Bahrain Accuses Activists of Terror, Subversion .

Bahrain accused 23 Shiite activists, including political leaders and prominent clerics, of promoting terrorism and plotting to overthrow the monarchy, a move expected to add to sectarian tensions ahead of elections in the small Gulf Arab nation.

The accusations come after a wave of arrests last month of members of the country's majority Shiite community, which has long complained of discrimination by Bahrain's Sunni leadership, despite political overhauls ushered in by King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa. Activists say the arrests and charges against respected leaders of the community could further alienate disaffected Shiites.

Bahrain's experiment with limited democracy is often viewed as a barometer of political and sectarian tensions in the wider region, where Sunni regimes fear an expansionistic Iran and the growing clout of Shiites in Middle East affairs. Saudi Arabia, in particular, fears that instability among Bahrain's Shiites could prove a trigger point for that country's own restive Shiite minority, who live close to Bahrain in Saudi Arabia's main oil-producing region.

Bahrain is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which is responsible for U.S. naval forces in the Mideast and off the coast of East Africa. Political unrest is unlikely to affect the status of the base.

On Saturday, state prosecutors announced charges against 23 men, including the heads of two splinter political groups and prominent Shiite clerics, including plotting against the king, terrorist financing, arson and sabotage.

"This sophisticated terrorist network with operations inside and outside Bahrain has undertaken and planned a systematic and layered campaign of violence and subversion aimed squarely at undermining the national security of Bahrain," said Abdulrahman al Sayed, an official at the Public Prosecutors office, in a statement.

Lawyers for the charged men weren't available for comment.

The Bahraini authorities have issued a gag order on local media about the case. They also recently banned opposition websites in the kingdom, including the site run by largest Shiite political organization in Bahrain, the Islamic National Accord Association, known as al Wefaq, which controls 17 of the 40 seats in the lower house of parliament.

In the 1990s, Bahrain, an island city-state, was plagued by widespread civil unrest by Shiites fighting Sunni-dominated security forces. Tensions calmed after King Hamad took over in 1999, instituted constitutional changes and allowed Shiite political organizations to participate in elections for the lower house of parliament, which helps shape laws in conjunction with a second body whose members are handpicked by the king.

Local human-rights activists said the crackdown was part of a wider strategy by the government to undermine an increasingly effective political opposition ahead of national elections scheduled for Oct. 23.

"The opposition is divided between participation and opposing participation in the vote. When you arrest one side of the debate, it makes it harder for the other supporters to vote without appearing to be puppets of the regime," said Nabeel Rajab, the vice president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, whose website has been banned in the kingdom.

On Sunday, King Hamad said in a national address that the recent arrests were necessary for national security and didn't signal a reversal of civil rights.

The government has released few details about the alleged terrorist network, and Western diplomats based in Bahrain said they didn't know what evidence the government had to support the charges.

The crackdown began with the Aug. 13 arrest of Abduljalil Al-Singace when he returned from a trip to London. Mr. Singace, named by prosecutors as a leader of the alleged terrorist network, and most of the 23 men charged with terrorism offenses, are members of Haq, or the Movement of Liberties and Democracy, a splinter group of al Wefaq.

Late-night clashes between security forces and young Shiite protesters, many of whom are unemployed and affiliated with Haq, are a frequent occurrence in Bahrain. Security forces face gangs burning tires and armed with crude Molotov cocktails.

Haq leaders said last month that they would boycott the upcoming October elections, as they did with polls held in 2006.

Last month, al Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman warned that the uptick in arrests among Shiites would lead to more protests.

Colleagues of the men charged with terrorism go a step further, saying that the arrests will strengthen the extremist edge of the Shiite opposition movement. "Calling [the detained leaders] terrorists, this is something that no one believes here in Bahrain. This move shows that government does not tolerate any opposition," says Mr. Rajab, the activist. "This branch of opposition, those outside the mainstream, will now become stronger."

Write to Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Saudi Arabia amends highly criticized anti-terrorism law

Saudi Arabian officials on Saturday proposed amendments to the draft anti-terrorism law that received much criticism from human rights groups. A spokesperson for the Shura Council confirmed that the draft of the Penal Law for Terrorism Crimes and Financing of Terrorism was discussed during a session of the council in which changes to make the law less severe were proposed. The amended version of the law would criminalize taking up arms against the king or crown prince as opposed to the original version, which made questioning the king or crown prince a crime, carrying a minimum prison sentence of 10 years. The council seeks to amend the draft further before sending it to the king for approval. However, the changes may be overridden, given the council's limited powers. Amnesty International (AI) revealed the draft law and criticized it in a press release, contending that the legislation's definition of "terrorist crimes" is overly broad and would allow authorities to prosecute protestors for a wide range of conduct. AI also claimed that the draft law conflicts with international human rights treatises such as the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT).

