A Kuwaiti judge yesterday ordered 10 men suspected of recruiting anti-US fighters for Iraq to be detained for a further two weeks, their lawyers said. The suspects, who include three teenagers and an adult extradited from Syria last month, have "categorically denied the accusations against them and said their confessions were made under duress," Osama Al-Munawer told AFP. "There was a state security officer present during questioning by the prosecution, while defense lawyers were barred," he said. The 10, arrested last month, are among a group of Islamist activists suspected of encouraging Kuwaitis to travel to Iraq to fight US-led occupation forces. Lawyer Abdulrahman Al-Rasheedi claimed the investigating authorities have failed to present "any substantial evidence" for the charges.
"Yeah! Y'got nuttin', nuttin', I tells yez! All the witnesses are dead!"
According to legal sources, the 10 face charges ranging from plotting to carry out terrorist attacks against US forces in and outside Kuwait, illegal possession of arms, inciting others to attack US forces and joining a terrorist group outside Kuwait. Authorities say 14 people have been arrested since the crackdown began a month ago, but legal sources and press reports have put the figure higher.
"How much higher?"
"11 million."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"When was the last time you saw Jordan?"
Three suspects were released last week, each on bail of $1,000. The authorities are also pursuing four men wanted for matters related to "state security". They include Khaled Al-Dossari, spokesman for the Association of Victims of Torture and Arbitrary Arrest. Unconfirmed reports have said Dossari is in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.
Or Switzerland.
Rasheedi told reporters last week that the 10 suspects, who are being held in the central prison, staged a hunger strike to protest their alleged maltreatment and to attract attention to their case. The authorities have denied they were on such a strike. Munawer has alleged that Kuwait's recent crackdown stems from US pressure on the emirate.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2004 00:36 ||
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#2
Question is, was this the big political assassination that was to set off the series of attacks that had been reported recently? What timeframe were these guys working on? Guess we'll have to wait for the new Bin Laden tape trigger to see.
THE man alleged to have been al-Qaeda's UK operations chief and recently seized in a police raid attended a summit of terrorists in Pakistan just five months ago, according to reports yesterday. Abu Musa al-Hindi, who officials believe had been working on a plan to attack Heathrow airport, attended the terrorist summit in Waziristan in March, according to US and Pakistani government officials interviewed by Time magazine. President Musharraf of Pakistan told Time that the meeting had exposed the "second string" of al-Qaeda's leadership and was "extremely significant". Some US officials fear that the meeting may have been a key planning session, similar to the 2000 meeting in Kuala Lumpar that gave the final go-ahead for the September 11 terror attacks.
Mr al-Hindi was arrested after a tip-off from Pakistani intelligence, which says that he had been in close contact with Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, an alleged al- Qaeda computer operative seized in Pakistan this month. The capture of Mr Khan triggered the recent arrests in the UK and Pakistan and information on his computer led to the terror alerts at financial institutions in New York, Washington and New Jersey. Officials insist that Mr Khan, whose alleged role was to send coded orders to al-Qaeda agents around the world, had been in direct contact with Mr al-Hindi about a Heathrow operation and had visited Britain at least six times in recent years. A US official said: "This was a meeting of cold-blooded killers who are very skilled at what they do." A senior counter-terrorism official said analysts were studying the recent pattern of terrorist activity against previous large attacks. This had contributed to the worry that at least some members of a strike team were already in the US.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/16/2004 4:28:42 AM ||
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#1
besside the musl there is abbout 3 millions britts and 175000000 worldwide that whant still ckick is ass and they will
Two Chinese travelling salesmen have been gunned down in southern Thailand as part of separatist violence which has claimed more than 275 lives since the start of the year. Oficials say So Si-Huang, 42, and Huang Giang-ju, 19, were rushed to hospital after being shot in the legs by four men on two motorbikes as they sold blankets to villagers in Narathiwat province. Police say alleged separatists also torched a school in the same province on Sunday and a district official from neighbouring Yala province was arrested with dynamite and ammunition during a raid by security forces.
Authorities are testing a suspicious powder mailed to the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia to determine whether it is anthrax, officials said Monday after the second such scare at a U.S. mission in Asia within a week. The powder was mailed with an intimidating leaflet from an unknown group called Jemaah Muhajirin Mohamad, demanding Washington remove its troops from Iraq "or face the consequences." It threatened to blow up the embassy and kill or kidnap Americans in Malaysia, said Abdul Aziz Bulat, Kuala Lumpur's police chief of criminal investigations. "We think that it's just a hoax and this group is nonexistent, but we will take precautions by investigating this seriously," Abdul Aziz told The Associated Press.
