'Al-Qaeda' arrests spark Malawi riot

BBC ^ | June 28, 2003

[Prodigal Son]

Police in the Malawi city of Blantyre have fired tear gas at Muslims protesting against the arrest and deportation of five suspected al-Qaeda members.

The al-Qaeda suspects are now in US custody The Muslims, coming from Jumm'ah, or obligatory Friday prayers, chanted slogans against the government and their own association, the Muslim Association of Malawi (Mam).

They accused the government of losing sovereignty by secretly handing the suspects over to American CIA agents, despite a High Court ruling ordering the government to charge or release the men.

They also accused their association of failing to protect fellow Muslims, despite the fact that Muslims hold powerful positions in Malawi.

President Bakili Muluzi, Inspector General of Police Joseph Aironi and Director of Public Prosecutions Fahad Assani are all Muslims.

Offices attacked

Violence erupted when, after the 200-strong demonstration was broken up by police, the protesters regrouped and descended on the Mam offices.

The association's public relations officer, Saiti Jambo, told BBC News Online that irate Muslims demanded to see the association chairman, Sheik Omar Wochi.

"But Sheik Wochi was not in the office and this angered them," Mr Jambo said. "We watched helplessly as they decided to vent their anger on the offices."

All window panes in the office were smashed, while furniture, stationery and computers were burnt.

Two cars, parked outside, were also vandalised, as were two motorcycles that were burnt to ashes.

A small mosque within the office building, used by workers who cannot find time to attend prayers, was also vandalised.

Caught by surprise

Smoke was still smouldering from the motorbikes and office papers almost two hours after they were torched.

Workers at the offices looked on, helpless.

Police officers at the scene said two people were arrested.

Mr Jambo said nobody was hurt during the violence. He confirmed that the arson attack was carried out by fellow Muslims.

"Perhaps we were not hurt because we did not challenge them," he said.

Mam's secretary-general, Muslim scholar Ronald Mangani, said the association has been taken by surprise by the turn of events.

He said as far as he was concerned the association had done all it could to intercede on behalf of the arrested Muslims.

"We are shattered at what's happening," he said.

Mr Mangani, a lecturer at the University of Malawi, said he knew almost all those involved in the violence and would meet them to find out what the motive for the attack was.

'Watch list'

The five suspected al-Qaeda members - two Turks, a Kenyan, a Saudi and a Sudanese - were arrested last weekend in a joint American CIA and Malawi National Intelligence Bureau operation.

Despite an injunction blocking the deportation, Malawi authorities handed the suspects over to the Americans, who spirited them away on a chartered Air Malawi flight on Monday night to an American army camp in Botswana.

American officials have not yet commented on the al-Qaeda suspects.

Intelligence sources say the five Muslims - who were running charitable organisations in Malawi - have been on the CIA watch list on suspicion that they were using their charitable organisations to funnel money to fund al-Qaeda terrorist operations in Africa and beyond.

The current whereabouts of the five is not known.

But lawyer Shabir Latif, who is leading a five-man team defending the suspects, told the High Court in Blantyre that the Americans wanted to take them to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where suspected al-Qaeda members are held.

[Prodigal Son]

Related thread from June 24: Malawi Deports Five Suspected Al Qaeda Members

[Prodigal Son]

Malawi is at the "frontier" of Islam in Africa. You can get an overview of Islam in Africa with this map (it was too large to load into the thread):

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/africa_islam_87.jpg.

This is good resource for maps btw- http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html

[happygrl]

an American army camp in Botswana

Intriguing.

[Prodigal Son]

Yes, I thought so as well.

[Thorondir]

If you have been uncertain that the Mohammedans will stick together to bring about our final destruction, then GET CERTAIN NOW! Some defend iSLAM because they are nothing more than quavering cowards.
Some defend iSLAM because they think it makes them sound superior.
Some defend iSLAM because they think their moral relativism will protect them.
Some defend iSLAM because they think appeasement will protect them.
Some defend iSLAM because they are ignorant of iSLAM’s consistent bloody swath through human history.
Some defend iSLAM because they like its fight against Christianity.
Some defend iSLAM because they like its fight against the Jews.
Some defend iSLAM because they like its fight against that other guy’s religion.
Some defend iSLAM because they are sleeper elements of a fifth column in our country.
Some defend iSLAM because it is their faith and they will be murdered by their ‘brothers’ if they leave.
Some defend iSLAM because they are misogynists and the cult gives them what they want.
Some defend iSLAM because they are as primitive as it is.
Some defend iSLAM because they like its fight against America (because their turd-world nations are so far beneath America).
Some defend iSLAM because it’s the popular thing to do.
I swear, some of them would defend the Aztec cannibals or the Thuggee cult if those religions of peace were alive today!

At any rate, iSLAM intends to be the death of America and freedom and every other religion on the planet.

None survive when freedom fails;
Good men rot in filthy jails,
While those who cried “Appease! Appease!”
Are hanged by those they tried to please.

Human civilization had better wake up soon and get as serious about its survival as the seventh-century savages of Islam are about our annihilation!
SLEEPING AMERICANS ARE EASIER TO KILL.
Do not be lulled to sleep by the Religion of Peace defenders.

Click here and never forget the face of Islam and what it wants for you infidels.

[Prodigal Son]

That's a 7 MEG file in that link. When I have an hour to spare, I might check it out.

[Thorondir]

You'll need broadband like almost everybody else has. It's worth it when you get the chance.

Peace.

[Prodigal Son]

You'll need broadband like almost everybody else has.

