Free Republic

Tehran, Iran -- One of the bodyguards of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed and another wounded when an attempt to ambush the presidential motorcade was thwarted in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, according to a semi-official newspaper and local residents. “At 6:50 pm on Thursday, the lead car in the presidential motorcade confronted armed bandits and trouble-makers on the Zabol-Saravan highway”, the semi-official Jomhouri Islami reported on Saturday. “In the ensuing armed clash, the driver of the vehicle, who was an indigenous member of the security services, and one of the president’s bodyguards died, while another bodyguard...

Police taped terror plot to kill Howard TWO Melbourne terror suspects discussed killing John Howard and his family, launching a large-scale attack at a football game and causing carnage at a train station as part of a religious war in Australia. In a series of chilling conversations caught on police listening devices and revealed yesterday, self-styled Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 46, and 20-year-old Abdulla Merhi discussed the terror plot as payback for the deaths of Muslims. "For example, if John Howard kills innocent Muslim families do we ... do we have to kill him and his family ... (and)...

Plot to kill PM, court told Katie Lapthorne17dec05 TERROR suspects talked about killing John Howard and his family as payback for the deaths of innocent Muslims, a court heard yesterday. The conversation between accused would-be suicide bomber Abdullah Merhi and his spiritual leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika was secretly recorded in September last year. The pair allegedly discussed taking an eye for an eye. The Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard Mr Merhi, 20, told the leader of the alleged Melbourne terrorist cell: "If, for example, John Howard kills innocent Muslim family . . . do we have to kill him and his...

TWO men accused of being members of a terrorist organisation allegedly discussed whether Prime Minister John Howard and his family should be killed as payback for the deaths of innocent Muslims, a Melbourne court has been told. The allegation was made at the second day of a bail hearing for Abdulla Merhi, 20, of Fawkner, and Hany Taha, 31, of Hadfield, at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court. They are among 10 men charged with being members of a terrorist organisation last month. Eight of the men also have been charged with financing a terrorist organisation. The alleged leader of the group,...

Plot to Rocket Saddam Trial Uncovered 14 minutes ago A Sunni Arab insurgent group was plotting to attack the trial of Saddam Hussein when it resumed Monday, Iraq's national security adviser said Sunday. The statement by national security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie's office said the 1920 Revolution Brigades planned to fire rockets at the court building during Monday's session. Iraqi intelligence uncovered the plot, but the statement did not say whether anyone had been arrested. Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the 1982 killing of more than 140 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail following an assassination attempt...

Iraqi police say they have arrested eight Sunni Arabs allegedly planning to assassinate a judge presiding over the trial of ousted leader Saddam Hussein. The arrests Saturday in Kirkuk came as prosecutors prepared to call their first witnesses when Saddam's trial resumes Monday. Saddam and seven co-defendants are charged with crimes against humanity in the deaths of more than 140 Shi'ites in the town of Dujail in 1982. Meanwhile, former Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says human rights abuses in Iraq are now as bad, and in some instances worse, than under Saddam's rule. Mr. Allawi - a secular...

Kirkuk - Iraqi police said on Saturday they have smashed an al-Qaeda-linked cell plotting an imminent assassination attempt against the chief judge trying deposed leader Saddam Hussein. "We arrested 12 members of a cell linked to the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda during a dawn raid on a house in eastern Kirkuk," said Colonel Anwar Kader, police chief in the ethnically tense northern Iraqi city. "They confessed during questioning to planning to kill (chief judge) Raed al-Juhi this week," he added.

Baghdad, Nov. 22 – The governor’s office in the southern Iraqi province of Basra accused Iran of being behind an attempted assassination of the current governor, a Baghdad daily reported on Monday. The daily al-Watan wrote that in a statement, the governorate said, “There was cooperation between Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security [MOIS] and certain Iraqis inside this city to assassinate the current provincial governor of Basra Mohammad Mesbah al-Waeli”. The statement accused a prominent member of the Basra city council, a member of the Iraqi national assembly, and the secretary general of the pro-Iran Tharollah organisation, all of...

Suspect in Assassination Plot Convicted By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago Jurors rejected a U.S. citizen's claim he was tortured by Saudi forces to extract a confession and found him guilty Tuesday of joining al-Qaida and plotting the assassination of President Bush. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, could be sentenced to life in prison on charges that include conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy to hijack aircraft and providing support to al-Qaida. Abu Ali confessed shortly after his arrest at a Medina, Saudi Arabia, university in June 2003 that he joined al-Qaida and discussed various terrorist plots,...

