Al Barakaat fortfarande terrorfinansiär

Jag kommenterade för en tid sedan EU-domstolens
hopplöst missförstådda dom i Al Barakaat-fallet.
Domstolen uttalade sig bara om EU:s procedurregler
för terrorspärrlistan och INTE om sakfrågan – rörelsens
terrorfinansiering…..
Det har en mängd okunniga/illvilliga journalister använt
som ”bevis” för sin egen önskedröm: att Al Barakaat ”friats
från terrormisstankar”. Det är rent nonsens.
**
Därför är det bra att EU-kommissionen står på sig
i sakfrågan:
EU-kommissionen vill att banknätverket al-Baarakat i
Stockholm ska stå kvar på FN:s terrorlista trots att
EG-domstolen ifrågasatte det tidigare i höst.
Kommissionens motivering bygger helt och
hållet på FN:s motivering där det sägs att
al-Baarakats grundare arbetar direkt för terror-
nätverkets al-Qaidas frontfigur Usama bin Ladin.

(SR-Ekot)

***

Al Barakaat came to Washington's attention
partly because of the background of its founder
and chief executive, Ahmed Nur Ali Jumale.
American officials contend that he befriended
Mr. bin Laden during the Afghans' war to drive
out Soviet troops in the late 1980's.
Documents provided to foreign governments
by the United States assert that Mr. Jumale
''founded Barakaat with capital reportedly
provided by bin Laden'' in 1989.
………
American officials said Mr. bin Laden's ties
to Al Barakaat continued during the first half
of the 1990's, when he was living in Sudan,
and through the recent years he spent in
Afghanistan. Over roughly the same period,
Al Barakaat slowly expanded into cellular
telephones, banking and other enterprises.
……
Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill said Al
Barakaat ''used its offices in the United
States and in 40 countries to finance
and support terrorists around the world.''
He and other Treasury officials said that
of $300 million to $400 million that Al
Barakaat sent to Somalia each year,
5 percent -- or $15 million to $20 million –
was siphoned off directly for Al Qaeda.
……..
A confidential Treasury document described
yet another pathway for the money.
Al Barakaat, the document asserts, is actually
controlled by Al Itihaad, which in turn
funnels money to Al Qaeda.
Al Itihaad, it said, ''takes a portion of the
transaction fee -- typically 5 percent of the
overall amount being sent -- for itself,''
the document said. It then sends ''a smaller
share on to groups and individuals associated
with bin Laden, either in the form of money
or weapons.''
**

(NY Times)

******

En annan hawala med terrorkontakter

Mer om AQ-hawalas

***

De största svartbankerna (hawalas)

med internationell verksamhet:

Amal Express ............Ras El-Khimah, UAE

Al-Mustaqbal ............................Dubai, UAE

Barwaqo Financial Services ...Dubai, UAE

Cidgal Djibouti................Republic of Djibouti

Dalsan...............................................Nairobi,Kenya

Dahabshiil ...................................Hargeisa, Somaliland

Kaah Express ..........................................Nairobi, Kenya

Salama Money Express .......London, United Kingdom

Towfiq ......................................Dubai, UAE

**

From Norway approximately $10.6 million was remitted

in 2007 to Somalia. In the United Kingdom approximately

$15 million per month was remitted to Somalia in 2007 .

Another reliable source estimates that in year 2007 the

flow of remittance to Somalis in Kenya was approximately

$4 million a month.

Återigen: Al Barakaat ÄR terrorfinansiär

Terrorfinansiären Al Barakaat

hamnar återigen på

EU:s terrorspärrlista:

**

KOMMISSIONENS FÖRORDNING (EG)

nr 1190/2008
av den 28 november 2008
om ändring för hundraförsta gången av rådets

förordning (EG) nr 881/2002 om införande av

vissa särskilda restriktiva åtgärder mot vissa

med Usama bin Ladin, nätverket al-Qaida och

talibanerna associerade personer och enheter

**
Efter att noga ha övervägt de synpunkter som

Al Barakaat International Foundation

lämnat i sin skrivelse av den 9 november 2008

anser kommissionen, med beaktande av det

preventiva syftet med frysningen av tillgångar
och ekonomiska resurser, att det är berättigat
att uppta Al Barakaat International Foundation

på förteckningen på grund av dess anknytning

till nätverket al-Qaida.

