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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Seven Members Of Outlawed Islamic Group Arrested |
| 2005-10-05 |
| Damascus, 5 Oct. (AKI) - Syrian authorities have arrested seven members of the outlawed radical Islamic group, Hizb ut Tahrir (Party of Liberation). Lebanon-based leaders of the group said their fellow militants were picked up by security forces in Damascus and the northwestern city of Aleppo. Those arrested include university professors, engineers, pharmacists and law students, the party said in a statement released on Tuesday. Hizb ut Tahrir was founded in Jerusalem in 1953 with the goal of re-establishing an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East. Over the years, its ideology has moved closer to al-Qaeda's, with a mixture of anti-US and anti-Israeli sentiments. In the wake of the crackdown against Islamic radicals following the July bomb blasts in London one of the group's most prominent European representatives, Sheik Omar Bakri, who had been living in Britain since 1996, has sought shelter in Lebanon since August. British authorities and those in many Middle East countries have banned Hizb ut Tahrir, and in Syria membership of the group can be punished by the death penalty. A wave of recent expulsion orders has hit Europe-based Hizb ut Tahrir militants, as authorities in Britain, France, Denmark and Russia have started investigating the organisation for its terrorist links and anti-Semitic propaganda. Danish authorities ordered several militants out of the country while Hizb ut Tahrir's spokesman in Denmark, Fadi Abdel Latif, has been arrested and charged with instigating hatred against Jews. Unconfirmed reports have also said that over 50 of the party's militants have been deported from Russia after police discovered firearms and explosives in their homes. France has also expelled an unspecified number of the group's militants. |
| Posted by:Steve |