Standoff at Iraq’s Beijing Embassy

Jerusalem Post ^ | 17:45 Jul. 09, '03 / 9 Tammuz 5763

[yonif]

(IsraelNN.com) A standoff underway since last week at the Iraqi embassy in Beijing, China, continues today. Last month, the Iraqi ambassador Muwafaq al-Ani, appointed by Saddam Hussein to the post, was called back home by his nation’s new post-war leadership. Al-Ani refused to go and barricaded himself and his wife, both armed, in the ambassadorial headquarters. According to witnesses, the al-Anis are threatening employees and their families. The acting Iraqi ambassador told Reuters, “We've been unable to enter the embassy since June 7. He's armed and unstable.”

Al-Ani, meanwhile, has asked Chinese police for protection, saying embassy staff were armed and intimidating him. Chinese authorities have stationed police officers nearby, but are staying aloof from what the Chinese Foreign Ministry has called “the embassy’s internal problem.” China had opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Al-Ani has already been linked to a 1991 bombing of the Thomas Jefferson Library in Manila. The Filipino government expelled al-Ani in the wake of the bombing.

[Dog]

This is why he doesn't want to go back to Iraq...

Muwafaq (Jasim) Al-Ani, presently the Iraqi ambassador to China, was a former Iraqi charge d'affaires to the Philippines who was expelled for his alleged links in the foiled bombing of the TJJC, which is under the US Embassy's cultural affairs office.

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[Tunehead54]

The foiled bombing of the TJCC appeared to be an initial attempt by Iraq to carry out a threat of global terrorism in response to the US-led coalition that drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait.

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From your linked article. Interesting. Wasn't there another Al-Ani who, as an Iraqi diplomat, met with Mohhamed Atta in Prague - pre 9-11? Anyone?