Posted on 03/04/2005 10:10:15 AM PST by NormsRevenge
BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Police have detained five Islamic extremists suspected of running Web sites that showed hostages being killed and gave details of how to make bombs and carry out attacks, authorities said Friday.
The five, three of whom were still in custody, were detained Feb. 22 in anti-terrorism raids in the capital, Bern, and nearby Fribourg, the Federal Prosecutor's Office said. Police used force during the operation in Fribourg, the office said without elaborating.
The prosecutor's office did not say where the killings took place, but Swiss media reports have said the high-profile beheading of an American in Saudi Arabia was included. American Paul M. Johnson Jr., was kidnapped and killed in Saudi Arabia in June.
All the suspects were "of the Islamic faith, with extremist leanings," the prosecutor's office said. It did not identify any of them, and officials were not immediately available for comment.
Police did not say why the two were released, and they remained under investigation.
It was unclear if any of the killings took place in Iraq, blamed on the group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Video recordings of the killings have been posted on various Islamic Web sites.
The five - from Tunisia or Belgium - were legal residents of Switzerland, the prosecutor's office said. They are under investigation for incitement to crime and for supporting a terrorist organization, it said.
Authorities also seized computers, software, video recordings and images, the office said.
Prosecutors said the raids followed months of investigation of individuals believed to have ties to Arab-language Web sites that contained violent images, including killings and mutilations.
Prosecutors also investigated Internet discussion forums tied to the sites.
"The forum of one of the sites was often used by the Islamist movement as a communication and propaganda tool," the prosecutor's office said.
The office referred to the now-closed Web site www.islamic-minbar.com, saying its forum published letters claiming responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Pakistan in July.
The forum also contained threats against European governments and information relating to two French reporters, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who were held by Islamic militants in Iraq for four months before being released in December. The prosecutor's office did not elaborate.
The site, launched June 21, was closed by its Swiss Internet service provider in September because of its content.
Another site was then opened outside Switzerland, the prosecutor's office said, but did not identify the site.
Swiss authorities have sought international judicial assistance to have the new site shut down, the office said, without identifying the country involved.
Swiss media previously have identified the founder of www.islamic-minbar.com as Moez Garsallaoui, a Tunisian who was based in Lausanne. A woman who answered the telephone at Garsallaoui's listed number in the Swiss city said he did not live there.
In September, Garsallaoui was quoted as telling the Swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung that his site was dedicated to "political discussion."
"If terrorists want to use this site to publish things, I can't do anything about it," he was quoted as saying. "I don't have any control over that."
The Swiss media report said the posting included a threat to kill Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta who were abducted in Baghdad on Sept. 7 and freed Sept. 28.
Among other postings were: a sermon by an Iraqi Islamic cleric urging Muslims to behead Jews and fight a holy war against unbelievers; pictures of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden fighting in Afghanistan; and graphic images of a man being beaten to death during Christian-Muslim violence in Indonesia.
BTTT
ping
Can someone help me here? how is it (free speech maybe) that people can put out websites, books, literature on how to kill people and get away with it?
It's a start!
Thanks for the ping Calpernia.
Hmmmm,lots of these "webmasters" going down recently.
I was noticing the same thing. Either the U.S. is getting more international cooperation in hunting these SOB geeks down, or we've decided their propaganda value now outweighs any potential intel value. IMHO.
Yep.
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