Posted on 07/23/2002 9:44:57 AM PDT by knighthawk
Canada refused to extradite brother of accused
BOSTON (AP) — A Somali arrested in a post-Sept. 11 crackdown on money transfer businesses was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison for operating without a state licence.
Mohamed Hussein was convicted in April of two counts of illegally transmitting money abroad. Hussein, 33, and his brother, Liban Hussein, 31, were arrested during last fall's crackdown on al-Barakaat outlets across the United States.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of at least four years, three months in prison — a recommendation that drew harsh criticism from U.S. District Judge Robert Keeton.
"You're trying to ask me to sentence him as a terrorist," Keeton told Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy, calling the recommendation "unfair and unjust."
The Bush administration last year said Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group skimmed money from the tens of millions of dollars that annually flow overseas through al-Barakaat, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates.
The Hussein brothers, natives of Somalia who hold Canadian citizenship, have insisted they had no knowledge of any link between al-Barakaat and terrorists. They ran Barakaat North America out of a tiny office in Boston and a subsidiary office in Ottawa.
In June, Canadian officials refused to extradite Liban Hussein, citing a lack of any evidence linking him to terrorism.
Last week, the Bush administration removed his name from a list of people and groups suspected of financing terrorist acts.
Massachusetts prosecutors said the Hussein brothers wired about $2.8 million (U.S.) to an account in the United Arab Emirates between September, 2000, and November, 2001, even though the brothers knew they were breaking the law by not having a state licence.
Mohamed Hussein had faced up to 10 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines called for two to three years.
NOVEMBER 7, 2001 : (PORTLAND, MAINE : RAIDS ON AL BARAKAT & AL TAQWA --- See SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ, SOMALIS, AHMED HUBER) On Nov. 7, Portland was in the news once more. money to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, federal agents raided the offices of two companies with offices in the United States - Al Barakaat, a money-wiring company based in Somalia, and Al Taqwa, a money-management company with offices in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Bahamas and Italy.
The government targeted offices in Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle and Columbus, Ohio. The government froze the assets of 11 people and groups alleged to have ties to the two companies and arrested a principal of Al Barakaat, Mohamed M. Hussein, who runs the company with his brother, Liban.
Court papers say that in March 2000 Liban Hussein opened an account for Al Barakaat at Key Bank in Portland and applied for approval to wire up to $50,000 from Key Bank to the company's account at Emirates Bank International Ltd. in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. According to the court papers, $974,000 was transferred to the bank in UAE between March 17, 2000 and Aug. 1 of this year.
The tradition of sending money to family members in Africa and the Middle East is common practice among immigrants. Al Barakaat's executives vehemently have denied that the company has ties to terrorists.
"This is all lies," the company's chairman Ahmed Nur Ali Jim'ale said in an interview with the Associated Press. "I was really upset. We have a lot of enemies who would say anything."
Citing customer confidentiality, Therese Meyers, a spokeswoman for Key Bank, declined comment on the Al Barakaat account..... -------- (Newsday, 11/18/01)
Of course, Maine is where Atta visited before he augered in on 9/11; it is also related to al Zidi aviation, and some Imam or bigwig from TX had ties there, etc.
What do we know about al Taqwa? Well,...
[Youssef M.] Nada formed the al-Taqwa group, a shadowy organization suspected of providing cover for Saddam Hussein’s personal fortune and Iraq’s funding of al-Qaeda operations. ------ "The Link between Iraq and Al Qaida," by Scott Wheeler, Insight Magazine , Sept 2003, Posted on 09/19/2004 10:14:43 PM PDT by Big Jake
Who is Nada?
Records show that Youssef M. Nada is, with [Ahmed] Huber, a board member of Nada Management. An Egyptian expatriate, Nada is said by the government investigator to be central to the Iraq/al-Qaeda connection and "a known associate of Saddam Hussein and Ayman al-Zawahiri," al-Qaeda's second in command. The government investigator tells Insight that Nada met with Saddam and had a "business" relationship with the former Iraqi dictator. Nada's relationship with al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, is reportedly through the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization founded by al-Zawahiri, according to the government investigator. ------ "The Link between Iraq and Al Qaida," by Scott Wheeler, Insight Magazine , Sept 2003, Posted on 09/19/2004 10:14:43 PM PDT by Big Jake
Who else is associated with al Taqwa/Nada Management?
