Returnees from Albania
Encyclopedia
The case of the Returnees from Albania was a massive criminal trial in an Egypt
ian military court from February to April 1999. The trial is one of the principal sources of information about Sunni terrorist groups in the 1990s, especially al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
and its offshoot Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
The largest trial in Egypt
since the 1981 trials surrounding the assassination of President Anwar Sadat
, it was a landmark case in the topics of extraordinary rendition
and the credibility of the testimony of terrorism detainees.
The local Egyptian press coined the phrase "Returnees from Albania" to describe the defendants, in reference to the American-backed extraordinary rendition
which saw suspects kidnapped from foreign locations and secretly brought back to Egypt to face trial. In actuality, 43 men were brought from Albania, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and an additional 64 were tried in absentia
.
The prosecution leaned heavily on the testimony of defendant Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar
, who was the first arrested. Many of the statements and confessions were alleged to have been given under torture.
group" or "the jihad organization", meaning al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya as it was at that time. Most of al-Gama'a later renounced violence, but a violent residue called Islamic Jihad remained; that group was later known as Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) to distinguish it from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The remnants of EIJ and at least one person in the violent fugitive component of Gama'a (namely Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim) have since merged with al-Qaeda
.
Reportage of events in the early 1990s mentions one more group, or rather one more name for some of the same people: Vanguards of Conquest
. That was the faction of EIJ that was led by al-Zawahiri after the capture and sentencing of 'Abbud al-Zumar, the first emir of EIJ.
-based Islamist regime. To get there, the plan was to kill and intimidate government members, destroy the Egyptian tourism industry, and create fear and distrust in the Egyptian population. In more detail, the trial addressed
The trial concluded that the "constituent assembly" of al-Gama'a contained these fifteen names.
, and one in Baku
. One other was killed during the Tirana roundup, which arrested four and occurred in July 1998. The returnees include:
". But how exactly the agents in Albania got hold of money is not so simple. It seems probable that one or more Sunni terrorist charities were involved; both al-Haramain Foundation
and Global Relief Foundation
had branches in Tirana
, and a third charity front, Benevolence International Foundation
, had an office in Baku
. (Al-Naggar himself held a low-paid job in Tirana as a teacher of Arabic for the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, but that group was not accused nor incriminated in any way in the Returnees affair. On the contrary, al-Naggar was expected to get a job in Albania and give 10% of his wages to the terrorist group of which he himself was a member.)
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian military court from February to April 1999. The trial is one of the principal sources of information about Sunni terrorist groups in the 1990s, especially al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya is an Egyptian Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Egyptian governments...
and its offshoot Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
The largest trial in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
since the 1981 trials surrounding the assassination of President Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
, it was a landmark case in the topics of extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
and the credibility of the testimony of terrorism detainees.
The local Egyptian press coined the phrase "Returnees from Albania" to describe the defendants, in reference to the American-backed extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
which saw suspects kidnapped from foreign locations and secretly brought back to Egypt to face trial. In actuality, 43 men were brought from Albania, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and an additional 64 were tried in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
.
The prosecution leaned heavily on the testimony of defendant Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar
Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar
Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The Jewish lobby group ADL dubbed him the "propaganda chief" of the militant organisation...
, who was the first arrested. Many of the statements and confessions were alleged to have been given under torture.
Documentation and terminology
Those documents speak of "the jihadJihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
group" or "the jihad organization", meaning al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya as it was at that time. Most of al-Gama'a later renounced violence, but a violent residue called Islamic Jihad remained; that group was later known as Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) to distinguish it from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The remnants of EIJ and at least one person in the violent fugitive component of Gama'a (namely Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim) have since merged with al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
Reportage of events in the early 1990s mentions one more group, or rather one more name for some of the same people: Vanguards of Conquest
Vanguards of Conquest
Founded as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia in 1993, the Vanguards of Conquest were a separate faction that eventually folded back into the group under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri....
. That was the faction of EIJ that was led by al-Zawahiri after the capture and sentencing of 'Abbud al-Zumar, the first emir of EIJ.
The charges
Broadly, the aim of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya was to bring about the destruction of the Egyptian government, followed by its replacement with a shariaSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
-based Islamist regime. To get there, the plan was to kill and intimidate government members, destroy the Egyptian tourism industry, and create fear and distrust in the Egyptian population. In more detail, the trial addressed
- several bombings of banks
- the 1990 assassinationAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of the chairman of the Egyptian parliamentParliamentA parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
Dr. Rif'at al-Mahjub - the 1993 assassination of Interior Minister Hassan al-Alfi, which killed four others also
- the 1993 assassination attempt against Prime Minister Atef SedkiAtef SedkiAtef Muhammad Naguib Sedki was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1986 until 1996. He replaced Ali Mahmoud Lutfi on November 10, 1986.-Biography:...
