Posted on 01/02/2004 9:56:56 AM PST by Nachum
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Mullah Krekar, the spiritual leader of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, was arrested Friday on charges of helping a plot to try to murder his rivals in northern Iraq in 2000-01, his lawyer told The Associated Press.
The charges against Krekar weren't terror-related and a court hearing will take place Saturday, where authorities will ask that he be held for at least four weeks, said public prosecutor Erling Grimstad.
Krekar was arrested at his apartment by agents with Oekokrim, Norway's elite police unit, and was being questioned, Grimstad said.
The charges were based on an investigation that started in February, he said.
"He is accused of cooperating in the attempted murder of his political enemies in northern Iraq during the period of December 2000 to April 2001," Krekar's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, told the AP. "As far as I can see, these are matters he has explained to prosecutors before, and it's strange they're being raised again."
Oekokrim declined to comment on the arrest.
Krekar's brother, Khalid Faraj Ahmad, said he wasn't allowed to see him after the raid by police.
"They won't allow me to go in. They want to take him," he said. "I don't know what they will do with him."
Ansar al-Islam, a group of as many as 600 Islamic militants in the mountains of northern Iraq, is regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations.
During a visit to Oslo in September, Attorney General John Ashcroft called it a "very dangerous group" and said the organization maintained a network for terrorist training camps in northern Iraq.
Krekar, born Najm al-Din Faraj Ahmad, has repeatedly denied links with al-Qaida, although he has called Osama bin Laden "a good Muslim." He has also denied any connection with recent bombings and terror attacks in Iraq, or any role in smuggling drugs in Jordan.
He was arrested at the airport outside Amsterdam on Sept. 12, 2002, after Iran had denied him entry and sent him back to Europe, tipping off Western governments that he was on his way.
He was interrogated twice by the FBI while in Dutch custody, and then deported in January to Norway, where he was arrested again.
He was released from a Norwegian jail in April after a court found insufficient grounds to hold him on terrorism charges. Police dropped the charges in July, but are investigating him on other charges that they refuse to reveal.
Krekar has had refugee status in Norway for more than a decade, something Norwegian authorities are challenging because he regularly returned to Iraq, the country he had fled during the reign of Saddam Hussein.
Krekar has lived freely in Norway since his release from jail in April when a court ruled there wasn't enough evidence to hold him on charges of terrorism.
"weren't terror-related?" How did he plan to murder his rivals, feed them couscous until they exploded?
Could be. Prior to 9/11, the prime directive of all federal law enforcement was to seek out and prosecute those persons that copy videos for reasons beyond their personal use. The protection of Hollywood's profits from the junk they purvey was more important to the Clinton Administration and the Democratic Party, than the physical safety of the United States and its ships and bases overseas.
The mortgage on a Beverly Hills mansion is much more important to Democrats, than the life of naval personal in Aden.
Uh huh...and this plot is designed to strike LOVE into the hearts of the people this creep wants to rule?
Being that a military hospital in Germany was nearly blown up by Ansar Islam, the Norwegians probably got orders from NATO to arrest him.
The Norwegians would love to get rid of the ugly one(and I am not kidding)but just dont know how. It would be 7 less for me to support on the dole(him, ugly wife, 4 kids and brother)
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