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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8560624/site/newsweek/
"Heroes or Nettlesome Hacks?"

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Brad Stone
Newsweek
Updated: 9:51 a.m. ET July 13, 2005

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "July 13 - Freelance counterterrorist Aaron Weisburd is not an employee of any of the three-letter federal agencies. He works alone in his attic in Carbondale, Ill., far from the hotbeds of terrorist activity. Yet for the last three years, the 41-year-old computer programmer has been obsessively monitoring dark corners of the Internet such as Qal3ah.org, the Web site where, last week, a group called the Secret Organization for Al Qaeda’s Jihad in Europe placed a dubious claim of responsibility for the London bombings that took at least 52 lives.

Weisburd is the creator of Internet Haganah, a self-proclaimed “global open-source intelligence network dedicated to confronting Internet use by Islamist terrorist organizations, their supporters, enablers and apologists.” In other words, he’s an Internet vigilante."

http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/004492.html

July 14, 2005

"Well bless their heart...
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has added Sa'ad Al-Fagih's Al Islah - Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia organization to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist organizations, to wit:

07/14/05: The following [SDGT] entries have been added to OFAC's SDN list:"

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http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2632.htm

July 14, 2005
JS-2632

Treasury Designates MIRA for Support to Al Qaida

The U.S Department of the Treasury today designated the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), a U.K.-based Saudi oppositionist organization, for providing material support to al Qaida. MIRA is run by al Qaida-affiliated Saad al-Faqih, who was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 by the Treasury on December 21, 2004 and is named on the United Nations 1267 Committee consolidated list of terrorists tied to al Qaida, UBL and the Taliban.

"Al-Faqih uses MIRA to facilitate al Qaida's operations," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). "Designating MIRA will help stem the flow of funds to the organization and put the world on notice of its support for al Qaida."

Under his ideological and operational control, MIRA is the main vehicle al-Faqih uses to propagate support for the al Qaida network. MIRA's 1995 founding statement explicitly states that the organization is not limited to peaceful means in the pursuit of its objectives. According to information available to the U.S. Government, while head of MIRA, al-Faqih assumed the role of the al Qaida spokesperson in London following the arrest of senior Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist Yassir al-Sirri in 2001.

Information shows that statements on the MIRA website, including messages from Usama bin Laden and Abu Mus'ab al Zarqawi, are intended to provide ideological and operational support to al Qaida affiliated networks and potential recruits. According to recent information available to the U.S. Government, a senior al Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia sent articles to al-Faqih who then posted them to the MIRA website under the al Qaida operative's pennames.

In 2003, MIRA and Faqih received approximately $1 million in funding through Abdulrahman Alamoudi. According to information available to the U.S. Government, the September 2003 arrest of Alamoudi was a severe blow to al Qaida, as Alamoudi had a close relationship with al Qaida and had raised money for al Qaida in the United States. In a 2004 plea agreement, Alamoudi admitted to his role in an assassination plot targeting the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and is currently serving a 23 year sentence.

Al-Faqih has maintained associations with the al Qaida network since the mid-1990s, including with Khaled al Fawwaz, who acted as UBL's de facto representative in the United Kingdom and was associated with the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. At the U.S. trial of the East African embassy bombers, prosecutors provided evidence that MIRA and al-Faqih paid for a satellite phone that al Fawwaz passed on to UBL, who allegedly used it to help carry out the attacks.

MIRA was designated under Executive Order 13224 for providing financial and/or material support to al Qaida.

Identifying Information
Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia

AKAs: Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyah lil-Islah
Al Islah (Reform)
Islamic Movement for Reform
MIRA
Movement for Reform In Arabia

Address: BM Box: MIRA
London WC1N 3XX, United Kingdom

Alt. Address: Safiee Suite, EBC House, Townsend Lane
London NW9 8LL, United Kingdom

Alt. Address: 21 Blackstone Road
London NW2 6DA, United Kingdom

Telephone: 020 8452 0303
Fax: 020 8452 0808.
Email: info@islah.org
U.K. Company Number: 03834450

For more information on the designation of al-Faqih, please visit: http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/js2164.htm.