, in which a child was killed - the 1994 assassination of Major General Ra'uf Khayrat (assistant director of the Egyptian intelligence service) in CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
- the 1995 assassination of Egyptian attaché Ahmed Alaa Nazmi in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
- the 1995 assassination attempt against President Hosni MubarakHosni MubarakMuhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
in Addis AbabaAddis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
(26 June; EIJ claim responsibility) - the 1995 bombing of Egypt's embassy in PakistanAttack on the Egyptian Embassy in PakistanCarried out by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the November 19 1995 attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan was retaliation against the diplomatic staffers who were accused of gathering intelligence on Jihad factions inside Pakistan...
, killing 15 people; an intended simultaneous mass murderMass murderMass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
of tourists at Khan al-Khalili did not materialize. - the 1997 massacre of tourists at LuxorLuxorLuxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The population numbers 487,896 , with an area of approximately . As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as the ruins of the temple...
The accused
Twenty were acquitted, nine sentenced to death (all in absentia), 11 to life imprisonment, and 67 were given sentences up to 25 years.The trial concluded that the "constituent assembly" of al-Gama'a contained these fifteen names.
| Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of al-Qaeda. He was previously the second and last "emir" of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zumar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zumar to life... |
Emir | In Absentia | Sentenced to death |
| Sa'id Imam bin Abdulaziz ash-Sharif Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, , aka "Dr. Fadl" and Abd Al-Qader Bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz, has been described as a "major" figure "in the global jihad movement." He is said to be "one of Ayman Al-Zawahiri's oldest associates, and his book al-'Umda fi I'dad al-'Udda , was used as a jihad manual in Al-Qaeda... , alias Dr. Fadl, alias Abdul-Qadr bin Abdulaziz سيد إمام بن عبد العزيز الشريف |
Religious expert | Captured in Yemen 2001, extradited to Egypt 2004 | Sentenced to (and serving) life |
| Abdullah Muhammad Rajab Abdul-Rahman alias Ahmad Hasan Abu al-Khayr احمد حسن ابو الخير |
Special Actions Committee | ||
| Tariq Anwar Said Ahmed طارق انور سيد احمد |
Special Actions Committee | ||
| Almakni Mukhta المكنى مختار |
Special Actions Committee | ||
| Muhammad al-Zawahiri Muhammad al-Zawahiri Muhammad Rabee al-Zawahiri was sentenced to death by an Egyptian court, but instead continues to be held and interrogated by Egyptian security forces... محمد الظواهري (brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri) |
Shura, Military Committee | Extradited by the UAE United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a... early in 1999 |
Under a death sentence; probably still alive in April 2007 |
| Ahmed Salamah Mabruk alias Abu al-Faraj al-Masri احمد سلامه مبروك |
Shura, Operations boss, Special Actions Committee | Snatched in Baku Baku Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal... in 1998, along with his computer, and rendered to Egypt |
|
| Thirwat Salah Shahata ثروت صلاح شحاته |
Shura, Security outside Egypt | Fled to Afghanistan Afghanistan Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world... or Pakistan |
Sentenced to death for a second time |
| Murjan (or Murgan) Salim مرجان سالم |
Shura, Legal services | At large somewhere | Under a death sentence; was demoted in Gama'a after several of his plots failed. |
| Adel Abdul-Quddus عادل عبد القدوس |
Families' services, travel facilitation | Free in Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
Sentenced to death and was already under a death sentence for the attempt against Sedki |
| Ibrahim Eidarous Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous was an Egyptian militant who was alleged to have led the London-based chapter of al-Jihad. He was held in the custody of the United Kingdom from 1999, fighting extradition to the United States, where he was wanted in connection with the 1998 United States... ابراهيم عيداروس |
Finance (?) (see also Advice and Reform Committee Advice and Reform Committee The Advice and Reform Committee or Advice and Reformation Committee was the London office of what is now called al-Qaeda from 1994 until the arrest of Khalid al-Fawwaz in 1998... ) |
Held in the UK United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... until his death from natural causes in 2008; was wanted in the USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Sentenced to life |