Records show that Youssef M. Nada is, with [Ahmed] Huber, a board member of Nada Management. An Egyptian expatriate, Nada is said by the government investigator to be central to the Iraq/al-Qaeda connection and "a known associate of Saddam Hussein and Ayman al-Zawahiri," al-Qaeda's second in command. The government investigator tells Insight that Nada met with Saddam and had a "business" relationship with the former Iraqi dictator. Nada's relationship with al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, is reportedly through the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization founded by al-Zawahiri, according to the government investigator. ------ "The Link between Iraq and Al Qaida," by Scott Wheeler, Insight Magazine , Sept 2003, Posted on 09/19/2004 10:14:43 PM PDT by Big Jake
NOVEMBER 8, 2001 : (SWITZERLAND : AUTHORITIES RAID AHMED HUBER'S HOME - See AL QAEDA, AL TAQWA BANKING GROUP, IRAQ, YOUSSEF NADA, ALI HIMAT, MOHAMMED MANSOUR, PORTLAND MAINE) Another Swiss financier of neo-Nazi and Islamic terror is Ahmed Huber, (nee Albert Huber), a former journalist who converted to Islam. Swiss authorities raided Huber`s suburban home outside of Berne on November 8, 2001, when U.S. officials identified him as one of the chief financial operators for Al Qaeda. Huber had been very active with the Al Taqwa (literally ``Fear of God``) international banking group, an Islamic terrorist front organization that had been funding the activities of Hamas and other Muslim extremists. According to a report released by Germany`s Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz (``Office for the Protection of the Constitution``), Huber ``sees himself as a mediator between Islam and right-wing groups.`` Huber and others of his ilk have found that Holocaust denial organizations provide the ideal venues for coordinating the efforts of the neo-Nazis and the Islamic terrorists. Indeed, Holocaust denial is the one area in which the beliefs of the neo-Nazis and Islamic terrorists coincide completely. And given the levels of post-9/11 security, international Holocaust denial conferences now have greater importance for planning and coordination among the neo-Nazi/Islamic terrorist networks. This is due to the unfortunate fact that Holocaust denial organizations have the patina of scholarly respectability. Groups such as the Santa Barbara, California-based Institute for Historical Review produce glossy quasi- academic-style journals complete with footnotes and bibliography and well-designed and user-friendly websites. Holocaust denial groups sponsor international meetings that allow representatives of neo-Nazi and Islamic terrorist groups to meet because they narrowly fall within guidelines in most Western countries allowing for the free exchange of ``ideas.`` And with the current embrace of anti- Semitism by most leftist academics (in addition to their traditional anti-Americanism), there is now often very little difference between the symposia sponsored by officially recognized Middle Eastern Studies organizations in America and Europe and those organized by Holocaust denial groups. While American forces continue to identify and destroy Al Qaeda`s ability to conduct terrorist activities on its own, we must become more vigilant to the increasing possibility of ``terror by hire`` as neo-Nazi and other right- wing extremists step up to fill the void. The next 9/11-style terrorist attack may not be attempted by a keffiya-wearing Arab terrorist spouting quotations from the Koran, but by an IRA terrorist whose services were purchased by a left-wing European intellectual attending a Middle Eastern Studies caucus of some leftist academic group during an annual conference in Omaha or Chicago or San Francisco. -------------Al Qaeda`s Neo-Nazi Connections Jewish Press ^ | 2/25/2004 | William Grim
And al Taqwa is related to VA JIHAD / FALLS CHURCH TERROR CHARITIES :
Another board member and tenant in the Herndon office is Samir Salah. He formerly ran a branch of Al-Taqwa in the Caribbean, heads a financial firm linked to Saar, and directs Dar al-Hijra, a mosque in Falls Church, Va., notable for hardline Wahhabi preaching. Salah is also deeply involved with Taibah International Aid Association, a Virginia charity with a Bosnian branch that is being investigated by authorities in Sarajevo.---------Wahhabis in the Old Dominion: What the federal raids in Northern Virginia uncovered, 4/02 Weekly Standard
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