The proposed law comes in response to recent civil unrest in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern and North African nations, but this is not the first time Saudi Arabia has been criticized for rigid counterterrorism practices. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in 2009 that Saudi Arabia was illegally detaining thousands under the auspices of combating terrorism. The report echoed another AI report which claimed that Saudi Arabian officials were allegedly using anti-terrorism measures as an excuse to secretly detain, imprison, torture and even kill thousands of people. In February 2009, the US Department of State released its 2008 Report on Human Rights Practices for Saudi Arabia, in which it identified several significant human rights issues, including denial of public trials and lack of due process in the judicial system, detention of political prisoners, incommunicado detention and lack of government transparency. Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz announced in October 2008 that the kingdom had indicted 991 suspected al Qaeda members. HRW sought access to the trials in an attempt to ensure compliance with international standards, but was denied.

Source: Jurist

Saudi Arabia: Cabinet looks at money laundering

Monday’s Cabinet meeting, chaired by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, resulted in approval for measures to address issues concerning money laundering and terrorism funding as well as housing.


The King briefed the session, held at Al-Yamama Palace in the capital, on the most significant communications of the past week, including the visits to the Kingdom of the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.
King Abdullah also briefed the Cabinet on communications he received from the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and his reception of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Dawoud Awghlou and the Second Vice President of Afghanistan, Abdul Karim Khalili.

Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja released a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) saying that the meeting looked at reports on developments in the Arab and Islamic world as well as wider international affairs and discussed the Kingdom’s economy following the recent announcement of the national budget.

Cabinet approval was given to authorize Prince Naif, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, to sign with foreign authorities a memorandum of understanding on collaboration in investigation into money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Measures were also approved following a study on providing land grants to Saudi nationals to facilitate the acquisition of homes. The measures included joining the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs program to the Iskan housing program to guarantee citizens housing, the provision of land to the Housing Commission to build homes for nationals in conformity with regulations and government-planned zones, provide all services stipulated for by the budget, and help beneficiaries of housing projects integrate with the rest of society by ensuring that projects are evenly distributed across cities. Cabinet approval was further given for the proposed Board of Directors at the Balad Al-Ameen Construction Development Company for the period of three years and its members from government, private and other sectors.

Similar approval was given for the restructuring of the Board of Directors of the Jeddah Development and Construction Company.

Source: The Saudi Gazette

Dead Men on UN Terror List Hinder Global Fight Against Al-Qaeda

Ahmad Zerfaoui is one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, according to the United Nations, which lists him as a member of al-Qaeda’s North African arm. It may be difficult to bring him to justice: He died three years ago. At least 42 dead people and as many as 69 defunct companies are among about 500 names on the UN’s list of alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban supporters, said Richard Barrett, who heads the world body’s committee monitoring sanctions on the groups and is working to clean up the register.


UN member states are reluctant to apply sanctions on the Taliban, al-Qaeda and their supporters because governments don’t know who on the list is a legitimate threat, Barrett said. The inaccuracies also hamper Obama administration efforts to motivate allies in the war on terrorism who don’t want to be seen as too close to the U.S., said Eric Rosand, a security analyst in New York.

“We turn to the UN for its global legitimacy, but if the UN tool is seen as illegitimate, you limit your effectiveness,” said Rosand, co-director of the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, an independent research group. “The UN has a lot of cachet where the U.S. is not appreciated.”

The list grew out of UN sanctions levied against the Taliban in 1999 after the Afghan Islamists refused to give up al-Qaeda operatives following the bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa.

Assets and Travel

The sanctions, which require nations to freeze assets of those listed and bar them from travel and weapons transactions, were extended to al-Qaeda in 2000 and strengthened after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“It was all a bit frantic after 9-11” and some names were added to the list that don’t belong, said Barrett.

All 15 Security Council nations must agree to add or remove any person or company from the register.

“There are dead people on the list and the committee can’t get them off,” Rosand said.

Groups on the list include Egyptian Islamic Jihad; branches of Saudi Arabia-based al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, which the UN called a main source of funds for al-Qaeda; and two honey shops and a bakery in Yemen whose owner was accused by the UN of being an al-Qaeda financier.

Thomas H. Nelson, an attorney for al-Haramain’s now- shuttered U.S. branch, called the terrorism accusation “ridiculous” in a phone interview from Welches, Oregon.

Barrett has removed 12 entities from the list this year. Some defunct companies are kept on to ensure they don’t revive, he said.

Death in Mali

Zerfaoui, who died in Mali in 2006, according to the UN, remains on the list because his name hasn’t come up for review.

“The problem with ‘dead’ people is proving that they are dead, particularly if they have died in ungoverned areas or countries where identities are uncertain and burials take place as soon as possible after death,” Barrett said in an e-mail.

Barrett, 60, a former officer of Britain’s MI6 spy agency, heads eight senior officials and about a dozen support staff from countries including Russia, France and the U.S., working from a midtown Manhattan office.

Many of Barrett’s security, intelligence and financial contacts are in countries that shy away from open cooperation with the U.S.

“This is a good way for the U.S. to get its agenda applied under a neutral flag,” said Barrett.

