Free Republic

Ressam at times defiant in 2 days of questioning By Mike Carter Seattle Times staff reporter After more than a year of cooperating with federal prosecutors, Ahmed Ressam has become a sometimes difficult and defiant government witness. Ressam was at times surly and evasive during two days of closed-door questioning this week in Seattle by German lawyers who need his help prosecuting Mounir el-Motassadeq, a Moroccan accused of helping the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers. Ressam, convicted of conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, might be endangering his deal with federal prosecutors to serve as few as 27 years...

Abu Hamza, the militant, London-based Muslim cleric, maintained close contact with the leadership of al-Qa'eda during the years when it operated a worldwide terrorist network from Afghanistan, according to FBI files. Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph state that Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque, north London, dealt personally with Abu Zubeidah, Osama bin Laden's director of operations. Zubeidah, a Palestinian who is now in US custody, communicated bin Laden's instructions and messages from his hideout in Afghanistan to al-Qa'eda cells around the world. Hamza had the power to refer recruits to Zubeidah for "leadership training" in Afghan...

The United Nations announced Wednesday it has imposed sanctions on a man with dual Canadian and Sudanese citizenship who allegedly worked with Abu Zubaydah, al-Qaeda's one-time operations chief in Afghanistan. The UN Security Council committee in charge of anti-terrorism sanctions against al-Qaeda and remnants of the Taliban added Abu Sufian Al-Salamabi Muhammed Ahmed Abd Al-Razziq to its sanctions list on July 31. The move follows joint action taken in July by the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department. Abd Al-Razziq was deemed a terror risk, which immediately blocked all assets he has that are reachable by the U.S. government. The...