will do with him.’’ That generally happens when you ’arrest’ someone. Krekar’s lawyer, Brynjar Meling, told the Norwegian news agency NTB that new charges were filed against Krekar, but he wasn’t told what they were. A phone call to Meling by the AP went unanswered. Ansar al-Islam, a group of as many as 600 Islamic militants in the mountains of northern Iraq, is regarded as a terrorist organization by Krekar, born Najm al-Din Faraj Ahmad, has repeatedly denied links with al-Qaida, although he has called Osama bin Laden ``a good Muslim.’’ He has also denied any connection with recent bombings and terror attacks in Iraq, or any role in smuggling drugs in Jordan. He also denied his own name which tells you something. He was arrested at the airport outside Amsterdam on Sept. 12, 2002, after Iran had denied him entry and sent him back to Europe, tipping off Western governments that he was on his way. He was interrogated twice by the FBI while in Dutch custody, and then deported in January to Norway, where he was arrested again. He was released from a Norwegian jail in April after a court found insufficient grounds to hold him on terrorism charges. Police dropped the charges in July, but are investigating him on other charges that they refuse to reveal. If at first you don’t succeed, ... Krekar has had refugee status in Norway for more than a decade, something Norwegian authorities are challenging because he regularly returned to Iraq, the country he had fled during the reign of Saddam Hussein. No need for the Norweigans to keep him then. Send him packing, and let us know what flight he’s on. |
| Posted by:Steve White |