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July 30, 2004 |
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PRINCE NAIF IBN ABDUL AZIZ: WE ALL STAND UNITED, FOR THE SECURITY AND STABILITY OF THE COUNTRY. THE IMAM OF THE HARAM MOSQUE: THE SOURCES OF TERRORISM AND EXTREMISM MUST BE ERADICATED. Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, received at the Royal Court at Alsalam Palace in Jeddah a number of princes, senior officials and citizens who came to greet him. Crown Prince Abdullah also separately received delegations of the people Baishah province, the family of Alfarraj from the city of Zulfi and the tribe of Alnawazil Ballahmar belonging to the Sobh Ballahmar center in Asir region. Addressing the audience, representatives of each group denounced the acts perpetrated by the deviating group in the country. On his part, Crown Prince Abdullah thanked them for their noble feelings and support and stressed that the Kingdom has no doubt in their faithfulness to their country. The receptions were attended by a number of princes and officials. Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, received princes, senior officials and citizens who came to greet him. The audience was attended by a number of princes and officials. In his speech the Crown Prince stressed that the amnesty period was accorded by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in his own name and on behalf of the Saudi people Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Interior Minister, received delegations of the people Baishah province and the family of Alfarraj from Shammar in the city of Zulfi, Riyadh, Hail, A'ra'ar and other regions of the kingdom. Representatives of the two groups denounced the acts perpetrated by the deviating group in the country. On his part, Prince Naif thanked them for their noble feelings and support. On the other hand the amnesty deadline offered by the Saudi government passed at midnight on Thursday the 22nd of July. But the Kingdom's one-month bid to extend an olive branch to suspected terrorists comes amid continued fighting between security forces and militants in the capital city. As late as Tuesday night a shootout left two suspected terrorists dead and four others wounded. The raid by police that also led to the discovery in a refrigerator of the head of US hostage Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr., 49, of New Jersey, kidnapped last month by suspected Al-Qaeda members. An interior ministry statement said the amnesty, issued June 23 by King Fahd, would not be extended beyond Thursday night and advised those still willing to surrender to do so in time. Prominent Saudi Muslim scholar Sheikh Ayedh Al-Qarni said the extremists days are numbered. Their deviant brand of Islam is over for good and that they know it, Al-Qarni said. They should grab every minute of today to take advantage of the government's amnesty. Or else it will be too late. I vow publicly to offer my own personal assurance, legally according to Shariah Law, that none of those who may surrender themselves to the authorities will ever be hurt. I stand by my word. Al-Qarni said some of the terrorists have not come forward because many of them are amateurs or too young. They never received the proper guidance or advice. He also said they are confused and under the influences of others who have taken advantage of them. One mediator insisted that other militants are willing to surrender and need more time, including at least two on the most-wanted list. It takes time to convince them, Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali said. We will list the names of anyone declaring his willingness to talk. The ministry said anyone wanting to surrender but living in remote areas could declare their willingness before the deadline while procedures would be completed later. Crown Prince Abdullah suggested collecting the names of those willing to negotiate surrendering, said Hawali. They will be included regardless of the period needed to conclude negotiations. I have a list that I will present to the crown prince this evening. It includes 15 to 20 names and at least two of them are on the most-wanted list. The interior ministry issued the 26-strong list in December and it is now down to 12 still at large. The others have either been killed in clashes or surrendered. The amnesty carries a guarantee of personal safety for those who repent while reserving the right of individuals harmed by terror acts to either seek redress through the courts or waive any claims. Saudi officials have repeatedly urged members of the deviant group to repent. We hope that those remaining will be reasonable enough to use the period left to turn themselves in, Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General said. The authorities have already been piling the pressure on militants believed behind a spate of attacks in the Kingdom, which have killed some 90 people and wounded hundreds since May 2003. The offer of a pardon came close on the heels of the June 18 killing of Al-Qaeda local chief, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, and three of his