In Shadow of 9/11, Hamburg Tracks Atta Contacts

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - The balding young man with the black beard raised his hands to cover his face as three visitors entered the room.

Abdelghani Mzoudi is no stranger to the world's front pages and television screens after a six-month trial that saw him acquitted this year of aiding and abetting the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. But he does not like to be recognized, still less to speak to the press.

In a drab canteen at Hamburg's Al Quds mosque, housed in an anonymous grey-tiled building with a fitness club on the ground floor, the 31-year-old Moroccan whiles away the afternoon with three friends while waiting for five o'clock prayers.

Nagel has launched legal proceedings to expel both Mzoudi and a fellow-Moroccan, Mounir El Motassadeq, who is currently on trial for the second time in connection with Sept. 11.

"My goal is that both of them should leave the Federal Republic by, or during, 2005," Nagel said in an interview.

Even if "M & M," as he jokingly calls them, are acquitted by the courts, he wants them kicked out of Germany on the basis of evidence at their trials that both attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and were therefore supporters of a "foreign terrorist group."

Motassadeq has admitted undergoing such training, but Mzoudi has remained silent. The two men were close friends of lead hijacker Mohamed Atta. They both signed his will as witnesses, but they deny any knowledge of the 9/11 plot.

Officials say "M & M" are among up to 20 or so suspected radicals in Atta's circle of contacts who are still living in Hamburg under the close watch of the authorities.

Keen to get rid of such individuals, Nagel bemoans the fact that deportations typically drag on for months or years while defendants exhaust various avenues of appeal. Only one suspect from Hamburg has been expelled so far.

Nagel also cites a "damned complex" parallel case involving Mzoudi. A court last month ruled that the Moroccan could resume his college studies under German education law, but the Hamburg authorities then banned him under the law on foreigners, again citing alleged terrorist links.

Frustrated by the Hamburg cases and others, the federal government is making it easier to expel foreign extremists under a new immigration law which takes effect from Jan. 1.

Even then, foreigners will have a good chance of resisting deportation if they are permanent residents. Several prominent suspects, in Hamburg or elsewhere in Germany, acquired such rights as refugees or by marrying local women.

Parallel to the Hamburg authorities' efforts to prosecute or expel suspects are surveillance operations, focused on around 200 individuals they consider "Islamist extremists." Many frequent the eastern St Georg district of town and worship at various local mosques.

One of them is Al Quds, several hundred yards down Steindamm street from Hamburg's main railway station, past sex shops, grocery stores and ethnic cafes and restaurants.

Above the "Olympic Fitness und Bodybuilding Club," whose iron-pumping clientele can be glimpsed through the open door, a poorly lit staircase leads to the first-floor prayer room once frequented by Atta and others in the "Hamburg cell."

Some of the men inside greet reporters politely, while others are suspicious. One checks a tape recorder in a journalist's bag to make sure it is not running. No, the imam is not here; come back later.

At another nearby mosque, imam Zulhajrat Fejzulali says he knows the authorities are watching and is happy for them to keep an eye on potential trouble-makers.

"We know we're under observation," said Fejzulali, a member of the council of the Muslim community in Hamburg. "We try to behave well and legally. We want peace and security."

Of the estimated 200 people they consider extremists, security officials class around 20 as dangerous, but they say they cannot shadow their every move.

"We are not able to keep an eye on each of them 24 hours a day. We know we just can have a kind of general overview, concentrating from time to time on certain persons or issues," Manfred Murck, deputy head of Hamburg's domestic intelligence agency, said in an interview.

It would take 20 agents to follow a single individual round the clock, he said. With 137 staff, he has to be highly selective in deciding where to send his observation teams and whose telephones to tap.

"It's always a kind of bad feeling in your stomach. You hope it's enough and that you have the right guy."

Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and the shocking revelation for Germans that Arab students based in Hamburg had led them, the authorities here believe they are better placed now to detect potential threats.

For all that, minister Nagel was careful not to claim that radical Islamist structures have been smashed.

"I wouldn't go that far. We know them, and they know that we know them," he said. "As far as possible, we are trying to expel them and get them out of the country."

Germany wants to put incoming moslems into camps

01.10.2004

EU Debates German Refugee Camp Plans

Not all of Europe sees eye-to-eye with the German Interior Minister

EU justice and interior ministers convene in The Hague on Friday to discuss plans put forward by Germany's Otto Schily which would create transit camps in Africa for refugees wishing to enter Europe.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily is expected to take a hard line when he outlines his proposal to set up transit centers in North Africa where EU nations could process refugees and weed out any illegal immigrants trying to get into Europe. Schily will present his proposal to his fellow EU justice and interior ministers during a full debate on the issue in The Hague on Friday.

"We need to think about preventing illegal immigration more forcefully," Schily told reporters Thursday, but refused to go further before briefing his EU colleagues. "We can either wait until the problems come to Europe or we can go actively after the problems and try to solve them. I am for the latter."

"If there are better proposals, I am open to them, but let's start the debate," Schily added.

Schily argued that EU officials could assess applicants at immigrant processing camps outside EU borders, possibly in Libya or Ukraine before they set foot on the continent as a way of helping stem illegal immigration across the Mediterranean.

Visa policy and extended powers proposed

The proposals also include setting up a common visa policy, boosting powers of the EU's police agency Europol, and improving crisis management coordination in case of terrorist attacks. There are also plans to set up an EU Internal Security Committee, which would coordinate operational activities of law enforcement agencies across the EU, including police and border guards.

Sudanese immigrants appear from the German Cap Anamur. German officials, backed by Italy, first proposed the idea during the summer after a German aid agency's ship, the Cap Anamur, was detained off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa with 37 African asylum seekers on board. Despite general backing for the idea among EU members, Schily's tone has caused some European Union officials to react cautiously to the proposal.

Concern from EU ministers

Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell told reporters that he wanted a full justification from the Germans as to why such camps were necessary. "These are issues we have to proceed slowly and cautiously on," he said, but added that EU ministers should approach the idea with an "open mind."

McDowell added that the EU should look urgently at dealing with the flow of illegal immigrants, specifically those who use Italy as a gateway to enter Europe from Northern Africa. "There is still a significant pattern. Lives are being lost. The Italian government has a clear interest in the matter," he said.

EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino and Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner, who was hosting the talks, refused to say how much support Schily's plan might have. "We may have some controversy to some extent," Donner said ahead of the debate.

Human rights of proposed hosts questioned

Amnesty International have concerns over human rights in proposed host countries. The controversy is already underway. The proposals have already come under fire from Amnesty International and the United Nation's refugee agency who are concerned that the camps could do more harm than good.

The claim is that the countries being proposed for the location of camps do not themselves live up to international human rights standards and cannot be expected to safely house asylum seekers. "Our main concern is the legal protection of these people," said Daphne Bouteillet from Amnesty International in a statement.

Several African countries, including Libya and Kenya, have been touted as host countries for the suggested camps, while Ukraine has been mentioned as a possible host country to handle refugees fleeing the conflict in Chechnya.

The EU is divided over the issue. While Britain, Poland and Austria have voiced support for the idea of North African refugee camps, France and Sweden argue that it goes too far. A similar proposal made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair last year was rejected by many EU nations fearing the plans were too extreme and could infringe upon the rights of asylum seekers.

DW staff (nda) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1344416,00.html

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