The Role of the European West in Producing Mujahideen and Sending them to Lebanon

The Role of the European West in Producing Mujahideen and Sending them to Lebanon

Part 1 of 2.

An interview with three Danes arrested in Lebanon for membership in Fatah Al-Islam.  I bring selected parts, but it's all quite interesting.

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The topic of the emergence of the Fatah Al-Islam organization is one that takes up a large part of the attempt to examine the way its fundamental core was formed. This in turn would allow us to form a clearer image of this group, one that would show its emergence as well as its international and regional ties, not to mention its goals. Another topic of interest is the funding of this organization, as well as its supply of interested "fighters", as indicated by Lebanese political and security circles, as this is considered an indication of whether it is one of the many branches of Al-Qaeda or whether it is one of those organizations which some political circles consider to have been "fabricated" by Syrian intelligence services. Investigations into possible recruitment operations that took place outside of Lebanon also provide indications within the same framework. Indeed, this organization is made up of members of numerous nationalities, and listing the various Arab nationalities of those arrested for being implicated on charges of belonging to Fatah Al-Islam allows us to discern the role of Western societies in "exporting mujahideen" to it and nurturing it by way of Arabs residing in their countries.

An inquiry into the list of those arrested and sentenced on such charges in Roumieh Prison reveals that Sweden, Germany, Australia, Denmark and others represent the countries of exile of many of those who have engaged in "Jihadist" activities.

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Walid Al-Bustani

Walid Al-Bustani does not hesitate to speak of how he joined the Fatah Al-Islam organization, as he is fully convinced of the rightfulness of his "Jihadist" cause. He was born in Bebnine, Akkar, in 1964. He joined the ranks of the Islamic Unification Movement during the Civil War before fleeing to Libya in 1986, after his brother was kidnapped by Syrian forces and his name included on their wanted list. He later moved to Denmark, where he remained until after the death of Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad.

Bustani claims to have met both Ibrahim and Asaad in Roumieh Prison, and that he did not know them personally during all these years when the three of them resided in the Danish capital. However, he certifies his lasting friendship with Mustafa Ramadan, and relates their relationship to the fact that they both follow the "Jihadi Salafist" ideology, which Bustani acquired from the teachings of a cleric named Abu Saud at the Al-Tauba (Repentance) Mosque in Copenhagen.

Bustani explains that "Jihadi Salafists" aim at fighting US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, he says he had hoped to reach Iraqi soil to "carry out his duty", but, as his name was listed among those wanted by Syrian authorities, he refrained from joining the "mujahideen" at the request of Ramadan himself. Furthermore, the death of Ramadan has had a negative impact on Bustani's chances of reaching Iraq.

After 2002, Bustani began to make intermittent visits to Lebanon, "in order to check on his new family", i.e. his second wife whom he had wed that same year in a marriage arranged by his family. He would reside in their home, separated by a wide street and the bed of a dried-up river from the family home of Shehab Al-Qaddour, a.k.a. Abu Hureira.

In 2006 Lebanon regained its stability, and Bustani quickly joined the Fatah Al-Islam organization after finding that he shared common interests with them, such as "Jihad in Mesopotamia", fighting "the agents of Syria and Iran who are in league with the US plan represented by the Shiite Crescent in the region", in addition to "fighting the Jews" and "defending Sunnis in Lebanon".

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Bustani is waiting for "general amnesty", as he "has not hurt anyone and did not participate in the Nahr Al-Bared events". Then he would "take his family and travel to Denmark once again" in agreement with the Danish government. Indeed, Danish representatives visit him every three months and provide him with his medication, as he suffers from "schizophrenia", which Bustani calmly states. He continues: "a careful reexamination of what happened is absolutely necessary, to find out the defect that afflicted the organization and allowed Syrian intelligence to infiltrate it".

Mahmoud Assaad (Abu Omar)

The "openness" of Walid Al-Bustani and his family to showing all the phases he went through before being arrested does not apply to his fellow "Danish citizen" of Palestinian origin, Mahmoud Assaad (Abu Omar). Indeed, Assaad answers questions with extreme reserve, after asking about the reason behind each of them.