‘Significant Success’

Even with its flaws, the list helps the U.S. stifle al- Qaeda and the Taliban, said David S. Cohen, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing.

“We’ve had some significant success in degrading the financial facilitation networks by which al-Qaeda has been obtaining their funds,” he said in an interview.

Barrett said intelligence reports show al-Qaeda and the Taliban made several appeals for cash this year, a signal they are hurting from the sanctions. He said he didn’t have data from member states to show conclusively how much money has been seized under the sanctions.

Critics of the program including Jean-Charles Brisard, a former head of corporate intelligence at Paris-based Vivendi Universal SA, said the UN hasn’t kept up with terrorists’ financing methods. Since 2003, the amount of assets frozen and the number of names on the list has remained at about $80 million and 500 people, said Brisard, now a consultant for families of Sept. 11 victims.

“That’s quite ridiculous,” he said from Paris.

Legal Challenges

Countries have also been reluctant to enforce the sanctions out of concern the list won’t stand up to legal challenges, said Brisard and Barrett.

A Saudi businessman, Yassin Abdullah Kadi, also known as Yasin al-Qadi, who is on the list for allegedly supplying arms and funds to al-Qaeda and had his assets frozen, appealed to the European Court of Justice. The court ruled last year that the European Union regulations enforcing the UN sanctions denied his rights, including the right to judicial review. The asset freeze, the court said, was “an unjustified restriction” on property rights.

The council is discussing new rules on the listing and appeals process.

“For the sanctions to be efficient,” Barrett said, “they have to be respected.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter S. Green in New York at psgreen@bloomberg.net.

Source: Bloomberg

FBI agents in town help fight cross-border crime

By Marie Magleby, Special to Gulf News

Published: May 31, 2008, 23:44

Abu Dhabi: Gary Price and Ernest Herbert carry FBI badges, but their job descriptions are significantly different here than in the US.

"I have no law enforcement authority here," Special Agent Price said.

Instead, the duo are go-betweens for local and US law enforcement. He said, "We work closely with UAE government officials to share information that protects the two countries."

They also offer training at the request of local authorities. The training involves many aspects of law enforcement, including ways to combat white-collar crime, violent crime, forensics and counter-terrorism.

In addition, the agents coordinate the Middle East Law Enforcement Training Centre in Dubai, which offers week-long courses for law enforcement personnel from around the Gulf.

Local authorities choose the topics and dates, and FBI specialists come from the US to teach the courses. Since its establishment in 2001, the centre, co-sponsored by the FBI and Dubai police, has conducted about 40 courses dealing with money laundering, computer crimes, intellectual property rights, kidnapping, auto theft, homicide, financial institution fraud, terrorist financing, hostage negotiations and more.

The globalisation of crime, especially financial and internet crime, places the agents in a pivotal position. "The UAE is an important crossroads for business and, as a result, also for crime," Price said of the potential for fraud or abuse in the banking system. With the help of local officials, they routinely seek to investigate bank records and track financial transactions linked to the US.

When internet crime is traced back to the US, the agents are also able to help. Just months ago, a prominent UAE citizen received a cyber threat from a location in the US.

Local law enforcement officials contacted Price and Herbert, who enlisted agents in the US to conduct an investigation. The man was arrested, charged and is now facing imprisonment.

About working with local authorities, Price said: "I truly enjoy working with the Emiratis. They are professional and very gracious." There are, however, obstacles. According to Price, a federal law that regulates "international judicial cooperation" is often misinterpreted to be a roadblock to investigations. "There is not a timely, quick way for law enforcement response because of the bureaucratic process," he said.

Law enforcement mechanisms do not always translate across cultures and borders, Herbert said in a similar vein. "Things are run differently here than in the US, so we have to do things differently."

When FBI agents are on international assignment, they assume the title of Legal Attaché in their respective embassies. Price and Herbert are successors to three other agents since the Abu Dhabi office opened in December 2003. They cover both the UAE and Oman. In the region, the FBI also has agents posted in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

During his tenure, former FBI director Louis Freeh pushed to expand the bureau's international presence. It now has offices in 62 countries. This worldwide network of agents is a necessary countermeasure against the growing nexus of international crime. "Just as there are no borders for crime and terrorism, there can be no borders for justice and the rule of law," current director Robert Mueller told the US Senate in March.

Progress

"Twenty years ago, the idea of regularly communicating with our law enforcement counterparts around the world was as foreign as the internet or the mobile phone. Today, advances in technology, travel and communication have broken down walls between countries, continents and individuals," Mueller added. Price and Herbert embody this prog-ress.

Mueller became the dir-ector one week prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The FBI began as a special agent force in 1908 and received its current title in 1935. Since its genesis, the FBI has seen its share of success and failure. Though it has successfully foiled numerous plots, conspiracies and espionage attempts, it has been criticised for shoddy investigation tactics and ignoring intelligence reports that could have prevented past attacks. Regardless, it has survived a century of challenges.