  Palestinian Media Watch BulletinNovember 17, 2005     PA: US gave nod to kill ArafatBy Itamar Marcus and Barbara CrookThe Palestinian Authority has recently called for an international investigation into the November 2004 death of Yasser Arafat in Paris. But in a fresh libel PA officials told their own people in Arabic this week that no investigation is necessary, because they have hard evidence that Israel poisoned Arafat - with the approval of the US.In a television interview with PA officials, the following claims and accusations were made:1. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge ruled Monday that prosecutors can use a confession by a man charged with joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush, despite defense claims that the confession was obtained through torture. The ruling came after a six-day hearing in which Ahmed Omar Abu Ali testified that Saudi Arabian security officers whipped his back, kicked him in the stomach and pulled on his beard to obtain a confession. U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee issued a one-page ruling and said he would explain his reasoning in a forthcoming order. Abu Ali's lawyers wanted the confession...

An alleged member of Al-Qaeda, charged with plotting to kill President George W. Bush, claims Saudi Arabian interrogators used torture techniques, including chaining, beating and whipping, to make him talk. Ahmed Abu Ali, an American citizen, said he was beaten and whipped shortly after being detained in Medina, Saudi Arabia during his first days of a 20 month captivity. The 24-year old suspected terrorist and assassin testified about his ordeal in a court hearing in Washington, DC being held to examine Abu Ali's confessions and whether they will be admitted into evidence during an upcoming trial. His lawyers claimed their...

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU 'My goal is to kill Ariel Sharon' Terror leader makes threats during ABC Radio segment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: October 21, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com In case he wasn't clear enough during an exclusive interview this week with WorldNetDaily in which he said his terror group would target the ranch of Israel's prime minister with rockets, the spokesman for a coalition of three Palestinian terror groups warned on an American radio show the same day his "first and foremost goal" is to kill Ariel Sharon. Listen to ABC Radio's John Batchelor and WND's Jerusalem chief...

London, Oct. 19 – An Iranian-backed militia group which has penetrated key positions in the Iraqi Interior Ministry has been ordered to assassinate Iraqi Sunni Muslim activists, Iraqi media reported. Iran had prepared to launch a large intelligence operation aimed at eliminating secular and Sunni activists in Iraq, the al-Molf Net website wrote, adding that armed groups with ties to Tehran have been ordered to “assassinate the more influential and active Sunni Arab activists in Iraq”. A "central body" responsible for the assassinations has been set up in the Iraqi Interior Ministry, the report said. The body is run by...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A U.S. citizen accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush said in a videotaped confession that he was motivated by hatred of American support for Israel. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali also said on the tape, played in court for the first time Tuesday, that a top al-Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia "made it clear I became one of them and that I could speak in the name of al-Qaida." The 13-minute confession was videotaped in 2003 by authorities in Saudi Arabia, where Abu Ali attended college. His attorneys want the confession thrown out....

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A possible attempt to assassinate a Lebanese judge was foiled Saturday after neighbors alerted him to suspicious activity around his car and police found batteries and wires beneath the vehicle, security officials said. No trace of explosives was found near the car of Judge Nazem Khoury, who is overseeing the investigation into the financial scandals of Lebanon's Al-Madina Bank and ordered its closure. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give official statements, said Khoury had recently received threats from unknown sources. The incident comes as a U.N.-mandated probe...

Guardian angels founder Curtis Sliwa couldn't believe his eyes: The Mafia boss who - according to a key witness - ordered him killed 13 years ago managed to escape conviction. Here, the outspoken radio host tells Daily News reporter Adam Nichols that he now fears John A. (Junior) Gotti wants the botched job finished: Now he wants me dead. I am a dead man walking. John Gotti Jr. will rejoin his family, and I know there are Gotti cohorts who have taken a solemn vow to do what they failed to do before: end my life. They're going to celebrate...

A suspected terrorist accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush said he proposed the plot but it wasn't pursued, and he was frustrated that other members of his al-Qaida cell lacked initiative, according to prosecutors. A government motion unsealed this week by a federal judge reveals new details in the case against Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, who is scheduled to go on trial next month. Prosecutors say the Falls Church resident has admitted joining al- Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia and that he discussed numerous terrorist plots, including plans to assassinate Bush and hijack airplanes. Abu Ali...

<p>Lawyers for the man who shot President Reagan in 1981 are scheduled to return to a federal courtroom in Washington today to renew his efforts to make overnight visits to his parents' home near Williamsburg.</p> <p>A judge last fall denied John Hinckley Jr.'s request, citing a continuing relationship with a former girlfriend.</p>

A Falls Church man charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to kill President Bush told Saudi interrogators that he dreamed up the plot on his own but that it never got past the "idea stage," prosecutors say in court documents unsealed yesterday. Abu Ali, 24, also said during the same interrogation that he "wanted to be in al Qaeda so bad that I decided to go to Afghanistan for jihad." He said he was unable to get a visa to travel there but did join an al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia. Abu Ali is charged in U.S. District Court...