Police, firefighters and a medical crew rushed to the embassy Monday after staff there opened the letter, Abdul Aziz said. The letter was mailed from within Malaysia. Three embassy staff members exposed to a yellowish substance in the envelope were briefly quarantined for a medical checkup, which cleared them, district police official Aman Hussain said. The powder was sent for laboratory tests to determine whether it might contain anthrax spores or other toxins, Aman said. A week ago, the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was closed after receiving mail containing a suspicious powder. Tests found the powder harmless. Frank Whitaker, the U.S. Embassy's spokesman in Kuala Lumpur, said the embassy remained open and operations resumed normally.
Malaysia -- a moderate, predominantly Muslim nation that staunchly opposed the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan -- is considered one of Asia's most peaceful, stable countries. Since 2001, the Malaysian government has arrested more than 70 suspected members of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network, which has been accused of various plots and deadly bombings, including the 2002 Bali blasts in Indonesia that killed 202 people.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
08/16/2004 10:13:48 AM ||
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Huh? How did Stephen Hatfill (Person of Interestâ¢) get to Malaysia?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/16/2004 11:58 Comments ||
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Ali-Asghar Ahmadi, the deputy interior minister for security affairs, here on Sunday said that due to the current insecurity in Iraq pilgrims are advised not to travel to the country. Ahmadi told the Mehr News Agency that everything is normal on the Iran-Iraq borders. Although pilgrims can enter Iraq through the Khosravi border checkpoint legally, due to the insecurity in Iraq, pilgrims are advised not to make visits to the holy cities, he added. On the arrest of some Iranian pilgrims in Iraq, Ahmadi said that the Iranian Foreign Ministry is responsible for pursuing the issue and making efforts to obtain the release of the detained pilgrims.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2004 12:26:02 AM ||
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A man on a bicycle threw at least four bombs into the compound of a luxury hotel in Nepal's capital Monday but the blasts caused no casualties, authorities said. The attack in Kathmandu came on the eve of a deadline by Maoist rebels to shut down 10 firms, including the popular Soaltee Crowne Plaza hotel, accusing them of unfair labor practices in the Himalayan state. "The explosions took place within a gap of a few minutes," an Interior Ministry official told Reuters. "The bombs fell near the empty tennis court at the back of the hotel. So no one was injured."
There were no claims of responsibility for the blasts but the official blamed Nepal's Maoist insurgents who have been fighting since 1996 to replace the constitutional monarchy with communist rule. The Maoist revolt has killed more than 10,000 people in the desperately poor country, wedged between China and India. It has scared away investors and tourists and threatened the stability of multiparty democracy set up in 1990. Monday's attack was the first targeting a luxury hotel in the Nepali capital, popular with tourists for its Hindu temples and casinos.
Police and soldiers sealed the area around the hotel after the blasts around 7:15 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT) and guests were allowed inside only after being thoroughly frisked, witnesses said. The 283-room hotel is particularly popular with Indian tourists but it was estimated to be only half occupied because it is the off-season. A trade union linked to the rebels last week asked 10 companies across the country to shut down indefinitely starting Tuesday, saying that they exploited their workers. The Soaltee management had refused to bow to the threats. Hotel officials were not immediately available for comment after the blasts. The rebels have also threatened to blockade Kathmandu and prevent food and other supplies reaching the hill-ringed capital from Aug. 18 unless the government gives in to a series of demands. Couldn't have someone chased this cyclist down on foot? Whudda low budget operation.
A former US soldier being tried in Afghanistan for hostage-taking and torture has said his trial is unfair.
"It's not fair, dammit!"
Jonathan Idema told a court in Kabul on Monday that he had not been given a copy of the charges against him. He and two other American men, Edward Caraballo and Brent Bennett, are accused of illegally entering Afghanistan and running a private jail. Mr Idema says his mission was approved by the Pentagon, a charge the US authorities deny.
"If any of your IM force is caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."
"This message will self-destruct in [KERBLAM!]"
The US military says it has no such relationship with him, but has acknowledged that it had contact with the group.
"Your contact will be wearing a red turban, with a carnation in his lapel..."
Mr Idema wore dark sunglasses and a khaki army shirt with a US flag on the shoulder as the trial resumed for him and his co-accused. Speaking in court, he attacked the judicial process, complaining that he had not been given a copy of the charges against him. The BBC's Andrew North, who was in the courtroom, says Mr Idema sometimes flung up his arms in apparent frustration, saying he had no access to the evidence he needs to defend himself. Mr Idema claims this includes videos, photos and documents which he says were removed by US FBI officers after his arrest. He said FBI agents had been present at one interrogation he had carried out of a man he described as a "terrorist". But the trial judge, Abdul Basset Bakhtiari, blamed Mr Idema for the confusion and repeatedly asked him to keep to "the substance of the case". He said Mr Idema still had to answer two key questions: how did he enter Afghanistan and who gave him the authority to arrest Afghans and detain them?