- The writer is a journalist based in Abu Dhabi.

Source: GulfNews

UAE: New X-ray machines target smugglers

by Matthew Chung

Powerful enough to spot a box of cigarettes inside a packed lorry, the UAE’s new X-ray machines at the border with Saudi Arabia may keep the average smuggler awake at night.

The Government last week installed one of four newly acquired heavy-duty machines at the Gheweifat border post, as part of a plan to improve border security over the next two years. All the country’s border crossings, as well as Abu Dhabi International Airport and Mina Zayed Port, will eventually be equipped with similar machines.

Howard Nortcliffe, the senior equipment engineer for General Administration of Customs, said the X-ray machines would give customs officers a better chance of detecting contraband inside large consignments of cargo: “They can actually detect a cigarette packet within the carton.”

He added that the images delivered by the high-energy beams, which reflect off organic material, were of almost photographic quality. “Previously, it would have been a basic blur.”

In addition to the heavy-duty machines for lorries, the Government’s order also included four smaller, low-energy machines for passenger vehicles and one large, low-energy, drive-through machine for lorries.

It also purchased three “mobile” low-energy machines that will be operated from vans that scan vehicles by driving around them.

The low-energy machines expose people to very little radiation, so they can remain in their vehicles. The radiation from “one scan is the equivalent to flying for 15 minutes at 30,000 feet in an aircraft”, Mr Nortcliffe said. The total cost of the purchase, from a US company, American Science and Engineering, was about Dh202 million (US$55m).

About 1,400 lorries enter Abu Dhabi daily at the Gheweifat crossing.

Of those, about 20 per cent are empty, said Michael Krstic, a customs adviser with the General Administration of Customs. An additional 40 per cent are now pre-cleared to reduce waiting times at the border.

Two years ago, every lorry making the crossing was made to queue, Mr Krstic said.

“There is a huge modernisation [programme] to bring Abu Dhabi into the forefront of good security. The whole idea is to facilitate trade, to get these lorries and goods through the border as quickly as possible. The more equipment we’ve got, the less hold-ups.”

Customs now also has a team in place to investigate apparently isolated incidents to determine if they are part of a bigger smuggling operation.

“We now have the ability to take a single incident and do a strategic assessment for all of Abu Dhabi,” Mr Krstic said.

Customs officials also recently seized a large amount of antidepressant pills being smuggled across the border.

Customs said its top priorities were stopping drugs from entering the country, as well as weapons and ammunition and explosive materials. Security is also a top priority, with officials focusing on money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Source: The National

Philippines extends freeze order on suspected terrorist's assets

The Court of Appeals on Tuesday granted the government's petition to extend for another four months the freeze order on several bank accounts of suspected terrorist Hilarion del Rosario Santos, alias Ahmed Santos - the alleged founder of the terror group Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSG).

In a five-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Teresita Dy-Liacco Flores, the CA’s Special Second Division granted the ex-parte petition filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council to extend the freeze order against certain properties and assets in the name of Santos or his aliases, Hilarion delos Santos Jr, Hilarion del Rosario Santos III and Ricardo Ayeras.

The original freeze order issued by the CA expired last September 26, prompting the Office of the Solicitor General, representing the AMLC, to ask for an extension and for the junking of respondent’s motion to lift the freeze order.

With the CA’s ruling, the freeze order on Santos’ assets was extended until January 25, 2009.

The appellate court agreed with the argument of the OSG that the freeze order does not prevent respondent from using or earning a living from said properties, and that its purpose was merely to prevent the disposition of the subject property pending the completion of the AMLC’s investigation for possible filing of a civil forfeiture case against respondents.

“What the freeze order seeks to prevent is only the disposal or alienation of said properties during the effectivity of the said order. The Court notes that aside from Santos’ bare assertions that he is not engaged in any unlawful activity, he has not attached any proof of his innocence," the CA ruled.

The Court said that the AMLC presented prima facie evidence of his illegal activities that led to the issuance of warrants of arrest against him for rebellion and 21 counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom, which the CA noted was needed by the group to fund its terrorist activities.

Santos converted to Islam while working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1991 and where he received bomb-making training. He was captured by military officials in October 2005 for involvement in organizing and planning bomb attacks in predominantly Christian cities in the country and was subsequently convicted of rebellion.

He was arrested with his wife Fatima and five other people while they were sleeping in a hideout in southern Zamboanga city.

The RSM, which he founded, is believed to have forged an alliance with the Abu Sayaff and the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, both of which are linked to the al-Qaeda.

The military has been linking Santos, his brother Dawud and their group to the Valentine’s Day bombing in 2005 that killed eight people and injured a hundred others and to the bombing of a passenger ferry off Bataan last year that claimed over a hundred lives.

Also, the group has been linked to the alleged plot to blow up the US embassy in Manila, the kidnapping of 21 foreigners in Sipadan, Malaysia and the foiled Lenten holiday bombing in Malate in 2006.

During his arrest, Santos was said to have been getting foreign funding through his bank account.

