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Tag: cleric
Cleric Testifies He Was ‘A Mouthpiece,’ Not A Terrorist

Cleric Testifies He Was ‘A Mouthpiece,’ Not A Terrorist

By John Riley, Newsday

NEW YORK — Abu Hamza al-Masri testified at his terrorism trial Monday that he was merely a “mouthpiece” for Islamist movements and compared his role to Irish political leader Gerry Adams’ as an IRA front man.

“I was acting as a mouthpiece, like Gerry Adams,” he said. “And like Gerry Adams . . . you can’t afford to do anything that is not legal and transparent.”

The testimony came as the imam, who once headed London’s Finsbury Park mosque, denied his alleged role in the deadly 1998 kidnapping of 16 Western tourists in Yemen and said he regretted the death of four hostages when troops attacked.

“Every life is valuable,” said Abu Hamza, also known as Mostafa Kamel Mostafa, appearing for a third day as a witness at his trial in federal court. “It’s a disaster from every direction. Innocent people are not to be touched.”

The cleric, a one-eyed double amputee born in Egypt, is charged with helping the anti-government group that mounted the 1998 kidnap plot to get Yemen to release prisoners, trying to create jihad training camp in Bly, Ore, and assisting al-Qaida and the Taliban.

In detailed testimony that even he admitted was sometimes “rambling,” Abu Hamza not only denied the charges, but also tried to rebut each piece of evidence.

Confronted with posts on his London website warning tourists to stay away from Yemen in 1998, for example, he said they were not warnings of a plot, but rather were generic Islamist revolutionary propaganda issued to show “government is not in control.”

He admitted that the kidnappers used a satellite phone that came from him. But he said he had sent it to a tribal “operator” as part of a moneymaking plan to charge for its use, and the anti-government group was supposed to use it only to send him media statements.

He also acknowledged speaking to the head kidnapper just a few hours after the hostages were taken, but said he knew it was a disaster in the making and urged the kidnappers to let the hostages call their embassies and generate diplomatic resistance to an attack.

“I was trying to make sure that the government of Yemen did not do anything undesirable,” he testified.

He also insisted that two years later, when surviving hostage Mary Quin confronted him and taped an interview with him in London, he referred to the kidnappers as “we” because Arab habits of pronoun usage differ from native English speakers.

“This is the way the Arab speaks,” Abu Hamza testified, explaining why he told Quin, “We never thought it would be that bad.”

Cross examination is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Photo: Aamir Qureshi via AFP

Turkey PM Seeks Cleric’s Extradition From U.S.

Turkey PM Seeks Cleric’s Extradition From U.S.

Ankara (AFP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he will seek the extradition of an exiled cleric he accuses of orchestrating a major corruption scandal against his government from his base in the United States.

Erdogan told reporters that a legal procedure “will begin” for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a former ally he says is running a “parallel state” that reaches into the top echelons of the Turkish police and judiciary.

The prime minister’s comments came a day after he told U.S. broadcaster PBS that he wants President Barack Obama to deport Gulen and send him back to Turkey.

Erdogan said he hoped Washington would deliver on the issue as a “model partner.”

“At least they should deport him,” he said.

But a legal expert at Ankara’s Bilkent University said Erdogan’s plan was a “non-starter.”

“A crime that requires extradition must be recognized in both countries. In this case, there’s no such thing,” Yuksel Inan, a professor of international law, told AFP.

“It is a non-starter in terms of international law. Erdogan is just showing off,” he said.

Turkey and the United States signed an extradition treaty in 1979. The U.S. embassy in Ankara said it could neither confirm nor deny whether an extradition request had been made.

“As a matter of long-standing policy, the Department of State does not comment on pending extradition requests,” an embassy official told AFP.

Gulen, 73, was once a close ally of the prime minister, helping him to challenge the military’s traditional stranglehold on Turkish politics and install his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) in power in 2002.

Followers of Gulen’s Hizmet movement are said to number in the millions and own a variety of businesses, media outlets, cultural centers and a network of schools both in Turkey and abroad.

The moderate cleric was forced to flee the country in 1999 after he was accused of plotting against the secular government of the time.

But his alliance with the AKP has faltered in recent years, and was decisively shattered in December when police detained dozens of Erdogan’s key business and political allies over bribery allegations.

Erdogan has repeatedly accused Gulen’s followers of engineering the corruption scandal as well as a string of damaging leaks in the media. The prime minister retaliated by sacking thousands of police and prosecutors.

Gulen has denied any involvement in the corruption probe.

After the AKP scored a crushing victory in last month’s local polls, an emboldened Erdogan hinted he would take steps against Gulen’s movement.

“We will enter their caves and… they will pay the price,” he warned in a victory speech from the balcony of the party’s Ankara headquarters last month.

“There won’t be a state within a state,” he said.

The AKP has already pushed through a law to close private preparatory schools, a key part of Gulen’s network.

In the PBS interview, Erdogan said his only contact with Gulen since becoming prime minister had been a few phone conversations, and that they had initially maintained “good relations.”

“The real problem began after 2011,” he said. That was when Erdogan’s government accused Gulen followers of leaking information from secret talks between the Turkish spy agency and Kurdish rebels.

Erdogan told PBS that the police raids in December were “almost a coup, a civilian coup” by the Gulen movement.

“We were aware they were trying to infiltrate various organisations, but we were not aware of their ultimate bad intentions. We realised this after a while and started to take measures,” he said.

Gulen said in a comment piece published in the Financial Times last month that a new democratic constitution, drafted by civilians, was needed to restore trust at home and abroad.

Having exhausted his party’s limit of three terms as premier, 60-year-old Erdogan is thought to be planning a run for the presidency in August, the first time voters will directly elect the head of state.

Adem Altan AFP

Hillary Clinton Pleased With Killing Of Key Al-Qaida Leader

Al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, and a second American, Samir Khan, were killed by a joint CIA-U.S. military air strike on their convoy in Yemen early Friday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, AR:

“There was a momentous event today when we learned of the death of Anwar al-Awlaki,” leader of the “most dangerous affiliate of Al-Qaida,” responsible for several terrorist acts and attempts in the U.S. and for “spreading an ideology of hate and violence.”

“He can no longer threaten America, our allies and peace-loving people around the world. … But our continued vigilance is required. We will ratchet up the pressure and maintain a comprehensive strategy to deny Al-Qaida or its affiliates safe haven anywhere in the world.”