En missförstådd dom: Al Barakaat

EU-domstolen avkunnade igår domar

i två intressanta fall:

* Den somaliska svartbanken Al Barakaat

och

* den saudiske Al Qaedafinansiären

Yassin Abdullah Kadi

***

Båda har redan blivit grundligt misstolkade

av medierna. Domarna innebär inte något

som helst "frikännande" från terrormisstankar,

utan enbart nya riktlinjer för hur spärrlistorna

ska implimenteras i nationell lagstiftning.

EU antog ett bindande direktiv som ålade

medlemsstaterna inkludera FN:s spärrlista för

terrororganisationer i repektive nationell lag-

stiftning. Det kommer man även att kunna göra i

fortsättningen. Vad domstolen kräver är att de

som förs upp på listan måste informeras om varför

och ges tillfälle yttra sig över detta samt att någon

möjlighet till överklagande byggs in i systemet.

***

Den verkligt intressanta sakfrågan:

Är Al Barakaat och deras anställda in-

blandade i terrorverksamhet ?, fick vi

inget svar på.....

En annan fråga som återstår för de

svenska myndigheterna att besvara är

varför Al Barakaat tillåts bedriva bank-

verksamhet utan tillstånd, slipper

den bokföringsskyldighet varje svensk

företagare slavar under och tydligen

befriats från att följa svensk skatte-

lagstiftning.....

***

Läs hela domen

*

Counterterrorism Blog

*

Sydsvenskan

Terrorismen i Sverige - ur amerikanskt perspektiv

Amerikanska State Department offentliggör varje år
s k Country Reports on Terrorism. Idag kom 2009 års rapport.
Här har ni avsnittet Sweden

The Swedish Security Service (SAPO), which has responsibility for counterterrorism, distinguished between attack and activity threats in its terrorism assessment. Attack threats, which included plans to carry out attacks in Sweden and/or against Swedish interests abroad, remained low. SAPO noted, however, an increased activity threat from individuals who were planning, supporting, or financing terrorist attacks in areas of conflict. A number of individuals with connections to radical and violent networks, primarily al-Qa’ida (AQ) and al-Shabaab, continued to depart Sweden for training camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Iraq. According to estimates, the number of persons who seek ideological education, weapons training, or other activity in training camps abroad is likely to increase, and these individuals have the potential to speed up radicalization in Sweden. SAPO is responsible for trying to prevent such trips, but existing legislation leaves few possibilities to stop determined individuals from leaving Sweden. SAPO, therefore, continued to work to identify individuals planning to travel to training camps and held dialogues with them to try to prevent their travel, and it also spoke with persons who were suspected of returning from such travel. At least 20 Swedes were estimated to be active in camps around the world. Somalia continued to be the destination that attracted most individuals, and SAPO confirmed that it was aware of a hand-full of casualties involving ethnic Somali Swedish citizens fighting in East Africa.

In July, Xasaan Xussen, a spiritual leader for the Somali terrorist organization al-Shabaab, spoke at a conference in the Bellevue Mosque in Gothenburg. Xuseen’s visit was controversial because of a widespread concern that he came to Sweden to recruit young people and collect money for al-Shabaab. On July 15, the Somali Minister of Justice Abdirahman Janaqoo visited Sweden to discuss how to prevent young Somali-Swedes from traveling to Somalia and fight against the government. Together with two Somali parliamentarians, Minister Janaqoo met with representatives from the Swedish government to discuss radicalization of Somali-Swedes. In November, the media reported that a Swedish-Somali youth leader had used a youth center in one of Stockholm’s suburbs as a base for al-Shabaab recruitment.