His group also reportedly established a training camp in his family's property in Pangasinan, where an Al Qaeda suicide cell allegedly trained before the 9/11 attacks.

Santos’ capture prompted the US government to pay P26 million reward to two tipsters who provided information for his arrest, as he was also tagged for alleged involvement in the September 11, 2005 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York and related attacks.

In its ruling, the CA likewise ordered that the Register of Deeds of Pangasinan and Quezon City to annotate on the respective transfer certificates of titles (TCT) and the freezing of several of Santos’ properties until the duration of the freeze order.

Among these assets were a property located at no. 50 Purdue St. cor. Ermin Garcia in Cubao, QC; and a 25-hectare property in Barangay Mal-Ong in Anda, Pangasinan.

The BPI Family Savings Bank in Kalentong, Mandaluyong was likewise ordered to continue to freeze Account no. 5036217881 under the name of Ricardo Ayeras, and all related web accounts.

Source: GMANews.TV

U.S. Intelligence Chief Outlines Successes Against Terrorism

Michael Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, spoke recently of the international community's successes against terrorism in key regions of the world and diminished worldwide support for al-Qaida.

Hayden told the Washington-based Atlantic Council of the United States November 13 that the United States - in cooperation with partners such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the Philippines - has greatly diminished the reach of several terrorist groups.

Al-Qaida in Iraq, for example, "is on the verge of strategic defeat," with the flow of money, weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq now "greatly diminished," Hayden said.

And al-Qaida's operational arm in Saudi Arabia largely has been defeated, he said. Indonesia has made inroads in detecting and disrupting terrorist plots in the past three years as a result of what he called "aggressive action by one of our most effective counterterrorism partners." Filipino allies have kept the pressure on the Abu-Sayef group, Hayden said, limiting its effectiveness.

While the remote, tribal areas on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border remain problematic, progress has been made, according to the CIA director. He said the practice of terrorists taking refuge in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas is lessening. Due to cooperation among the Pakistan government, its military and the U.S. intelligence community, terrorist networks have lost many "decision makers, commanders, experienced and committed fighters" who, Hayden said, planned attacks against Europe and the United States.

The Pakistani government and military "deserves great credit for its current campaign against extremists," he added. More al-Qaida leaders have been killed or captured "in partnership with our Pakistani allies than ... with any other partner around the world," Hayden said.

The CIA official cited another reason for optimism in the fight against terrorism: "Some hard-line religious leaders are speaking out against al-Qaida's tactics and its ideology." Hayden cited generic polling showing declining support for al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden in predominantly Muslim countries.

More and more Muslims "are pushing back against the senseless violence and flawed worldview of al-Qaida," he said. Credible, authentic, influential Islamic voices are speaking out and "refuting al-Qaida's twisted justification for murdering innocents" as well as its ideology seeking to erase the distinction between combatants and noncombatants.

Besides Pakistan and Indonesia, Hayden praised the counterterrorism efforts of other U.S. partners such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Military and law enforcement activities and even efforts addressing the conflict of ideas have resulted in improvements in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, he said. "I have always said that the civilized world will win this fight when we win the war of ideas," he added.

NEXT STEPS

Efforts to defeat al-Qaida in the near future will continue to center on Yemen, Somalia and the Afghan-Pakistan border, according to Hayden. Intelligence suggests that some veterans of terror operations in Iraq are now drifting to other regions, such as North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, in search of new action.

Even though al-Qaida has suffered serious setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the intelligence-agency director said, "it remains a determined, adaptive enemy." Al-Qaida is still "the most dangerous threat we face," he told the Atlantic Council's Global Intelligence Forum.

In Hayden's opinion, al-Qaida's base of operations on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan remains "the single most important factor today in the group's resilience and its ability to threaten the West." He contends that the remote, tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border have supported terrorist financing, recruiting, training and plotting in the past.

While al-Qaida-related operations in the tribal regions do not rise to the level of activity that once existed in Afghanistan, Hayden said, its recent efforts to destabilize Pakistan are worrisome.

The Pakistani army has been fighting extremists "forcefully and with considerable success since early August," Hayden said. The Pakistanis have a multibrigade operation under way in the tribal area of Bajaur, and while they have sustained losses, "they are also imposing significant casualties on our common enemy."

But when al-Qaida is dealt a blow, Hayden said, its senor leadership recalibrates. "They constantly look for ways to make up for losses, extend their reach, take advantage of opportunities, and we're seeing that ... in some places like ... Somalia or Yemen."

Yemen has witnessed an unprecedented number of attacks in 2008, Hayden said, including two against the U.S. Embassy. The sophistication of attacks and the range of targets are broadening. Hayden said that, like what has happened elsewhere, terrorist cells in Yemen "are operating from remote, tribal areas where the government has traditionally had very little authority."

That al-Qaida tends to gain strength only in isolated, ungoverned territories "may be the most damning thing we can say about this organization," Hayden said. It can subsist only beyond the reach of civilization and the reach of the rule of law.