Abu Omar claims to be "innocent", and he is accused of terrorism and of belonging to both Al-Qaeda and Fatah Al-Islam simply because he was "transferring religious donation funds from Denmark to Lebanon". He adds that he is "an emigrant who does not know the way to the poor whom this money is intended for, money which he used to deliver to his neighbor in the camp, Hajj Nasser Ismail, who was later arrested for being one of the leaders of Fatah Al-Islam in the camp".

Abu Omar is married to three women, a Palestinian, a Somali and a Lebanese. He was arrested two weeks after the start of the Nahr Al-Bared incidents, while coming out in an ambulance "in order to get to the airport in time for his flight". After being asked why he was still inside the camp, and "being unable to convince security forces that he had no other place to go", he was arrested and is still in jail.

"He has no personal relationships inside the prison, and does not know any more details about Fatah Al-Islam than what he has heard on the news". However, he has heard inside the prison from people arrested and convicted on these charges, and especially from those among them who are Syrian, that the confessions that were aired on Syrian television were "for the most part fabricated". Indeed, his cellmates pointed out that some of those who appeared on television "have been incarcerated in Syrian prisons for a long time, up to ten years for some of them".

Ali Ibrahim (Dib)

Excited about expounding his cause, aware of every word, organized in his information, explaining what happened to him in the minutest details, such is Ali Ibrahim (Dib): "My case is different from that of everyone here"; "I am not waiting for the general amnesty because I am innocent". Ibrahim accuses the Danish government of implicating him and turning him in to Lebanese authorities.

Alone among those arrested, he carries the Danish citizenship and studies literature. He asserts that he returned to Lebanon to settle down with his family, because the environment in Denmark is not ideal for children if they are to be raised according to customs and traditions. He regularly visited Denmark because of the financial aid he was receiving as a Danish citizen who is still a student. He tried to travel in February 2007, but was "surprised to be banned from traveling for classified reasons". He took his case to the Danish Embassy, and after some debate the Danish Consulate in Lebanon contacted him and informed him that he could travel, as there was no reason preventing him from doing so. Ibrahim, who had been limiting his movements after the death of his brother Saddam Dib in the incidents of Al-Mitein Street, headed to Tripoli's Serail along with his father, "in order to obtain a passport in replacement of the one he had lost, to be able to travel", and was arrested there.

He says: "the Lebanese media broadcast breaking news saying that I was there with the intention of bombing the Serail, and the Danish Embassy did not respond and clear my name, although they knew I was coming here".

He considers that his arrest took place because of his brother Saddam, in addition to his brother Muhammad Hajj Dib (24 years old), who was arrested in Germany on charges of attempting to bomb trains on July 31, 2006. He also indicates the possibility of a mix-up between his nickname, "Abu Arabi", and that of another who participated in the Zahriyeh battle. He wonders: "does not the fact that I have a brother in the army equal that of my having another in Fatah Al-islam?" By this he points to his two brothers, one of them a retired soldier, and the other having been killed in an Israeli air raid on the Lebanese Army post in Abdeh.

He keeps all the dates of the times his case was shown in the media, especially those which confirm the violation of human rights in arrests conducted. He points to the fact that he has been tortured and placed in solitary confinement. He shows his readiness for a public trial on Danish television in order to expound his "rightful" cause, especially that "throughout his stay in Copenhagen he never once committed an offense that would taint his record". He says that he used to pray at the Al-Tauba mosque or the Scandinavian Waqf mosque, which is the "most moderate among the other mosques", certifying that he used to pray then return home, and did not mingle with anyone, especially if they were from among those he heard had "something fishy about them".

He accuses the Danish government of practicing "racism towards him because he has black hair", and holds it morally responsible for everything that is happening to him and his five children, after it deprived them of his salary. Indeed, he asserts that his family's situation is deteriorating with his presence in prison along with his younger brother, and that his father is unable to support them.

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Source: Dar Al Hayat (English)