| Adel Abdel Bary Adel Abdel Bary Adel Mohammed Abd Almagid Abdel Bary is an Egyptian militant who, together with fellow Egyptian Ibrahim Hussein Abdel Hadi Eidarous until the latter's death, have been in the custody of the United Kingdom since 1999, fighting extradition to the United States, where they are wanted in connection... عادل عبد المجيد عبد الباري |
Information Committee (see also Advice and Reform Committee Advice and Reform Committee The Advice and Reform Committee or Advice and Reformation Committee was the London office of what is now called al-Qaeda from 1994 until the arrest of Khalid al-Fawwaz in 1998... ) |
Held in the UK; wanted in the USA | Sentenced to death; was already under a death sentence from 1995 |
| Hani Muhammad al-Said al-Siba'i Hani al-Sibai Hani al-Sibai , also known as Hani Mohammed Yusuf al-Siba'i and Hani al-Said al-Siba'i Yusuf... هاني محمد السيد السياعي |
Media publicity boss | Free in the UK and still operating | Sentenced to 15 years |
| Mahmoud Hisham Muhammad Mustafa al-Hanawi محمود هشام محمد مصطفى الحناوي |
Convicted in absentia, killed in 2005 in Chechnya) | 10 years' imprisonment | |
| Nasr Fahmi Nasr Hassanein نصر فهمي نصر حسنين |
Shura, Finance boss | At large; also wanted in the USA | Sentenced to death |
| Ahmed Bassiouni Ahmed Dewidar احمد بسيوني احمد دويدار alias Abu Ismail |
Security within Egypt | Killed in Yemen July 2005 | Sentenced to 25 years |
Arrested and charged
The returnees themselves were around 14 in number. About 12 were snatched in Albania, one in SofiaSofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, and one in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
. One other was killed during the Tirana roundup, which arrested four and occurred in July 1998. The returnees include:
| Husam Muhammad Khamis Nuwayr aka Adil Anwar |
Pled not guilty to overseeing the Feb. 7 1994 bombing of the Egyptian National Bank, the Feb. 15 bombing of the Alexandria-Kuwait Bank, the Feb. 23 bombing of the International Commercial Bank in al-Muhandisin, the attack on the Egyptian-American Bank in al-Muhandisin, the attack on the Mustafa Kamil Branch of Misr Bank and the attack on the Nile Office Tower in al-Jizah. | ||
| Ahmad 'Abd-al-Fattah Sayyid | Was part of the Feb. 7 1994 bombing of the Egyptian National Bank | ||
| Hasan Salih Mahmud | Was part of the Feb. 15 1994 bombing of the Alexandria-Kuwait Bank | ||
| Shawqi Salama Mustafa Atiya Shawqi Salama Mustafa Atiya Shawqi Salama Mustafa Atiya is an alleged militant leader within al-Jihad, and ran the Albanian office for the group. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA prior to the 2001 declaration of a War on Terror... شوقي سلامة مصطفى عطيه |
Ran the Tirana office. Egypt issued an arrest warrant for Atiya, and his five colleagues in Tirana, only on the advice of the United States. Atiya claimed he was hanged from his limbs, kept in a cell filled with water to his knees, and suffered electrical shocks to his testicles. | ||
| Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The Jewish lobby group ADL dubbed him the "propaganda chief" of the militant organisation... احمد ابراهيم السيد النجار |
Arrested in Tirana Tirana Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over... under death sentence from October 1997 following 1994 plot to bomb the Khan el-Khalili market Khan el-Khalili thumb|200px|An old chandeliers shop at Khan el-KhaliliKhan el-Khalili is a major souk in the Islamic district of Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.-History:... in Cairo Cairo Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life... . |
||
| Muhammad Hassan Mahmud Tita | Tirana | ||
| Ahmad Isma'il 'Uthman Ahmad Isma'il 'Uthman Ahmad Isma'il 'Uthman Saleh was a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad who was living in Albania. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA prior to the 2001 declaration of a War on Terror... |
Tirana; was under a death sentence from March 1994 | ||
| 'Issam Abdul-Tawab Abdul-'Alim | Sofia | ||
| Ahmed Salama Mabruk احمد سلامه مبروك |
Baku | ||
| Ahmed Refa'i Taha Ahmed Refai Taha The Egyptian Refa'i Ahmed Taha or Refa'i Ahmed Taha Musa or Ahmed Refa'i Taha, alias Abu Yasser al-Masri , is the former leader of a terrorist component of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, having succeeded "The Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman in that role after the latter's arrest in 1993 and imprisonment... أحمد رفاعي طه |
Former Emir of Gama'a | Held by Egypt since 2001 and probably still alive | Sentenced to death |
| Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub محمد زكي محجوب |
Alleged to be (though no evidence has ever been produced in Canada or Egypt) special Actions Committee, and a terrorist trainer | Never charged in Canada, has been fighting immigration "security certificate" since June 2000 in Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... , currently under house arrest pending outcome of his case |
Sentenced to 15 years in absentia |
