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Profiles of the terrorist suspects facing extradition to the US

April 10, 2012 in 2012, Al Qaeda, America, Egypt, European, FBI, Homeland Security, Islamic, Jihad, Law Enforcement / Terrorism, Middle East, Muslims, Radical Islam, Terrorism

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www.homelandsecuritynet.com

The European Court of Human Rights will today rule on whether six men, including Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad and Khaled al – Fawwaz, should be extradited on terrorism charges to the US.

Abu Hamza, who was born in Egypt and gained British citizenship in 1986, is accused of taking hostages and conspiracy to take hostages in relation to the kidnap of 16 Westerners in Yemen in December 1998.

Three Britons and an Australian were shot dead by the kidnappers during a rescue mission.

Hamza is said to have been in contact with the leader of the hostage takers, Abu al – Hassan, by satellite phone before and during the kidnapping.

His son and stepson were jailed in Yemen. Hamza is also accused of conducting violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2001 by providing material and financial assistance to his followers in London and arranging for them to meet Taliban commanders in Afghanistan.

Along with Haroon Rashid Aswat, from Batley, West Yorkshire, Hamza is also accused of conspiracy to establish a jihad training camp in Bly, Oregon between June 2000 and December 2001. Hamza is also accused of providing material support and resources to al – Qaeda.

Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan, both from Tooting, south London, are accused of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists; providing material support to terrorists; conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country; and money laundering.

The material support is alleged to have been provided through a series of websites whose servers were based in Connecticut. The other charge is based on an allegation that the pair were in possession of classified US Navy plans relating to a US naval battle group operating in the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and that they discussed its vulnerability to terrorist attack.

The main website, known as “Azzam Publications” was named after Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian scholar who was, according to the website, “instrumental in reviving jihad in the 20th century.” It carried a series of personal stories from fighters in Chechnya, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Khaled al – Fawwaz, a Saudi citizen, and Abel Abdel Bary, an Egyptian who claimed asylum, were arrested in September 1998 in connection with the bomb attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania a month earlier that killed 223 people and injured more than 4,000.

Fawwaz is said to have previously fought with bin Laden in Afghanistan and to have run a training camp there. He is accused of running an al – Qaeda cell in Kenya before fleeing in 1994 to Britain where he and Bary set up the advice and reformation committee, a publicity machine for al – Qaeda.

According to the US government, bin Laden called him more than 200 times between 1996 and 1998 and in May 1998 Fawwaz published a fatwa by bin Laden which called on Muslims to attack Americans and their allies around the world.

Bary was allegedly in contact with Ayman al – Zawahiri, now the leader of al – Qaeda, and was sentenced to death in absentia in Egypt over a plot to blow up a market.

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Egypt sends U.S. formal charges against NGOs

February 9, 2012 in 2012, America, Egypt

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By Adam Levine

The United States received the formal charging document from the Egyptian government that outlines the case against the staff of pro-democracy organizations, including 16 Americans, State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The Egyptians say the pro-democracy organizations had received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a proper license. But some of the groups had been tacitly operating for some time in Egypt without permission, even under former leader Hosni Mubarak, who was pushed from office in the initial wave of the Arab Spring protests last year.

The report , which Nuland said was between 100 and 175 pages and written in Arabic, was given to the U.S. on Wednesday morning.  It is being translated and reviewed to understand the legal case, implications and what is expected of those charged, Nuland said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Nuland said that despite the charges, the U.S. does not consider the case truly a judicial one.

“Our view remains that this is not fundamentally a judicial issue. This is an issue between the two governments,” Nuland said, saying it is really a disagreement about the “appropriate role” that foreign NGOs should play in supporting a democracy and “ensuring that the environment for their operation is clear, is well understood, and that we have an agreement among us.”

“We’ve been asking to resolve this goverment-to-government,” Nuland said. As part of that effort, CNN reported that the top U.S. military official, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, will be traveling to Cairo later this week to meet with his Egyptian counterparts.

Dempsey will not present any ultimatums to the Egyptian military on the Americans being detained but will suggest that the Egyptians be aware U.S. aid is at risk.

“He will say you have choices and there are consequences to those choices,” according to Dempsey’s spokesman Col. Dave Lapan.

Of the Americans charged, less than half are still in Egypt. Those who are still in country have been invited to move onto the embassy compound.

The Egyptian government has not asked for those Americans at  the embassy to be turned over or turn themselves in, although Nuland said there might be instructions in the charging document that they are still reviewing.

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Stowaway: Drawing a line in the sand for Government agencies responsible for transportation security- By Josh Jacobs

July 7, 2011 in Egypt, FBI, Homeland Security, Nigerian

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By: Josh Jacobs

Details continue to emerge from a story that broke at the end of June concerning a Nigerian American who bypassed three separate layers of airport security in New York and successfully flew to Los Angeles. It wasn’t until mid-flight that the suspect was asked to present his boarding pass and ID. After detaining Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi once on the ground authorities discovered 15 expired boarding passes, none of which matched Noibi’s name.

Whether we discover what Noibi’s intentions really were, the underlying problem must not be overlooked. The countless stories of airport closures because of security breaches, airport employees involved in drug smuggling and illegal immigrates that are either stowaways or that circumvent past security aren’t strangers to making first page headlines.

Airports aren’t the only area of concern. Not too long ago back in May an Egyptian born stowaway was found by law enforcement in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The disturbing part came when authorities later discovered the man was denied a visa for having fought against US forces in the Second Battle of Fallujah.

In seems as though the Transportation Security Administration has fallen on some pretty tough times. It’s not only the security breaches that have critics firing from all angles in anger. On the opposite side of the spectrum the TSA has been criticized for excessive searches on the general public as well. So now the question becomes where does government draw a line in the sand? Or is there a line to draw? Must the public give up some comfort when traveling for the overall safety and security of the nation?

Maybe the most damning stories to have gone viral and which raised eyebrows across the country broke in 2001. In a memo made public by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., The Department of Homeland Security expressed concern about illegal immigrants who passed through the Port of Boston and their possible link to al Qaeda. Their mode of transportation was onboard LNG tankers delivering liquefied natural gas. It was concluded by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy that a lack of communication between federal agencies and local officials only contributed to the confusion of handling the situation.

While the FBI later denied any connection between these Algerian stowaways and terror cells, former White House adviser Richard A. Clarke’s book “Against All Enemies” was released before authorities acknowledged that the incident even took place. It was within this book that the public was made aware of the LNG tanker story.

Having come full circle the most recent news involving Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi and his cross country flight continues to emphasize the greater need of communication and teamwork between all agencies, whether state or federal. Airlines and shipping companies are just two more entities that possible terrorists can and do exploit. Noibi’s intentions might not be known but the Nigerian American can be used for greater education and policy change in a greater effort to prevent future breaches in security.

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