Oh, those questions.
Four Afghan men arrested with the Americans in Kabul in early July are also in the dock. The judge said he would do his best to ensure a fair trial for the men. If found guilty, the seven men could face jail sentences of between 16 and 20 years.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/16/2004 8:57:19 AM ||
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The arrest of Qari 'Saifullah' Akhtar in Dubai and his subsequent extradition to Pakistan has once again shown the deep links between the violence in Pakistan and the ongoing jihad in Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir. Qari Saifullah Akhtar was one of the three-member group of students from the Jamia Uloom-al-Islamia of the Binori Town of Karachi who left Karachi for Peshawar while on their way to Afghanistan on February 18, 1980 to wage jihad against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. This was probably the first group of Pakistani students from a madrassah who joined the Afghan jihad. The other two companions were Maulana Irshad Ahmed and Maulana Abdus Samad Sial. They called themselves Jamiat Ansarul Afghaneen (Party of the Friends of the Afghan People) and appointed Maulana Irshad the amir of their three-member party.
The group decided to join the Harkat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami of Afghanistan, an organisation of Afghan Deobandi ulema led by Maulana Nasrullah Mansoor. However, the group maintained its independence while the Afghan jihad lasted. The three-member group grew into a formidable 4,000-strong organisation by the time the Afghan jihad came to an end in 1988. It had lost only 26 fighters during the first eight years of the Afghan jihad. It lost 17 fighters between November 1988 and November 1989. Its members came from all over the Muslim world and beyond, particularly Bangladesh and Burma.
Jammu and Kashmir was about to explode when the Afghan jihad came to an end in 1988. The group assumed a new name, the Harkatul Jihad al-Islami, to wage jihad in Indian Jammu and Kashmir. The group rapidly grew into a formidable organisation during the Kashmir jihad. The group was operating in at least three countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, when the 9/11 attacks took place. It boasted tens of thousands of fighters before the 9/11 events forced it to go underground. It was running several training camps in these countries including one in Kotli in Azad Kashmir, one in Mansehra in the NWFP, and one in Rishkhur near Kabul. These camps churned out hundreds of jihadis every month. However, most of its training camps closed down in the aftermath of 9/11.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/16/2004 1:23:23 AM ||
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Good. You won't mind if we cap him in the knees then and apply a little chemical lubrication to his tounge.
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 15 - Forces of the newly trained Afghan National Army took control of an air base in the western province of Herat, where 21 people were killed Friday night after a local commander attacked the base, the president's office announced Sunday. Two more battalions of the new multiethnic army were dispatched to the province on Sunday, forcing back the forces of the governor, Ismail Khan.
Is it just my imagination or is Ismail rapidly becoming a pain in the ass?
In southern Afghanistan, fighting against suspected Taliban members continued in two areas. Seven government soldiers were killed as they slept in their checkpoint west of Kandahar on Saturday night. Eight suspected Taliban fighters were killed and 11 detained by Afghan government forces in a clash near the Pakistani border, local officials said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2004 12:31:48 AM ||
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Ismail Khan is a tool of the Iranians. Or you could say that the Iranians are a tool of Ismail Khan. Either way, Ismail Khan needs to be deposed, eventually. And there's no time like the present.
#2
Is it just my imagination or is Iran rapidly becoming more of a pain in the ass?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/16/2004 4:49 Comments ||
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I think it's just becoming a more visible pain in the ass Howard. It always have been formenting troubles for those around it and funding questionable endeavors in other countries since the "revolution".
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/16/2004 10:17 Comments ||
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Time to shoot down another airliner
Fie on the airliner, lets go after the turbans!
Why treat the symptoms, when you can cauterize the source of the infection. Or use radiation therapy to eliminate the toumor(sp?).
Posted by: N Guard ||
08/16/2004 11:21 Comments ||
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Sigh, 7 killed sleeping at their Checkpoint...
Nobody standing guard?
I hate to see soldiers killed...especially for something so stupid and elemental.
At least 15 people were killed and an unspecified number injured when separatist guerrillas triggered a powerful blast during the 58th Independence Day celebrations in a town in northeast India's Assam on Sunday. The blast, blamed on the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), occurred at 9.30 a.m. during the official Independence Day celebrations at Dhemaji town, the Indo-Asian News Service quoted police sources as saying.
They'll probably be reported by Newsweek as engaged in profiling to find the bombers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2004 12:29:42 AM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