HANDLING THE TRANSITION

As head of the CIA, Hayden's service may continue into the Obama administration, although frequently a new president appoints his own director. Asked about his interest in continuing in his present position - which includes conducting daily presidential intelligence briefings at the White House - the director said he serves at the pleasure of the president, but would consider staying if asked.

As this is the first wartime presidential transition for the United States in 40 years, some thought is being given by transition officials to keeping some Bush appointees, at least temporarily, so the transfer of power from one administration to another is as seamless as possible.

Hayden said members of the Bush administration have been directed to "make this the smoothest transition in recorded history." With the United States on a wartime footing and al-Qaida already having made a critical remark about President-elect Barack Obama on the Internet, the director said, efforts are under way to get a new team ready for any contingency as swiftly as possible "so that there is no diminution in the ability of the Republic to defend itself."

Video of the forum ( http://www.acus.org/event_blog/cia-director-event ) is available on the Atlantic Council Web site. A transcript of Hayden's remarks ( https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/directors-remarks-at-the-atlantic-council.html ) is available on the CIA Web site.

For more information about U.S. policy, see Confronting Terrorism ( http://fpolicy.america.gov/fpolicy/security/counterterrorism.html) on America.gov.

Source: NewsBlaze

Another tack in terror-financier lawsuit

By Chris Mondics
Inquirer Staff Writer

Only days after suffering a significant setback in their lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, lawyers at Cozen O'Connor and other plaintiffs' lawyers have opened a new front in their battle to hold terrorism financiers accountable for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In court papers filed in federal district court in Manhattan, Cozen O'Connor, based in Center City, and the others are asking for additional discovery against the Saudi-owned National Commercial Bank, the largest bank in the Arab world.

Cozen represents three dozen insurers in its attempt to hold Saudi Arabia, several Islamist charities, banks, and financiers liable for more than $5 billion in damages.

While the lawyers have yet to generate evidence showing that any senior Saudi official conspired with al-Qaeda to attack the United States, they allege that Saudi money, some of it from the government, fueled al-Qaeda's rise from ragtag regional terrorists into global threat.

To support their claim for more discovery against the National Commercial Bank, the plaintiffs have filed new evidence they say suggests the bank was a conduit for funds to Osama bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks, including previously unreleased French diplomatic cables and a report by German intelligence.

The primary vehicle for the money-laundering scheme, the plaintiffs' lawyers allege, was a now-defunct Islamic charity called Muwafaq Foundation, which was established by two former senior officials of the bank. "NCB's sponsorship of al-Qaeda flowed largely, although not exclusively, through Muwafaq Foundation," said Cozen O'Connor lawyer Sean Carter, in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas, who is managing discovery in the sprawling case.

A lawyer for National Commercial Bank did not return phone calls for comment. But in a July 22 motion to dismiss the case, Mitchell Berger, the bank's attorney, argued that the plaintiffs had failed to produce facts showing that NCB "played a knowing role in financing terrorist activities."

"Plaintiffs offer only speculation and hearsay in their effort to link NCB to al-Qaeda terrorists who committed the Sept. 11 attacks," he said.

The request for additional discovery against NCB and two of its former executives, Yassin al-Kadi, designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a terrorism financier, and Khalid bin Mahfouz, a wealthy Saudi businessman who once had an ownership interest in NCB, is the latest front in a long-running litigation battle that began within days of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Al-Kadi's attorney could not be located; bin Mahfouz's attorney in Washington did not return a call for comment.

On Thursday, Cozen and other plaintiffs' lawyers suffered a serious reversal when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, ruling in Manhattan, said Saudi Arabia could not be sued because such lawsuits are barred unless the State Department had officially designated a government as a supporter of terror.

There has been no such finding in the case of Saudi Arabia.

Lawyers for Cozen and other firmssay they likely will appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court. Such efforts usually are long shots; the Supreme Court typically accepts only about 1 percent of the cases submitted to it on appeal.

But quite apart from Saudi Arabia, the Second Circuit ruling leaves untouched, for the moment at least, scores of other defendants with ties to the Saudi government such as the charities and the National Commercial Bank.

The lower court overseeing the litigation already has authorized limited discovery - the process by which lawyers for both sides get to question witnesses and request documents that they believe will prove their main assertions.

It was in response to a motion by lawyers for National Commercial Bank that discovery be halted and the case dismissed that lawyers for Cozen, which is representing dozens of U.S. and global insurers, and other firms representing victims and survivors of the attacks filed their discovery motion.

They charge that al-Kadi, himself a wealthy Saudi businessman who has had investments throughout the world, including in the United States, and bin Mahfouz founded the Muwafaq or Blessed Relief Foundation while they were affiliated with NCB in the early 1990s and used it to funnel money to al-Qaeda.

The plaintiffs' lawyers cite as evidence a U.S. Treasury Department finding in 2001 that al-Kadi had helped bankroll various terrorist organizations including Hamas and that he maintained a close relationship with Wa'el Julaidan, also designated, who allegedly helped bin Laden found al-Qaeda and who allegedly helped bankroll terror cells around the world.

