Posted on 07/26/2002 1:41:37 PM PDT by JohnathanRGalt
It took a week for them to get it back up after we had shut down http://www.Azzam.com at it's former host at Burst.net in Pennsylvania. This shows how important this site is for the world-wide jehad effort. Update rate is very slow. The URL has to bounce from Houston TX, to New York, then to the basement of the Elektrindo Building in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The president of Indonesia just said that Indonesia is "No place for radical Islam" .
Azzam.com has been the topic of dicussion several times at FreeRepublic .
Here's some advice from Azzam.com to British members of Al-Qaeda telling them not to cooperate with law enforcement investigating terrorist acts. Retreived July 26, 2002.
1. Introduction
2. Overview of British Law Enforcement Authorities
3. Why You May Be Targeted
4. What To Do If You Are Targeted
1. Introduction
Since the attacks of 11 September 2001, which demonstrated the failure of the intelligence services of the World's sole so-called Superpower, the US Government has had to prove to both its citizens and to the World that it is still 'incharge'. Therefore, after the attacks, the US Government began a campaign of harassing other, friendly governments to it, in order to crack down on Muslims in the name of its 'War Against Terrorism'. The US Government, however, failed to explain to these allies that its oppressive policies against Muslims were the main reason why the US was the subject of much anger in the Muslim World. One of the countries ordered by the US to crack down on its Muslim citizens was the United Kingdom. However, unlike the arrogant, blatant and provocative, US authorities, the British authorities have been largely discreet in their hassling of British Muslims, so as not to create a backlash.
Not many people are aware of what has happened against the resident Muslim communities in Britain since the 11 September 2001. Mosques, homes and offices frequented by British Muslims have been raided by Anti-Terrorist Police. British Muslims have been arrested and charged, in the UK. Intelligence authorities have hassled elders, mosques, old women and youths for information on Muslim 'activists' within the Muslim communities.
Since this is the first-time that the UK has begun to follow in the footsteps of the American and French Governments in oppressing its own citizens, many Muslim residents in the UK are unsure what to say or do if hassled by British authorities. They are also unaware of their legalposition and stance in the event of such hassle. Therefore, we have put together this practical guide on how to deal with this harrassment, including a section which should be printed out and displayed in mosques, community centres, prayer rooms and other places that Muslims in the UK, frequent.
This guide is primarily applicable to the UK and UK laws. Despite being an enemy to Islam and the Muslims, and oppressing its own Muslim citizens, the British Government still has some 'just' laws and concerns for freedom and human rights. Any Muslims anywhere else in the World, with the exception of America, where the law of the jungle currently reigns after the WTC attacks, who wish to find out similar information applicable to their countries of residence, are advised to consult legal experts such as law firms, lawyers, barristers, etc. on their legal rights in the event that they are harassed by authorities.
2. Overview of the British Security Apparatus
The British security apparatus can be sub-divided into two main categories: law enforcement and intelligence.
Law Enforcement
This comprises the Police and all of its various branches, including the local police, Serious Crime Squad, etc. More information on the Police can be found at http://www.met.police.uk. The Anti-Terrorist and other related units come under the Specialist Operations (SO) section of the Police Force. This includes units such as the Anti-Terrorist Unit (SO13), Special Branch (SO12), Intelligence (SO11) and Covert Operations (SO10). Their headquarters is at New Scotland Yard near Victoria, London SW1 and the main 'Anti-Terrorist' police station is at Paddington Green. More information on these units can be found on http://www.met.police.uk/so/index.htm. These Special Operations units are the ones that work closely with the intelligence authorities below.
Since they are Police, they have the authority to stop someone for questioning, arrest individuals, raid properties, etc., even if they are in plain clothes.
Intelligence
This comprises three main agencies: MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
MI5 is also known as the Security Service. Their web-site is http://www.mi5.gov.uk and their headquarters is located at Embankment, on the River Thames. MI5 is responsible for domestic security, subversion, counter- espionage and protecting the UK from within. MI5 is responsible for carrying out both electronic and physical surveillance on Muslims within the UK, whether British or non-British. They carry files on Muslims in the UK who they consider as 'worth having' files on. Since they are not Police, they do NOT have the authority to arrest, stop, raid properties etc. although they may accompany Police whilst this is taking place. Equivalent foreign agencies are the Russian FSB, Israeli Shin Bet and American FBI to an extent.
MI6 is also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). They do not have a web-site and their headquarters is the large cream-coloured building that looks like a monster, at Vauxhall Bridge, London SW8. They are responsible for protecting the interests of the United Kingdom from abroad. Their equivalent foreign agencies are the American CIA, Israeli MOSSAD and Russian SVR. They are responsible for overseas assassinations, providing arms to insurgency and civil wars and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons by Muslims.
GCHQ is the Government Communications Headquarters and they are responsible for electrical surveillance and intelligence. Their web-site is http://www.gchq.gov.uk. Their equivalent foreign agency is the American NSA (National Security Agency) and they are the UK's contribution to the Echelon worldwide eavesdropping system. They are based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and have the largest budget out of the three UK intelligence agencies. They are responsible for collecting electrical (telephone, fax, radio, internet, satellite, etc.) surveillance from both within the UK and internationally. They work closely with MI5 and MI6 in this respect.