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1258&storyid=3445698

http://images.news.com.au/thedailytelegraph/3446046_frontweb.jpg

"He's an Aussie citizen"
By PETER TRUTE
July 15, 2005

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "THIS is Sheik Mohammed Omran, the radical Muslim cleric who seven days after the London bombings still wants proof that Islamic terrorists are to blame.

He is still not sure whether Osama bin Laden is a terrorist – or whether the al-Qaeda leader ordered the September 11 attacks.

And although he's an Australian citizen, he's got nothing to say about the fact that last week's cowardly terrorist bombings almost killed 10 of his fellow countrymen.

The Daily Telegraph yesterday tried to interview Sheik Omran after his bizarre comments – made after Islamic suicide bombers had been confirmed as the perpetrators of last week's terror – that there was no evidence of a Muslim link."

ARTICLE SNIPPET #2: "Yesterday it emerged that Australians have been accessing radical Islamic websites in alarming numbers.

US-based researcher Aaron Weisburd said Australians made up 2.2 per cent of worldwide users of a Taliban revivalist website."

PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org
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July 14, 2005

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Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

ISLAMIST-RULED PROVINCE PASSES TALIBAN-STYLE LAW IN NORTHWEST PAKISTAN

An Islamic government in a Pakistani province bordering Afghanistan has just passed legislation enforcing strict adherence to Islamic teachings.

The regional legislature in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), dominated by the ruling alliance of six religious parties, passed the controversial Hasba Act by 68-34.

Islamist MP's shouted "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is greatest), when the result of the vote was announced amid opposition uproar.

Dubbed by the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) as "an attempt to bring Taliban-style law to the region," the law has been compared to the Taliban regime's notorious Dept. of Vice and Virtue in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.The Taliban was backed by Pakistan, and many of its members trained in the northwest's religious schools.

Under the new law, an Islamic watchdog will monitor the observance of Islamic values in public places.

APMA reported that the bill's passage followed a heated debate between the ruling conservative six-party religious alliance Mutahida Majlis Amal (MMA) and the opposition.

Under the new law, according to APMA, the main duty of the cleric, called "mohtasib" - one who holds others accountable - will be to ensure people respect the call to prayers, pray on time and not do any business during Friday prayers.

He will also stop unrelated men and women from appearing in public places together, APMA reported, and discourage singing and dancing.

Another one of the cleric's functions, APMA reported, will be to monitor the media to ensure "publications are useful for the promotion of Islamic values."

A news release from APMA called the bill a "hanging sword" for religious minorities, and predicted that it will be used by Islamic extremists to both persecute and torture Christians and other minorities.

"This new law will strengthen Islamic extremists and pro- Taliban forces who are already ... attacking churches, killing innocent citizens, bombing, misusing (the) blasphemy law, violent activities and hate crimes," APMA commented. "These elements will be allowed to interpret Holy Koran and Sunnah according to their own thinking through this bill."

APMA said the organization also has a concern that the bill will "eradicate religious freedom and basic human rights in NWFP."

APMA commented that radical Islamic elements have routinely "linked Pakistani Christians with the west, therefore they think by killing and attacking (them) they are taking revenge."

Speaking in a news release, APMA Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti said his organization has launched a campaign to deal with the issue.

"We have written letters to authorities and shared our concern. Even press conferences and demonstrations were held to highlight this issue. I also sent (an) application to the Chief Justice of Pakistan for his intervention, but nothing happened yet. (Please) pray for Christians and other minorities in this critical situation."

According to the World Evangelical Alliance (www.worldevangelical.org/persecute/persec_pakistan_ii_28oct03.html), "APMA is a coalition representing Pakistan's non-Muslim religious minorities (Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Balmeek, Bheel, Maingwal, Zoarastrian, Bahai and Kelash communities). Using advocacy and lobbying, APMA raise(s) minorities' issues and concerns with the government authorities, parliamentarians, human rights organizations and media."

APMA, the World Evangelical Alliance statement continued, is assisting many victims of "discriminatory laws and blasphemy laws and also supporting and protecting victims of terrorist attacks of Islamic militants especially since 11 Sept. 2001 ... APMA is struggling to protect and ensure religious freedom in Pakistan."