Swedish authorities monitored individuals with connections to AQ, al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Islam, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Hizb Al-Tahrir, Hizballah, Islamic Jihad, and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). According to Swedish terrorism experts, members of terrorist groups, such as Ansar al-Islam, and Hizballah, used funds earned in Sweden to finance terrorist activities elsewhere. The al-Aqsa Foundation in Malmo was shut down in 2007 when it was suspected of financing HAMAS. Its chairman, Khaled al-Yousef, went on trial for terrorist financing and violating international sanctions, though he was acquitted in November after the case had been reviewed in two different courts.

Swedish law does not provide the government with independent national authority to freeze or seize assets, unless in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation. However, once the EU takes action, the government can and does freeze assets of entities and persons listed on the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee list. This procedure is managed through the Sanctions Act (1995). On October 26, the Swedish branch of the Somali bank network Al-Barakaat was delisted from the UN’s sanctions list. The Swedish branch of the organization was first designated in 2001 and about US$ 142,857 of frozen assets will now become accessible. Sweden can also take action against entities designated by the EU clearinghouse process, although Sweden has not yet proposed individuals or entities for inclusion on such lists.

On March 15, a new law on money laundering and terrorist finance came into effect that covers a broader range of entities and requires companies to have better knowledge about customer transactions. Suspicious transactions have to be reported to the Financial Police for further investigation. A special unit at the Financial Supervisory Authority, which supervises and monitors companies operating on the financial market, has been established to oversee implementation of the new legislation.

In late 2008, the Swedish Parliament approved the new EU directive on counterterrorism, which was intended to harmonize the EU Member States’ domestic laws and to criminalize public exhortation to terrorist crimes, recruitment and training for terrorism purposes, including actions performed over the Internet. In order for Sweden to comply with the directive, changes in the current legislation and a new law have been drafted. On December 21, the government introduced its proposed bill for action by the Parliament for voting.

Between July 2008 and June 2009, Sweden applied its Special Alien’s Control Act once. The act was established in 1991 to prevent presumptive terrorists from entering or residing in Sweden but also permits for control of individuals, who due to asylum reasons still have to be granted a stay in Sweden. In this particular case, the government decided to deport the person from Sweden.

While there were no convictions for terrorism in Sweden during the reporting period, the following cases should be mentioned:

• In April, a 32 year-old Swedish citizen of Somali origin was arrested in the United Kingdom, where he currently faces allegations for terrorist financing in Somalia.
• In July, Swedish citizen Misrad Bektasevic, who was convicted on terrorism charges in Bosnia in 2005, was transferred from Bosnia to Sweden, where he will serve the remainder of his prison sentence. Bektasevic was arrested by Bosnian Security Police in Sarajevo, when he was found in an apartment with explosives, weapons, and suicide bomb belts in 2005. A video with masked persons threatening to attack forces in Iraq and Afghanistan was found and a voice analysis proved that Bektasevic was one of the individuals in the video. In 2007, he was sentenced to eight years and four months imprisonment for terrorism-related crimes.

During Sweden’s EU Presidency in the latter half of the year, Sweden arranged a conference on prison radicalization and prevention; a seminar on enabling local police officers to detect and prevent radicalization; chaired the Working Party meeting on Terrorism and Terrorist Financing between the EU and the United States; and led EU efforts for negotiating the interim Terrorist Financing Tracking Program Agreement between the EU and the United States. Sweden also drafted and negotiated the EU’s new five-year program within Justice and Home Affairs, which involves counterterrorism and law enforcement cooperation. Sweden continued to contribute to counterterrorism capacity-building projects in third countries.

In November, the Swedish Parliament voted to extend the mandate for its troop contribution to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for another 12 months. Troop numbers are expected to remain at 500 and Sweden will continue its engagement in northern Afghanistan.