| Yassir al-Sirri Yassir al-Sirri Yasser Tawfiq Ali El-Sirri is an Egyptian militant connected to the Vanguards of Conquest and Jemaah Islamiyah, sentenced to death in the 1998 Returnees from Albania trial.... ياسر السري |
Has safe haven in the UK; wanted in the USA in the case against Lynne Stewart and others | Sentenced to death; was already under a death sentence for his part in the attempt against Sedki, in which a random child was killed | |
| Magdi Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar مجدي ابراهيم السيد النجار |
Brother of Ahmad al-Naggar |
Acquitted in absentia | |
| Abdel-Akher Hammad عبد الآخر حماد |
A cleric | Now free in Egypt | Sentenced to death but recanted |
| El-Sayed Abdel-Maqsud السيد عبد المقصود |
Headed the Tirana office | Escaped the roundup in Albania and reached the UK, where he got political asylum | Sentenced to 10 years |
| Muhammad al-Islambouli محمد الإسلامبولي |
(brother of assassin Khalid al-Islambouli Khalid Islambouli Khalid Ahmed Showky Al-Islambouli was an Egyptian army officer who planned and participated in the assassination of Egypt's third president, Anwar Sadat, during the annual 6th October victory parade on 6 October 1981... ) |
Said to be now in al-Qaeda; see al-Hukaymah | Sentenced to death |
| Khalid Abdullah Khalid Abdullah (Egyptian) Khalid Abdullah, a Sudanese-Egyptian, was the fiancee of Canadian Zaynab Khadr, and a suspect in the 1996 attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan.In July 1995, Ahmed Khadr arranged for his daughter Zaynab to marry Abdullah in December,... |
(former husband of Zaynab Khadr Zaynab Khadr The eldest child of the Khadr family, Zaynab Khadr was born in Canada to Maha el-Samnah and Ahmed Khadr.Following the 1992 injury that left Ahmed disabled, Zaynab became a "second mother" to the younger children.... ) |
Involved in 1996 Attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan Attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan Carried out by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the November 19 1995 attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan was retaliation against the diplomatic staffers who were accused of gathering intelligence on Jihad factions inside Pakistan... |
Sentenced to prison |
| Mohammed Atef Mohammed Atef Mohammed Atef was the alleged military chief of al-Qaida, although his role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years... |
Charged in absentia, sentenced to seven years' imprisonment | ||
| Isam Muhammad Khalil Ahmad Bakr |
Charged in absentia, sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Extradited by Yemen in 2007, while his wife was deported. |
Funding and travel
Ahmad al-Naggar's controversial confession says that the money involved was not great and that it basically "came from Usama bin LadinOsama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
". But how exactly the agents in Albania got hold of money is not so simple. It seems probable that one or more Sunni terrorist charities were involved; both al-Haramain Foundation
Al-Haramain Foundation
Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was a charity foundation, based in Saudi Arabia, alleged by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in a September 2004 press release to have "direct links" with Osama bin Laden...
and Global Relief Foundation
Global Relief Foundation
The Global Chevra Foundation , also known as Foundation Secours Mondial or FSM, was an Islamic charity based in Bridgeview, IL until it was raided and shut down on December 14, 2001 and listed among the "Designated Charities and Potential Fundraising Front Organizations for Foreign Terrorist...
had branches in Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
, and a third charity front, Benevolence International Foundation
Benevolence International Foundation
The Benevolence International Foundation was a purported nonprofit charitable trust based in Saudi Arabia. It was a front for al-Qaeda and is now banned worldwide by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267...
, had an office in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
. (Al-Naggar himself held a low-paid job in Tirana as a teacher of Arabic for the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, but that group was not accused nor incriminated in any way in the Returnees affair. On the contrary, al-Naggar was expected to get a job in Albania and give 10% of his wages to the terrorist group of which he himself was a member.)
External links
- Foreign Broadcast Information ServiceForeign Broadcast Information ServiceForeign Broadcast Information Service was an open source intelligence component of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology. It monitored, translated, and disseminated within the U.S. government openly available news and information from media sources outside the...
1999 coverage by Asharq al-Awsat
Further reading
- Andrew Higgins and Christopher Cooper, Cloak and Dagger: A CIA-Backed Team Used Brutal Means to Crack Terror Cell, Wall Street Journal, 20 November 2001