3. Why You May be Targeted
Currently, the British law enforcement authorities are in a very desperate state, not knowing where to look or search. Having been pressured from their American counterparts, the British authorities are trying to thwart the next round of terrorist attacks against America and American targets. Since they do not know where to start, they have decided to begin by harassing Muslim 'activists' who may have been, or still are, or know someone who is involved with Jihad or the Mujahideen. Therefore, you MAY be targetted for harassment by law enforcement authorities if you come under any of the groups below:
(a) Those who have been for Jihad somewhere at least point in their lives.
(b) Those who have not been to Jihad, but have openly expressed an interest to go, at some point in their lives.
(c) Those known to finance, collect money for Jihad and the Mujahideen at some point in their lives.
d) Those who have been involved with assisting in media efforts for Jihad and the Mujahideen, whether via speeches, internet, newsletters, etc.
e) Imams, leaders, ameers of mosques, Muslim community centres, university Islamic societies or other individuals who may have come into contact with Jihad and the Mujahideen at some point.
f) Any other ordinary Muslims who do not fall into any of the above categories.
4. What To Do If You Are Targeted
Before getting into a discussion of what to do if you are targetted, it is important to distinguish between 'good-guy' harassment and 'bad-guy' harassment.
In the 'good guy' harassment scenario, you may be approached on the street, telephoned, someone may come to your office, study place (university, college, etc.), mosque etc. by either Anti-Terrorism Police or MI5 Officers, requesting your 'assistance' or 'help'. The conversation will usually begin with "There's nothing to be worried about" or "You haven't done anything wrong" or "You're not in trouble" or "We need you to help us in something" and similar nice words.
In the bad-guy harassment scenario, the same people above may break down your front door at dawn, raid your house, arrest you or just threaten the above in person or by telephone.
The question most commonly asked is "What do they have to gain by using the good-guy approach?" The answer is simple: they have perhaps a hundred times more to gain from a good-guy scenario than from a bad-guy scenario. When they approach someone in a polite, gentle, friendly manner, the target is more likely to relax, be comfortable and to 'open up' to them. He is more likely to think that these people are my friends and thus he will answer their questions, thinking that he is helping them against 'bad people', little realising that he is in fact digging his own grave and admitting or verifying what little 'evidence' there may be against him.
In the bad-guy scenario, on the other hand, the target is more likely to be on the defensive and put up resistance as regards not helping them or assisting them with their enquiries. For this reason, in the majority of cases, the authorities will try the good-guy, friendly approach and only turn to the bad-guy approach, showing their true colours, if the good-guy approach fails.
Therefore, some advice follows on how to deal with different scenarios:
In the first case, if you have reason to believe that you may be targetted for harassment, contact a Muslim solicitor for advice and their assistance in a possible scenario. The UK Muslim Directory, for example, contains details of some Muslim law firms in the UK. Have their name, address and contact details written down in advance before any of the following might happen.
SCENARIO 1: FRIENDLY TELEPHONE CALL
SCENARIO: You receive a telephone call from someone claiming to be from MI5, Ministry of Defence, Scotland Yard, Police, Special Branch, etc. or any other related 'frightening' names. They say that they would like to meet you because they need your help, so what is a suitable time, date and location etc. to meet?
ACTION: Take down the full name, ID number, rank (if applicable) and telephone number of the person telephoning. Once you have these details, say to them: "I have been advised that authorities are hassling Muslims and so I do not wish to speak with you. I have your number so if I wish to speak with you, I will contact you. Thank you very much and goodbye."
LEGAL ISSUES: You are not legally obliged to speak to anyone telephoning you, even if it is a Police or Intelligence Officer. You are not legally obliged to meet with these individuals and you are not legally obliged to fix a meeting with them. In short, you can legally tell them to 'get lost'.
SCENARIO 2: FRIENDLY HOUSE VISIT
SCENARIO: Early in the morning, usually 6am or 7am but sometimes in the evening, the doorbell rings. At the door are two smartly dressed people, sometimes a man and a woman and sometimes two men. They will quickly flash their identity cards at you and say, "Mr So-and-So (your name), we are from MI5, the Security Service. There is nothing to worry about. We are sorry to come so early but were wondering if you might be able to spare a few minutes to talk to us as we need your help in something. May we come in?" The above may also be Police, Special Branch or Anti-Terrorist Branch or 'The Government' and if someone else answers the door, they will ask for you. They have come this early to try and catch you off balance, when you have just woken up and are shocked to see them. They may even be 'Muslims' speaking your mother tongue language, to try and make you feel comfortable.
ACTION: Be calm, do not be worried or nervous. They are just ordinary human beings like yourself: so what if they are smartly dressed strangers who know your name. That might be all they know, your name and that's it. Just because they have come to your door does not mean they know everything about you; they might be trying their luck to get you to give them information about yourself.
(i) Do NOT let them into your house or pass your front door under any circumstances.