henchmen after websites posted the pictures of Johnson beheaded. Ibrahim Al-Sadek Al Qaidi Al-Harbi and Khalid Ibn Odeh Ibn Mohammed Al-Harbi both surrendered and were extradited from Damascus and Tehran, respectively. Khalid Al-Harbi is suspected of being a top Al-Qaeda figure and close to Osama bin Laden. Othman Hadi Al-Maqbul Al-Amri, who is 19 on the wanted list, surrendered on June 28 after two years on the run, while Saaban Bin Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Laylahi Al-Shihri turned himself in the day after the amnesty was announced. Sheikh Al-Qarni said he believes the extremists days are numbered. Many of their teachers and scholars have themselves recanted from their own pro-terrorism Fatwas and repented of their militancy, he said. The militants have also found themselves on shaky ground with no mass support from the Kingdom citizens. Saudi Islamic scholars as well as the vast majority of citizens are followers of a moderate middle-of-the-way Islam that rejects terrorism and militancy, Al-Qarni said. He also the last terror operations committed by these militants show that they are highly disorganized and shattered, both ideologically and operationally. Some expatriates had questions about the effectiveness of the amnesty. In the waning hours of the amnesty period late Thursday, scholars in the Kingdom called on wanted suspected terrorists to benefit from the opportunity of the pardon granted to them by King Fahd, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Al-Watan, the Arabic daily newspaper reported that the clerics stressed that those who voluntary turn in will equally be rewarded like those who surrendered earlier. Suspected terrorists in rural areas were given last-minute instructions that if they made their intentions known to authorities, they would be given time to travel to a nearby city to surrender. One cleric said, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has made a noble initiative which neither Muslims nor history will ever forget in the present or future. They will keep remembering that King Fahd has made all possible efforts to put off the fire of sedition and eliminate the causes of the ordeal. They pointed out that the expiration of the amnesty deadline without surrendering means that they are insisting on being in the circle of war against them as is decreed by Almighty God in the Holy Quran for aiming their guns against Muslims publicly. Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh, Grand Mufti and President of the Board of Senior Ulema and Administrations of Religious Research and Ruling, said I call upon those who diverted from the Right Path and being implicated in evil acts to seize the opportunity of the royal pardon and revert to sound reason and seek Allah's forgiveness. They should immediately repent instead of exceeding in their fallacy and straying from the right path. If they surrender they will never regret it because they will be generously treated and pardoned as it has always been the habit of our leaders. We have always been used to their noble characters and qualities that they pardon those who fall into error. However, all this should motivate and encourage you to turn in, to comfort your worrying families and streamline your country's stability. I pray Allah to guide us to the right path to do what is in the interest of our Faith and beloved country. Dr. Abdul-Rahman Ibn Jameel Kassas, a member of the teaching staff of Umm Al-Qurra University, said extremists should look at those around them and decide how they can end the bloodshed. If they resort to sound reason and turn in, then they should know that the Shariah will judge that their blood must be saved, restore all their rights defined by Shariah and be released, Kassas said. It is also for them to understand that under the royal pardon they will never be humiliated. They will be generously treated. All this must serve as a motivation to surrender. Sheikh Attayiatallah Al-Salmi, deputy director of the Commission of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Makkah said surrendering militants will be tried according to the rules and principles of the Islamic Shariah which take their imitative into consideration. Dr. Ayed Al-Qarni, referred to the importance of benefiting from the remaining hours of the sincere pardon granted to them by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. He said, those who think that they will be harmed if they surrender must have made a grave mistake. I personally guarantee that they will be safe and they will never ever be harmed because I know how our leaders are kind and merciful. Fawzan Ibn Nasser Ibn Ahmad Al-Fawzan was the latest to turn himself in to authorities. He arrived Thursday evening with his family in Riyadh after surrendering in the Saudi embassy in Damascus. Meanwhile The imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais said that terrorism and extremism must be stopped and the organizations that promote terror should be dismantled. Delivering his Friday sermon, the imam said militant groups had unleashed a war on religious values, and this must be stopped. He