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 him jailed.

"He has also been charged under suspicion of money transfers to Ansar al-Islam," Meling said.

Krekar has enjoyed refugee status in Norway since 1991 but the government has said recently it wants to expel him because of concerns about national security. It has yet to give details of what those concerns are.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

AFTENPOSTEN.no - English - News from Norway: "AL QAEDA THREATENS NORWAY" (May 21, 2003)
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/world/article.jhtml?articleID=550179

re: MULLAH KREKAR, Norway, Ansar Al-Islam, Al-Qaeda...

AFTENPOSTEN.no - News From Norway: "MULLAH KREKAR ARRESTED" (March 21, 2003)
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=513564

AFTENPOSTEN.no - News From Norway: "MULLAH KREKAR WARNS U.S" (March 20, 2003)
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=512702

On The Net...GOOGLE Search Term: "ANSAR AL-ISLAM"http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Ansar+al-Islam%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0

FOX NEWS.com: "U.S. MISSILES HIT AL-QAIDA HIDEOUT IN NORTHERN IRAQ" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Qubad Talabani, a spokesman with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, told Fox News that Abu Musab Zarqawi, an associate of Usama bin Laden, stayed at terrorist training camps in that region, and is the person who Secretary Powell and President Bush both referenced when they linked Al Qaeda to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Tawela and Biyara, the Iran-bordering villages that were apparently bombed, contain numerous compounds that serve as the base for Ansar Al-Islam, a Shiite organization with suspected ties to Al Qaeda. One of the compounds was believed to be a site where some lethal chemicals, including ricin, may have been produced. The Kurds say Ansar, which has about 600 members in Northern Iraq, could be an obstacle in any U.S.-led offensive on Saddam through the north.") (March 22, 2003)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81843,00.html

GOOGLE Search Term: "MULLAH KREKAR"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22MULLAH+KREKAR%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0

FR Discussion: "NORWAY TO EXPEL MULLAH KREKAR (Links to Al-Qaeda)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/847173/posts

FR Discussion: "MULLAH KREKAR ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/841393/posts

FR Discussion: "HIGH RANKING PUK MAN, SHAWKATI HAJI MUSHIR, KILLED BY KREKAR's GROUP"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/839342/posts

FR Discussion: "NORWAY: MULLAH KREKAR LOSES REFUGEE STATUS"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/740897/posts

NEWSMAX.com: "Wednesday, April 3, 2002 11:06 a.m. EST
Rumsfeld: Norwegian Pilots Needed to Protect U.S.; Military 'Run Down' by Clinton"
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2002/4/3/100757

Archives.TCM.ie - Breaking News: "Norway to send fighter jets on Afghanistan duty" (January 4, 2002)
http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2002/01/04/story35298.asp

GOOGLE Search Term: "Norway"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22NORWAY%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0

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