In a related letter to Swiss authorities in 2001, then Treasury general counsel David D. Aufhauser said, "Mr. Kadi's actions and those of his Muwafaq Foundation and businesses . . . give rise to a reasonable basis to believe that they have facilitated terrorist activities."

The plaintiffs also filed what they said were reports by the Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz, a German intelligence service, asserting that the NCB was used to launder money into al-Qaeda. Also filed was what plaintiffs' lawyers said was a cable from the former French ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1998 to 2004, Bernard Poletti, to the French foreign ministry.

In the cable, Poletti says Saudi authorities had unearthed information that bin Mahfouz had been involved in fund transfers from NCB to an Islamic charity that in turn directed the money to bin Laden.

Bin Mahfouz has never been designated by U.S. authorities as a terrorism supporter. The National Commercial Bank, of which he was chief executive officer, was described as a conduit for money to Islamic terrorist groups in congressional testimony by Vincent Cannistraro, former chief of counterterrorism operations at the CIA

"There is little doubt that a financial conduit to bin Laden was handled through the National Commercial Bank," Cannistraro said in testimony before the House Committee on International Relations on Oct. 3, 2001.

Bin Mahfouz has bitterly rejected assertions that he helped support terrorists. On the bin Mahfouz family Web site he has posted a history of challenges to publications and individuals he says have unfairly accused him of supporting terrorism.

In this regard, he has had considerable success.

In one notable example in 2007, bin Mahfouz and his attorneys successfully pressured Cambridge University Press to apologize for the April 2006 publication of Alms for Jihad, which accused bin Mahfouz and members of his family of supporting terrorism. The publisher also promised to destroy unsold copies of the book that at the time still were in warehouses or accessible through the distribution chain.

In another example, bin Mahfouz successfully sued terrorism author Rachel Ehrenfeld in British courts for falsely accusing him of terrorism ties, an allegation she bitterly denies. She was ordered to pay $225,000 in damages and to destroy copies of her book.

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Read an Inquirer series on the 9/11 lawsuit, plus court documents, at http://go.philly.com/cozen

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Contact staff writer Chris Mondics at 215-854-5957 or cmondics@phillynews.com .

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Libya's Membership Application To MENAFATF Approved

Members of the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing organization, the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, or MENAFATF, approved Libya's membership application Tuesday, MENAFATF President Abdulrahim Al Awadi said.

"The plenary of 17 members approved the application of Libya to be a member and the application of the World Customs Organization to be an observer member," Al Awadi told reporters in Fujeirah, United Arab Emirates.

Libya will become the 18th member state of the organization, which was set up in November 2004 and includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Sudan, Iraq and Egypt. The U.S., U.K., France and Spain are observer members, as well as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The U.A.E. currently holds the presidency.

The U.A.E., which is keen to expand membership, also proposed that Djbouti, Comoros Islands, Seychelles and Maldives become members. The proposal is still being studied by member states.

Al Awadi added that the taskforce will meet next in Bahrain, which takes over the presidency of the organization in May 2009.

He also said that the global credit crisis won't draw attention away from fighting money laundering and terrorist financing.

"Members reiterate the financial crisis should not affect progress and, on the contrary, will add resolve to progress," Al Awadi said.

Source: Zawya

Analysts: al-Qaida awash in funds despite meltdown

The meltdown in the global financial system may spare al-Qaida.

Buoyed by years of record oil revenues in the Gulf and Afghanistan's booming drug trade, al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorist groups are thought to have access to strong potential funding sources — and thus might dodge fallout from the global crunch devastating others.

Yet all is not lost in the effort to rein in money for terror groups. One principal reason the groups may avoid fallout now is because they've been forced to pull away from banks, relying instead on less-efficient ways to move money.

Those methods — including hand-carrying money and using informal money-transfer networks called hawalas — likely will shield extremists from the current banking system turmoil.

But the methods also are slower and less efficient ways to move money — and thus could hamper efforts to finance attacks, analysts say.

"It would be inconceivable that large amounts of (terror-linked) money would transit through the formal financial system, because of all the controls," said Ibrahim Warde, an expert on terrorist financing at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

The question of where al-Qaida and sympathizers get their money has long been crucial to efforts to prevent terror attacks. A 2004 U.S. investigation found that banks in the United Arab Emirates had unwittingly handled most of the $400,000 spent on the Sept. 11 attacks.

After the attacks, the U.S. made an aggressive push to use law enforcement techniques to disrupt terrorist financing networks and worked with allies to improve their own financial and regulatory institutions.

Despite those efforts, wealthy donors and Islamic charities in the oil-rich Gulf, especially in Saudi Arabia, continue to be "one of the most significant sources of illicit financing for terrorism," said Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury Department terrorism expert now with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The Saudis have long insisted they are doing all they can to rein in terror financing, and U.S. officials have praised their efforts.