said such terror groups should be nipped in the bud. "This should be one of our major priorities in order to preserve the nation against trials and strife," he told thousands of worshippers. "Some of our sons were brainwashed and became tools in the hands of deviants to commit violence and practice terrorism. They took the path of extremism, destruction and explosion. They tried very hard to damage the fabric of the society and sought violent means to change the social system," he said. Al-Sudais expressed the fear that such groups would ratchet up their attacks not only physically but also on ideologies. The next stage would witness a war on religious values using their extremist thoughts, he said "We have to overcome these negatives and to rebuild," Al-Sudais said. He called on the nation to be honest, to abide by the precepts of their religion and to make sure of the safety of their country. "We should be vigilant and counter such extremist thoughts, he said. "Thank God that the symbols of terrorism are falling down like tree leaves during fall time. We remind those that still sympathize, or harbor these people that they are committing a crime against their religion, their nation and their country," said Al-Sudais. "A Muslim returning to the right path, even if it is a small step toward it, will face God's mercy on the Day of Judgment, but not those whose hands are covered with blood. "The rulers of this country offered that chance to these people with a one-month amnesty, so that these people return to the right path. Those that gave themselves up have found peace and forgiveness," he added. "Those still sticking to the wrong path will only harm themselves, their family and their society," he said. The Secretary-General of the Muslim World League Dr Abdullah Ibn Abdul Mohsen Al Turki has expressed his strong condemnation and stigmatization of the brutal killings and attacks that took place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has provoked large-scale indignation and outrage. The Secretary-General reaffirmed that such acts repudiates the very principles of Islam which urge the provision of fill care and protection to citizens and foreigners and which proscribe the killing of the innocent. He emphasized that such actions can only cast greater stigma on the good name and image of Islam abroad thereby doing harm to Muslims across the globe. The Secretary-General took this opportunity to express his full solidarity with the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in its campaign to eradicate terrorism and root out the subversive element fomenting this violence. The Secretary-General condemned these aggressions, which stand totally in contradiction with the teachings and principles of our magnanimous Islamic religion and strike at the heart of the Islamic values calling for tolerance, coexistence, and rapprochement. The Secretary General stressed that these kinds of terrorist activities that spill the blood of Muslims, waste their lives and destroy their properties may tarnish the image of Islam and Muslims in the world and disunite their ranks, and that they only serve the purposes of enemies of Muslims. He said that Islam has vehemently prohibited the unjustified killing of people, as well as blind fanaticism and extremism, and has called for the true and evenly-balanced approach to religion. Saudi Arabia provided no money or assistance to hijackers who crashed airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, according to the 9/11 commission report released Thursday. The report also found no evidence that Saudi Princess Haifa Al-Faisal had provided funds to the terrorist plot. The report rejects assertions and lays to rest allegations by critics of the Bush administration that the Saudi government had somehow been involved in the attack. The report, more than 500 pages, also rejects allegations that two of the hijackers in San Diego had obtained money and logistical support through a Saudi intelligence network in the United States that had agents in Southern California who were funded in part by a member of the Saudi royal family. A US Senate official said Thursday the commission s report exonerates the Saudis to a large degree. The commission s conclusions are a form of vindication for the CIA and FBI, which have long been skeptical that Saudi Arabian officials were tied to the plot. We just never saw any hard evidence, any reliable evidence, that the Saudis offered any assistance to the San Diego hijackers, said Larry Mefford, who retired last year as executive assistant director of counter-terrorism for the Bureau. However, the report did state that some Saudi Arabian charities may have diverted funds to Al-Qaeda, the commission said. While the commission absolved the Saudi government and senior Saudi officials of funding the organization, charities bear closer scrutiny. This conclusion does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to Al-Qaeda, the report said. The commission said Thursday that Al-Qaeda found fertile fund-raising ground in Saudi Arabia, where extreme religious views are common and charitable giving was