Hawalabank finansierar Al-Shabaab

Den största somaliska hawalabanken

Dahabshiil, som opererar både i Somalia

och i alla länder där den somaliska diasporan

finns (t ex Storbritannien, Sverige, Norge och

USA), har avslöjats som en stor bidragsgivare

till den islamistiska terrorismen.

I Sverige har man kontor i Rinkeby och Göteborg.

De papperslösa svartbankerna slussar årligen

miljarder från Västerlandet till de mest avlägsna

hörnen av Mellanöstern och Nordafrika.

**

Den exil-somaliske journalisten Dahir Alasow,

som ger ut webbtidningen WaagaCusub, har

publicerat hundratals interna dokument från

den somaliska hawalabanken.

De visar hur man betalat Al-Shabaab upp till

en halv miljon dollars per år i "skatt".

Då bidraget minskades till 100.000 sedan det

börjat gå dåligt för terrorgruppen hämnades

Al-Shabaab genom att bomba svartbankens

huvudkontor.

**

"Now WaagaCusub says it has sufficient proof

and documents supporting Dahabshiil’s financial

links to the outlawed group.

The documents include the bank accounts of

al-Shabab leader Ibrahim Jama Mead (Ibrahim

al-Afghani) and former Emir Ahmed Godane as

well as Muktar Robow and Hassan Dahir Aweys.

The files show that between 23 September 2010

and 11 of January 2013, the current Emir al-Afghani

received USD$4,326,727.50 through his account

in Dahabshiil.

Similarly, Ahmed Abdi Aw-Mohamud (Ahmed

Godane aka Abu Zubeir) received over USD$

4, 415, 411 from 31 September 2004 to 3 January

2013 of this year."

***

Läs mera på

Money Jihad

*

Al Barakaat fortfarande terrorfinansiär

*

Minst 20 miljoner till terrorgrupper

 

Den somaliska terrorismen och Europa

"A number of Western countries with large Somali

populations have seen people disappear to Somalia.

In the United States, this phenomenon has been

primarily associated with the Minneapolis-St. Paul

area, where 70,000 Somalis reside. However, there

are credible reports of disappearances in other

American cities with large Somali populations,

and federal investigations of the disappearances are

“active in Seattle; Boston; San Diego; Columbus,

Ohio; and Portland, Maine.”

While most people who disappeared in this manner

are of Somali descent, a number of non-Somalis—

such as Daniel Maldonado, Ruben Shumpert, and

Troy Kastigar—have also gone to Somalia to

connect with jihadis.

**

International reporting shows that in addition to the

cases in the U.S., disappearances have occurred

in other countries with large diaspora communities.

The U.K. has the largest Somali population in Europe,

around 250,000. The Times of London reports that

British security services believe that “[d]ozens of

Islamic extremists have returned to Britain from

terror training camps in Somalia.”

Peter Neumann of the International Centre for the

Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at

King’s College, London, told a British news outlet:

“The numbers I hear (going from Britain to Somalia)

are 50, 60 or 70, but in reality we don’t know.”

**

Sweden’s security service SAPO believes that about 20

people have left Sweden to join al-Shabaab.

This includes people of various ethnicities, not just

Somalis. Canadian government sources have told

the press that 20 to 30 Canadians have joined

al-Shabaab, a development that the country’s public

safety minister has said “alarmed” him.

And “[w]hile Somali community leaders in Australia say

that between 10 and 20 Somali refugees have returned

to their homeland to join the fight, Australian authorities

have estimated the figure may be double that.”
****
Ett litet smakprov ur senaste numret av
CTR Vantage, utgiven av Center for
Terrorism Research. Det är ett temanummer
om terrorism i Somalia. Som ni ser behandlas
också de somaliska exilgruppernas stora
betydelse för al-Shabaabs framväxt och
finansiering. Inte minst Sverige och Norge
har haft en central betydelse där.
***
Läs också
Alla somalier i Norge stöder Al-Shabaab
Sverige göder terrorister
Bismilahi, Rinkeby och Somalia
Al Barakaat fortfarande terrorfinansiär