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AMSTERDAM — Military police arrested a Dutch terrorist suspect at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on request of the Turkish authorities on Saturday. The suspect has been identified as S B and his lawyer, Victor Koppe, said the man has already appeared in court. The man has been remanded in custody and Turkey is expected to submit an extradition request. The arrested man is a Dutch national and works as a journalist. He lives in Amsterdam and "is politically active", Koppe said. The lawyer added that B is a member of the TDP, a communist-socialist movement, Dutch associated press ANP reported....

HAMBURG, Germany - A Moroccan on trial for allegedly supporting a cell of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers was easy to get along with until he fell under the influence of a fellow countryman, who later was convicted on terrorism charges, their former landlord testified Thursday. Reinhard Martens, who rented defendant Abdelghani Mzoudi a room in his house in late 1996, remembered him as a "very good" tenant until another Moroccan, Mounir el Motassadeq, moved in at the start of 1997. "Mzoudi was quieter than before, he seemed like he could not make his own decisions," Martens testified. "Mounir was...

OSLO (Reuters) - The founder of a radical Iraqi Islamist organisation has distanced himself from the group after a report a breakaway faction was behind last month's bombing of a U.N. compound in Baghdad. "Mullah Krekar denies any links to Ansar al-Islam or the Baghdad bombing," Krekar's lawyer Brynjar Meling told Reuters in Oslo on Thursday, where Krekar has lived as a refugee with his family since the 1991 Gulf War. Meling said Ansar al-Islam, a north Iraq-based militia founded by Krekar, contained extremist factions who may have gained power since Krekar was removed as leader. Krekar has not been...

Ashcroft pleads his case in Norway US Attorney General John Ashcroft was granted a half-hour early Monday to discuss the war on terrorism with Norway's foreign minister. The fate of terror suspect Mullah Krekar was high on the agenda, even though Ashcroft refused to publicly mention Krekar by name. US Attorney General John Ashcroft (left) met briefly with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen in Oslo early Monday. PHOTO: JON HAUGE "The Americans are very, very concerned with Mullah Krekar," claimed Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen after his meeting with Ashcroft ended. While Norway supports anti-terrorist efforts, clear differences exist over...

Norway charges Kurdish Islamist with terrorism OSLO, March 21 (Reuters) - The Iraqi Kurdish leader of Ansar al-Islam, accused by Washington of having ties to al Qaeda, was charged with terrorist offences on Friday in Norway, his lawyer said. Mullah Krekar was detained late on Thursday on the grounds he might flee the country while under police investigation into his links to Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam), which Washington labels a terrorist group. "He has been charged with terrorism," his attorney Brynjar Meling told Reuters outside an Oslo courtroom where judges were considering whether there were sufficient grounds to keep...

Norway should have been included in a threat attributed to the al-Qaeda network broadcast on Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday. The hope of the authorities was that al-Qaeda simply got their geography wrong and did not mean to threaten Norway at all The threat from what is said to be the al-Qaeda network has baffled authorities and people here alike. Analysts are struggling to come up with any reasons why Norwegian embassies and interests abroad should be singled out for attacks from Muslim fundamentalists. Norway has traditionally been seen as a peacemaker in the Middle East and the country protested against...

Norwegian Court Releases Ansar Al-Islam Founder Wed April 2, 2003 03:30 PM ET OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian appeals court freed an Iraqi Kurdish founder of the Islamist group Ansar al-Islam on Wednesday, overturning an earlier ruling to keep him jailed during an anti-terror investigation, police said. Mullah Krekar, who has had refugee status in Norway since 1991 and denies any terror links, had been detained for almost two weeks since a lower court ruled that police could keep him jailed for a month. "He has been released by the court," a spokeswoman for Norway's Economic Crime Unit said after...

<p>Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.</p> <p>A former Canadian resident is a key commander and ideologue with Ansar al-Islam, a group the United States considers to be the terrorist link between Al Qaeda and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, says a captured Ansar member.</p> <p>Ali and another Ansar prisoner interviewed by the Star, 20-year-old Didar Khaled Khedr, said two former Iraqi intelligence agents are among Ansar's leaders - Abu Zurbeh and Abu Wahil.</p>

I am not sure if anyone is interested, but Mullah Krekar the founder and (former)spiritual leader of Ansar Al Islam, the Kurdish group supposedly linking Iraq and al Qaeda is answering questions live at the nettavisen website.... So far the most notable thing he has said is that George Bush reminds him of a drunk bus driver of a doubledecker bus driving over across a rotten bridge.. If your interested I could post it if he comes up with anything interesting... Cheers.

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. Iraqi Kurd suspect expelled from Netherlands to Norway Agence France Presse January 14, 2003 Tuesday THE HAGUE, Jan 14 The suspected leader of an Iraqi Kurdish Islamic extremist group has arrived in Norway " a free man" after being expelled from the Netherlands where he was being held, the Dutch ANP press agency reported early Tuesday. Mullah Krekar, 46, is suspected of being the head of a fiercely anti-American Iraqi Kurdish group called Ansa al-Islam, or "the supporters of Islam". "At this moment...

The leader of The Supporters of Islam group, who was being held in the Netherlands, has been unexpectedly expelled and sent to Norway. Mullah Krekar, an Iraqi Kurd, was detained at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport last September while he was travelling to Norway where he had political refugee status. The decision by Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner to expell Mr Krekar is conspicuous because Jordan had asked for his extradition. A court was to handle the extradition request next week. Mr Krekar was detained at Schiphol because the United States claims his organisation had close links with the al-Qaeda network.

Arrest of an Iraqi suspected of bond with Al-Qaïda Friday September 13, 2002 - 17h10 GMT AMSTERDAM, 13 seven (AFP) - a Kurdish leader of Iraq, suspected by the United States of being used as bond between Al-Qaïda and the mode of Saddam Hussein, was stopped Friday has the airport of Amsterdam, announced to the chain of public television Dutchwoman OUR. No official source confirmed this information Friday evening. According to OUR, the Kurdish leader would be Mullah Krekar. He would be with the head of the organization extremist Ansar Al Islam. The man returned from Iran and went...

Norway's Directorate of Immigration (UDI) ruled Wednesday that mullah Krekar is no longer eligible for political asylum. The controversial Krekar has spent too much time in his homeland in North Iraq. "We have initiated action to revoke mullah Krekar's asylum status. This is based on information that he has traveled back to his homeland and stayed there for long periods. This removes any basis for asylum," said UDI information chief Geir Loendal. Loendal said the question of expelling Krekar from the country was a matter for the Department of Local and Regional Government. Minister of Local Government and Regional Development...

A power plant built by the Norwegian People's Aid (NFH) in Northern Iraq is now supplying electricity to one of Mullah Krekar's training camps. The plant was built to provide electric power to around 200 families in two villages in the area. The plant was completed in 2000. -When the plant was completed, the peopele of the villages wanted to celebrate. However, armed men from Krekar's group put a stop to the festivities, says former head of NFH's projects in Northern Iraq, Ragnar Hansen to NRK Radio. US authorities are in the possession of pictures from Krekar's camp. These will...