both essential to the culture and subject to very limited oversight. It added that Al-Qaeda also sought money from wealthy donors of other Gulf states. The report said up to $500,000 could have been used to execute the operation to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We have found evidence of individual Saudis and Saudi charities whether witting or unwitting, we do not know whose funds have found their way to the support of Al-Qaeda and terrorism, commission vice-chairman Lee Hamilton told a news conference. The commission also found there is no evidence that the San Diego-based hijackers received funding from two Saudi men, Omar Al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassnan, who have ties to the Saudi government. It also stated that there was no evidence Saudi Princess Haifa Al-Faisal had provided any funds to the conspiracy either directly or indirectly. The princess is the wife of the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. Intelligence sources had previously alleged that some evidence indicated that Bassnan had received significant charitable support from Princess Haifa. Sources suggested some of that money was then provided to the hijackers, Nawaf Al-Hazmi, and Khalid Al-Mihdhar, who were aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. FBI officials in San Diego, however, never believed it. Bayoumi had a number of suspicious contacts with the hijackers. He met them at a restaurant in Los Angeles shortly after they had entered the country, then helped them find an apartment and paid their first month s rent. At the time, US officials said, Bayoumi was employed by a contractor for the Saudi civil aviation authority, even though he appeared to do little or no work for the contractor. Based on that financial arrangement and other evidence, some congressional officials believed Bayoumi was a Saudi agent. Congressional officials involved in the probe last year said they remain suspicious about the Saudi contacts. But Eleanor Hill, who served as executive director of the congressional inquiry, said she is not surprised the commission concluded there was no proof of Saudi complicity. It would be extremely difficult to determine that any foreign government as an institution funded and supported terrorists, she said. You would almost have to have an official declaration of the government saying it was a policy of the government. Kuwait is tightening its grip on security in a new wave of clampdown on suspected terrorists amid surging violence in the Middle East. A group of suspected Al-Qaida supporters were arrested in Kuwait for recruiting militants to attack Kuwaiti targets as well as US troops in Iraq, an Interior Ministry official said. Some of the arrested were found carrying weapons, ammunition, maps and operation plans. Apart from the 12 arrested, authorities were searching for another two on suspicion of indoctrinating young people with radical Islamic ideology and helping them infiltrate into Iraq via Syria to fight foreign troops. The ministry called on citizens and residents in Kuwait to contact the ministry if they got any information on the two atlarge. All arrested had been referred to the public prosecution where they would be further questioned, the official said. Four people were handed over by Syria to the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry on charges of illegal entry into Iraq. According to the local reports, Kuwaiti security forces arrested seven others, most of them juveniles, for allegedly adopting strict religious ideas and linking with terror organizations outside the country. A senior security source said Kuwaiti authorities were also clamping down on "Islamic radicals" and keeping an eye on their activities, especially their "incitement of young men to go to Iraq to wage jihad (holy war)." The source also said security forces had detained about 20 Muslim fundamentalists for recruiting teenagers to fight Americans in Iraq. First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister þSheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah affirmed that 11 persons have been referred to the Public Prosecution for interrogations on charges of þencouraging youth to take part in what the suspects believe is jihad (holy þ þwar) in neighboring Iraq. þ þ In remarks to KUNA, Sheikh Nawaf said a small number of suspects þ þhave remained at large. They are wanted by the prosecution for interrogation, þhe added.þ A number of teen-aged detainees, who were interrogated, had been subjected to brain-washing to make them adopt radical thoughts.þ þ Some of the suspects in detention have confessed to existence of some þ þtraining bases, Sheikh Nawaf said, without revealing further details in this respect. "This issue has been referred to the public prosecution and I won't þtalk at length about it," the minister said.þ þ The Interior Ministry, called on nationals and residents of the þ þcountry to cooperate in locating three suspects at large.