But, under a system known as zakat, wealthy Muslims are required to give a portion of their money to the poor. Much of that is given to Islamic charities, and U.S. officials say at least some of the charities money continues to be channeled to al-Qaida and other terror groups.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have benefited over the last two years from a surge in oil prices from about US$60 per barrel at the beginning of 2007 to more than US$145 per barrel in the middle of this year.

Oil prices have fallen almost 50 percent in the last few months in response to the global financial crisis, but not before the run-up generated hundreds of billions of dollars.

Levitt said the covert nature of terrorist financing makes it difficult to determine a direct correlation between rising oil revenues over the last few years and the amount of cash al-Qaida has on hand.

But "it stands to reason that if there is more oil revenue, there will be more revenue for all kinds of things licit and illicit," he said.

Al-Qaida and the Taliban have also benefited from the drug trade's growth in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 — a booming business that likely won't be affected by the global slowdown.

Opium cultivation has fallen slightly this year but is still about 20 times higher than in 2001, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Former U.S. drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who now works with NATO, issued a report on Afghanistan in July saying al-Qaida and the Taliban "are principally funded by what some estimate as $800 million dollars a year derived from the huge $4 billion annual illegal production and export of opium/heroin and cannabis."

Al-Qaida and other extremist groups have gloated in recent weeks about the West's financial woes, painting the crisis as either divine punishment for supposed wrongs or the last gasps of a dying empire.

An American al-Qaida member, Adam Gadahn, said in a video released this month that "the enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the expanding crisis their economy is experiencing."

Members of the militant Palestinian group Hamas and hard-liners in Iran also cheered the economic turmoil.

Iran is thought to be the last major government supporter of terror groups. The majority Shiite country is not believed to finance al-Qaida, a Sunni group, but does support the militant Hezbollah faction in Lebanon, which engaged in war with Israel in 2006.

Iran denies the financial crisis is hurting its economy, but falling oil prices will cut into its crude sales, which make up 80 percent of the government budget. It is unclear how that will affect support to Hezbollah.

Despite the apparent glut in potential money for terror groups, Levitt believes anti-terrorism efforts have hampered the groups' ability to transfer money where they want.

Levitt points to several messages from senior al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan intercepted by the U.S. or released by the terrorist group itself, asking Gulf supporters for more help because of funding shortfalls. Most recently, the al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, appeared in a May 2007 video saying "the mujahideen of the Taliban number in the thousands, but they lack funds."

But Warde and other analysts are not convinced al-Qaida is really hurting.

"Anybody who is involved in fundraising of any sort is never going to say we have enough money, so I think it is a silly argument to say that because there is this intercept ... it is proof that everything we've done has succeeded brilliantly," said Warde.

Source: Ohio.com

KSA combats money laundering

(MENAFN - Arab News) Saudi Arabia and several member countries of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have intensified efforts to combat money laundering on the local, regional and international levels.

"The Kingdom is among the first few countries, which gave special attention to counter money laundering by committing to and complying with many rules and international conventions, and putting them into practice," said Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, minister of finance, here yesterday.

"A FATF working group on financial measures, comprising 32 countries and two regional bodies including Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), had been exerting extensive efforts in this area and issued 40 recommendations to combat money laundering in addition to the nine issued earlier," he said. The minister was speaking at a seminar organized by the Riyadh-based Institute of Public Administration (IPA) here yesterday.

Referring to efforts made by the Kingdom, Al-Assaf said that Riyadh had realized the seriousness of the problem at an early stage.

Source: MENAFN

US workshop in Jordan builds support to battle money laundering

The U.S. government organized a workshop in Jordan to teach officials from the Arab countries how to detect and investigate the smuggling of money.

The U.S. has been working with Jordan and other Arab countries to ensure that banking institutions are subject to appropriate oversight and that they have effective programs in place to prevent money-laundering and terrorist financing.

Participants, including representatives from Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen, examined anti-money laundering standards used by the Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based inter-government body set up in 1989 by the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

This week, U.S. federal prosecutors said two NY residents were indicted on charges of trying to smuggle $500,000 (euro323,000) from the U.S. to Jordan.

Authorities said a grand jury in Hartford, Connecticut returned an indictment charging 35-year-old Hassan Abuzaitoun and 33-year-old Mohammad Alazzam with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to smuggle bulk cash from the United States. Both are naturalized U.S. citizens from Jordan residing in Yonkers, New York.

Jordanian authorities have often asserted that Jordan was free of money laundering because of its strict monetary regulations and practices.

In 2004, three different groups of families of suicide bombing victims in Israel filed suits in a Brooklyn, N.Y. federal court against Jordan's largest financial institution _ Arab Bank _ alleging that it moved donations from Saudi Arabia to militant Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The bank denied the allegation. It later decided to close down its New York branch saying it was pursuing its strategy to focus on operations in the Arab world and Europe.

http://www.amlosphere.com/america/legislation/us-workshop-in-jordan-builds-support-to-battle-money-laundering.html