U.S. Troops to Seize Six Arabs in Bosnia

Reuters | 1/17/02 | Charles Aldinger

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. troops in Bosnia will take control of six Arabs ordered released by a Bosnian court on Thursday after being detained earlier on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, a defense official said.

"We intend to take custody as they are released individually," the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. The official gave no details except to say that one of the Arabs could be taken into custody by U.S. peacekeeping troops in Bosnia as early as Friday as part of Washington's new war on terrorism.

A Bosnian court on Thursday ordered the release of five Algerians and a Yemeni detained in October on suspicion of involvement in international terrorism and links to the al Qaeda network of fugitive Osama bin Laden.

The six, five of whom hold Bosnian citizenship, were arrested by police acting on a U.S. tip after threats closed the U.S. and British embassies in Sarajevo for five days in mid-October.

"Based on Bosnian law, they had to be released," the defense official said in Washington. "Each one will be released individually according to when they were picked up, and not necessarily at the same time."

PEACEKEEPING DUTIES EXPANDED

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that U.S. peacekeeping troops in Bosnia might expand their duties to hunt possible suspects in the war on terrorism sparked by devastating Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

The ruling that the six Arabs should be freed was made by the Supreme Court of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation. The court said in a ruling made available to Reuters that there was no justification for prolonging their detention.

In response to an appeal from lawyers who fear NATO will spirit the suspects out of the country, the state's top human rights body then ordered local authorities to do everything to prevent four of them from being taken from Bosnia by force.

In the weeks that followed the September attacks on the United States, Bosnian police and NATO-led peacekeepers arrested more than 20 people, mostly of Arab origin, on suspicion they were involved in or supported terrorism.

Most have either been released or deported as Bosnian authorities said none had links with al Qaeda.

But officials have said the final six still in detention were suspected of having links to the network, accused by the West of carrying out the suicide attacks in New York and Washington.

[bob808]

Most have either been released or deported as Bosnian authorities said none had links with al Qaeda...But officials have said the final six still in detention were suspected of having links to the network

Huh?

[Hugin]

Read the paragraph above. 20 were arrested, and most of them had no connections so they were released. The last six do have AQ connections.

[Incorrigible]

This needs a big ol' Balkans bump.

 

[bob808]

Yeah, but the article doesn't say "most" did not have connections to AQ; it says NONE did. Then in the next breath they mention that 6 do.

I dunno, seems to me there is still a strong inclination in the press to cast the Bosnian muslims in a benevolent light, hence the proclomations of "NOT A SINGLE ONE WAS A TERRORIST...(uh, except for the last six)"

[Hugin]

I think they mean none of those released have AQ connections, the ones who weren't all do. At least that's how I read it.

[bob808]

Yeah, you're probably right. Note, however, that the Bosnian government is releasing ALL of them; then, it seems, we will arrest the six in question immediately upon their release in Bosnia. If the evidence is compelling enough for us to arrest foreign nationals in their own country, why won't the Bosnian government extradite them?

[ABUTOM]

LETS NOT BE ARAB PROFILING BUT WE CAN LOOK FOR TERRORISTS IN ARABETICAL ORDER. WWW.SPIRITOFAMERICAPARTY.COM ABUTOM AYATOLLAH THE TRUTH THE RASULI OF THE BIG APPLE NEW YORK TRIPLE WAQBAH!!! ALLAH BLESS AMERICA

[branicap]

The story is very simple:

All Arabs(Mujahedeens)were first,imported in Bosnia with a US/Klintoon help.Then ,after 9/11 Americans ordered their arrest!According to the American Intelligence they had a solid proof of their links with Bin Ladin.They claimed that they have the intercepts from the Arabs mobile phones and their conversation prior to the WTC attack.But,they refuzed to provide any evidence to the Bosnian Courts so,Bosnians,according to the law,couldn`t hold them in prison for ever without evidence.So,they had to releise them and US will arrest them immidiately,and probably transport to Guantanamo Bay!

Extradition ,in this case,is impossible because,the country that demands extradition must provide a sufficient evidence to justify the riquest!But that International Law doesn`t apply to US.