þ þ The First Deputy Prime Minister emphasized the necesstiy of coordination at þthe popular and officials levels to promote the society's awarness and caution with regard of the dangers caused by elements that promote terrorist thoughts and educate the youth deviative doctrines that contradict the genuine basics of the religion and social norms. The Kuwaiti Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Abdullah þAl-Maatouq declared the formation of a committee comprising officials of þseveral ministries to safeguard the society against oustide terrorist ideas.þ þ Al-Maatouq, in a statement he made upon his departure to þ þUzbekistan, starting an Asian tour, condemned terrorist ideas and affirmed that Islam renounces terrorism.þ þ Interior Ministry called on Saturday citizens and residents, who have any information related to the two fugitives wanted þfor a state's security case, to quickly notify the Public Security Department.þ The Department of Public Relations and Moral Guidance in the Ministry said in a statement that the two wanted fugitives are Khaled Abdullah Thlab Al-Douseri, a Kuwaiti national born in 1973, and Ahmed Mohammed Wehaish Al-Mutairi, a Kuwaiti national born in 1977.þ þ In its statement distributed with photos of the wanted fugitives, the þ þdepartment noted that announcing the full names of the fugitives was based on the Public Prosecution's decisions issued on July 18, 21, and 22.þ þ "The step comes in accordance with the current cooperation between the þsecurity authorities," explained the statement, indicating that the public contacts to deliver any information will be treated with extreme þconfidentiality. Meanwhile the court of appeal of Rabat handed out sentences up to 15 years in jail against 26 people sued under the anti-terror law and acquitted one person. The anti-terror law was enacted in May 2003 after 12 suicide bombers blew themselves out, killing 33 people in the city of Casablanca and injuring over a hundred others. The court condemned Mustapha Ait Chibani to 15 years as he was found guilty of "setting up a criminal gang to prepare and commit terrorist acts (), forgery, holding unauthorized public meetings and organizing activities within an unauthorized association." Two of his co-accused were sentenced to 12 years and 3 others to 8 years. Five defendants in the same case were condemned to 2 years in prison while 6 others were sentenced to pay a fine of 5000 Dhs (USD 555). In two other cases, the court of appeal handed sentences ranging from 12 years in jail to a fine of 5000 (USD 555) against six other defendants. Moroccan and Algerian interior ministers, respectively Al Mostafa Sahel and Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, agreed to set up a task group in charge of bilateral security cooperation. According to a joint communique released following the 2-day visit in Algeria of the Moroccan minister, the task group will be set up as of the 4th trimester of this year, upon directives of King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Algeria's President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika. The group will be charged of establishing efficient security coordination mechanisms, especially in fighting terrorism, illegal immigration and all forms of trafficking. "In the same drive, the statement goes, the two ministers have agreed to give fresh impetus to cooperation in the field of local communities by encouraging initiatives likely to promote local development". "Concerning locust-fighting cooperation, the two ministers voiced commitment to work in coordination with other concerned departments to dam up the proliferation of this plague". The two officials also expressed "the two countries' will to work for the construction of a united Arab Maghreb that meets aspirations of our two people and contributes to the development of our nations". Discussions, the two parties said, took place in an atmosphere of friendship, cordiality and mutual respect and enabled to examine questions of common interest. Sahel, who left Algiers, attended with his Algerian counterpart, the graduation ceremony of three senior police officers cohorts, held at the offices of the Algiers police academy. Addressing Algerian journalists, Al Mostafa Sahel stressed that cooperation between the two countries is doing well and that it will be further reinforced, within a few weeks, thanks to the set up of security coordination mechanisms. Meanwhile Algeria has imposed security measures as part of an effort to counter a renewal of Islamic insurgency attacks. Officials said the measures sought to prepare for the prospect of a campaign by the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call. They said the Salafist Brigade has threatened to launch a wave of attacks amid reports that Algeria's military has killed Salafist leader Nabil Sahrawi and several leading aides. The day after Algeria announced the death of Sahrawi on June 20 an explosion rocked a key power station, injuring 10 people. Algerian officials said the explosion was not the work of insurgents. The new security measures include police and military reinforcements in crowded areas of Algeria. They include beaches, shopping centers and other areas of Algiers. |
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