ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=HAMAS
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681005/posts
Judge denies jury anonymity for man accused of funding Hamas(... They're Here !!!!!!!!!)
The State/Chicago Tribune ^ | Wed, Aug. 09, 2006 | Rudolph Bush
Posted on 08/10/2006 3:49:02 AM PDT by IrishMike
CHICAGO - A federal judge Wednesday denied prosecutors' request to seat an anonymous jury in the trial of a Bridgeview, Ill., man charged with funneling money to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ruled that prosecutors failed to show Muhammad Salah and his co-defendant Abdelhaleem Ashqar, of Virginia, are likely to intimidate or harass jurors.
"(T)he mere invocation of the word `terrorism,' without more, is insufficient to warrant such an anonymous jury," St. Eve wrote in a ruling released Wednesday.
Salah's attorney, Michael Deutsch, called the ruling a small but significant step toward a fair trial.
"Just because the government invokes the word `terrorism' doesn't mean they are terrorists," he said.
Deutsch argued that jurors would be unfairly prejudiced against Salah if they knew their names and backgrounds were being kept secret.
"It creates the impression in them that there is some danger associated with the defendants," he said.
In her ruling, St. Eve noted that prosecutors acknowledged Salah and Ashqar aren't dangers to their community at the men's bond hearings.
While St. Eve ruled the identity of jurors won't be kept secret from the defense or prosecution, she suggested she may place their names under seal.
That likely would prevent the public and press from learning jurors' identities.
Salah's attorneys first suggested the possibility of releasing jurors' names to the defense and prosecution but keeping them under seal.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestate.com ...
ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=waziristan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=swaziristan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=southwaziristan
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http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/uploads/766hajiomar3.jpg
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370097
"South Waziristan's Veteran Jihadi Leader: A Profile of Haji Omar"
By Sohail Abdul Nasir
(August 8, 2006)
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The recent insurgency in some portions of Pakistan's tribal belt has produced a chain of new leaders who govern their respective areas. A common trait of these new leaders is that they receive inspiration from the Afghan Taliban and openly call themselves the "local Taliban." The local Taliban has been associated with the Afghan Taliban and have also vowed to expel foreign troops from Afghanistan through waging jihad. Some of the new local Taliban leaders, such as Faqir Mohammad, are still actively carrying out their activities, but most of them, such as local Taliban leader Haji Omar, are keeping a low profile as a result of government reconciliation efforts (Terrorism Monitor, February 9).
Haji Omar is a veteran jihadi fighter who fought against the Red Army on the Kabul and Bagram fronts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He sustained serious injuries on numerous occasions, but despite these injuries he continued to fight against the Soviets until they withdrew from Afghanistan. His jihadi career is spread over three periods: against Soviet forces, on behalf of the Afghan Taliban against U.S. troops before the fall of Kabul and his current jihadi activities in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Omar is tall, well-built, with a long, thick, black beard. He wears a turban in traditional tribal style. He is approximately 55 years old, and was born in the village of Kalushah, which is situated some 10 kilometers from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan agency (BBC, April 20).
After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, he moved back to his hometown because war among the different jihadi groups disheartened him. At the end of the 1980s, he moved to the Gulf city of Dubai. When the Taliban established control over most of Afghanistan, he returned and became one of the close associates of Taliban chief Mullah Omar and assisted him in day-to-day routine governing matters. He remained there until the fall of the Taliban in 2001. In Waziristan, he began to organize the local Taliban groups. He has excellent communication skills; while Pashto is his native tongue, he is proficient in Arabic due to frequent socialization with Arabs in Afghanistan and also speaks broken Urdu (BBC, April 20).
Haji Omar's two brothers, Haji Sharif and Noor Islam, have been on the government's most wanted list (The News, February 11, 2005). As a result of the Shakai Agreement on April 24, they were given amnesty along with the late Nek Mohammad, but later this amnesty was revoked. Omar was appointed acting leader of the local Taliban group in South Waziristan when Nek Mohammad was killed in a missile attack (The News, June 21, 2004). Haji Omar belongs to the Yargulkhel sub-tribe of the Wazir tribe. This background helped him become the acting chief of the local Taliban in South Waziristan since Nek Mohammad was also a Wazir.
Omar is a staunch opponent of the United States, India and other countries that, according to him, occupy Muslim lands."