I've never met anybody with broadband. BT keeps saying it is coming to this area but they've been saying that for a long time. You can get it in Glasgow and the capitol- Edinburgh, but that doesn't help me too much where I'm sitting.

I didn't realize most Americans were now on high speed service. Pretty impressive.

[Thorondir]

HEY! You're in Scotland! That's my favorite place in the whole world! Beautiful country and great people. And the beer. Man, we have no beer in America. (It's brewed from pi$$, vomit and battery acid)

I have been to Scotland twice. Took the wife and five children last time. It's hard to get heather ale here. Costs a ton when you can find it.

After my first trip to the ancient homeland, I wrote a novel that takes place on the Island of Arran. Working on getting it published right now.

Anyway, well met, my friend. Enjoy your beautiful country. I'm stuck in the desert.

[Prodigal Son]

Enjoy your beautiful country.

My beautiful country has states with names like Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina. I only live here in Scotland. I am an American ;-) Won't be living here too much longer. I moved to the UK in 99. Lived in England and Northern Ireland as well. This weather has got to go. Either Australia, New Zealand or South America next.

I don't really have a favorite place. I lived in South Africa for a while. I'd say for the total experiences I had, that was the best place I ever lived.

It's hard to get heather ale here. Costs a ton when you can find it.

Same with whisky here. Oh, there's enough of it on the shelves, but you can buy all Scotch Whisky cheaper by going to Spain. It costs an arm and a leg here- as does most everything else. I've enjoyed my time here, but I've got to go. Itchy feet.

[csvset]

A small mosque within the office building, used by workers who cannot find time to attend prayers, was also vandalised.

Ah, it must be an African thing.

[csvset]

an American army camp in Botswana

Fwiw, President Bush will be visiting Botswana during his Africa trip.

[csvset]

[livius]

Thanks for posting the map. Very interesting - I think Bush is right to be putting a new focus on Africa. Keeping the white parts from turning green is going to require a lot of work, but I think it's better to attempt to prevent it than to have to "cure" it after the fact.

[skinkinthegrass]

I didn't realize most Americans were now on high speed service. Pretty impressive.

We have access to high speed @ $59.95 here/mo...some of us, still have 33.3 baud -slow like oxen & covered wagons...it gets us there :/

[skinkinthegrass]

Hmmm...Islam not as widespead as I though, the map is very good, clearly drawn. The disease (Islam), is it increasing/decreasing, the rate -the map 15 years old.

[csvset]

I found this Source

Poor Amnesty International!

AFRICA

Amnesty concerned over al-Qaeda arrests

Blantyre

27 June 2003 09:42

Amnesty International says it is increasingly concerned about America's attitude to human rights in the wake of this week's arrest of five suspected al-Qaeda operatives and their secret removal from Malawi.

The human rights watchdog said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the secret handover into custody of the five foreign nationals had "heightened" its concern about the US attitude to the rights of people detained in the war on terror.
"Once again it seems that the US may have been involved in a transfer which circumvents basic human rights protections and national law," the statement says.
"Ironically, this alleged transfer took place on the same day that the State Department released a report about how much the US is doing to promote human rights worldwide," the group said.

The men were detained on Sunday night at a secret location in the southern African country without being allowed access to their lawyers. They are suspected of funneling money to Osama bin Laden's terror group.

Authorities said they included Mahmud Sardar Issa, a Sudanese who heads a charitable organisation called the Islamic Zakat Fund Trust in Blantyre. Another was identified as Fahad Ral Bahli, of Saudi Arabia, the director of the Malawi branch of Registered Trustees of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Special Committee on
Relief.

Arif Ulusam, another Turkish man and an Islamic scholar (isn't that special), from Kenya were also among those arrested, authorities said.

Officials in Malawi said the men had been on the CIA's "watch list" since the twin 1998 bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. US authorities blame al-Qaeda for the attacks. Four men linked to the group were convicted in US federal court in 2001 for their roles in the bombings.

London-based Amnesty says there are indications that the men were flown out of Malawi aboard a chartered flight in the company of US and Malawian officials and that it is not known where the men are currently held.

"If true, this episode would be reminiscent of the unlawful transfer of six Algerians from Bosnia-Herzegovina in January 2002," reads the statement.

"Those men were subsequently spirited away to the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay where they are believed to remain, held without charge or trial, or access to the courts, legal counsel or relatives."

"The US authorities must make public what they know about the whereabouts of these five men," reads the statement.

It further adds that assurances must be given that the detainees will not be subjected to any form of torture or ill-treatment during interrogation.

"If they are in US custody, they should be brought before a court as soon as possible to be able to challenge the lawfulness of their detention," it says.

Amnesty also demands that if the men are suspected of crimes, they should be promptly charged, provided legal counsel, and brought to trial within a reasonable time in accordance with fair trial norms, without recourse to the death penalty, or else released.

US embassy officials in Malawi would not comment about the circumstances which had lead to the arrest of the five. Meanwhile, lawyers for the suspects on Thursday began a contempt of court application in the Blantyre High Court. Malawi's director of public prosecutions, Fahad Assani, has described the action as a "futile exercise."

Other African countries have been used as al-Qaeda staging grounds, but Malawi had previously not been a major focus of investigations into the group.

The poor, landlocked southern African nation has a 20% Muslim population.

Africa is considered a relatively easy target for terrorists, with its porous borders and relatively lax police presence. – Sapa-AP

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks for posting that.

[Prodigal Son]

Hmmm...Islam not as widespead as I though, the map is very good, clearly drawn.

LOL! I found it to be very worrying myself. That's more than half the continent by the looks of it.