(ii) Ask to see their identity cards, BOTH or ALL of them. Sometimes only one person will show his card. Ask to see the ID of all of them. Legally, they HAVE to show these to you if they have come to your front door. They cannot ask you if you will speak to them or not, first, before showing their cards. They MUST show you their ID first.
(iii) Write down, infront of them, all the details on the card: the full name, ID number and the telephone number of the office should you wish to verify their credentials. Better still, if you have access to a photocopier, take their cards, (leaving their owners standing outside the front door), photocopy the cards and then come back and return the cards.
(iv) Say to them, "Thank you very much. I do not wish to speak to you. I have your details so I want to speak to you, I will contact you myself. Thank you and goodbye." Shut the door and go back to sleep if they had woken you up. At this point, they might ask to come in, they might plead for "just five minutes" of your time, they might try to convince you that you have done nothing wrong and they need your help, they might even ask you a couple of quick, "sensitive" questions or show you some photos if they are feeling lucky. Do NOT feel intimidated by them; do not fall into their trap. They are here to build up evidence against YOU and people YOU may know. They are not your friends, but your enemies.
(v) Contact your solicitor and tell them what happened, giving the full details of the people who came, what time they came, their descriptions and what they said. Normally your solicitor will contact them, ask them why they want to speak to you and then inform them that their clent (i.e. YOU) do not wish to speak with them and so they should not hassle you again. Your solicitor is obliged to convey messages from them to you, which you may feel as pressure for you to go and speak to them. However, do not feel pressured and even tell your solicitor to tell them clearly that you have no intention of speaking to them, whether or not your solicitor is present, so please leave me alone and goodbye.
LEGAL ISSUES: You are not legally obliged to speak to anyone visiting you, even if it is a Police or Intelligence Officer. You are not legally obliged to meet with these individuals and you are not legally obliged to fix a meeting with them. In short, you can legally tell them to 'get lost'. Normally, people to whose houses, Intelligence or Police have not come before, are traumatised by the visit and go into a trance, whereby they invite the individuals into their houses and tell them everything they want, without even asking to see ID. Inform the members of your family as well not to fall into their trap.
SCENARIO 3: 'FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY' VISIT
SCENARIO: You may have been involved in Pro-Palestinian demonstrations or activity at some point. At your office or down the street, you are approached by one or two shady looking strangers who know your full name. They threaten you against your activities and identify themselves as members of MOSSAD, Israel's foreign intelligence agency.
ACTION: Be calm, do not be worried or nervous. Without a doubt, those MOSSAD officers are in fact undercover British MI5 or MI6 officers. This is a common trick used by British Intelligence. The objective is to scare you out of your wits, so that you go back to British Intelligence telling them that MOSSAD is on your back. The British Intelligence will then 'sympathetically' listen to your story and gather any intelligence they want on you, for free and without you suspecting that you have done anything wrong. It is a trap and recently a British man was sentenced to several years in prison for passing on defence secrets to a man he thought was a Russian SVR officer, when he was infact an undercover MI5 officer with a Russian accent. Ask them for ID to identify themselves; they will probably refuse. Do not be intimidated by them. Just walk away and ignore them. If you feel they will cause you harm, run away. Do NOT contact the Police or intelligence directly. Inform your solicitor as to what happened together with full descriptions of the men and the time, date, location etc. where this happened.
LEGAL ISSUES: In the Intelligence world, amongst friendly intelligence agencies, officers do not work on other people's territory so as to say. That means that MOSSAD or even the CIA will not approach or carry out any open activities against British individuals, in Britain. If they want any information or surveillance on any British individual, they MUST go through the local British intelligence agency. Therefore, whether you are approached by someone who is Chinese, Israeli, African or American looking, be rest assured that it is is undercover MI5 agents who are trying to be smart.
SCENARIO 4: HOUSE OR PREMISES RAID
SCENARIO: Early one morning, around 6am or 7am, you hear loud banging on the door accompanied by shouts of "Police, open up or we will break the door down." By this time, your heart rate will probably go haywire, the kids will start crying and you may panic. If you do not open the door, they will break the door down within seconds and shove a piece of paper (Search Warrant) into your face, saying that they are searching the property so do not touch or take anything, then leave the house until further notice.
ACTION: Ask to see the search warrant and verify that the name, address, etc. of the premises is spelt exactly correctly. If there is a spelling mistake, the warrant is void and they cannot use it. You can have a few minutes, not a few hours, to read the warrant. If they ask you to leave the premises, you have to leave. However, you can ask them to take your shoes off whilst they are searching if you normally do not wear shoes in the house. They may or may not listen; if they do not, you can possibly sue them if your solicitor considers it possible. Likewise, they should (but may not feel themselves legally obliged to) allow your womenfolk to cover themselves and leave respectably, WITHOUT taking anything with them, because it will be searched. If they refuse, you may have a case against them. When you leave the house, go to a nearby Muslim neighbour's house and stay there until they finish.
They will normally comprise 6-15 plain clothes men and women, sometimes accompanied by dogs. They will stay for 10-12 hours, sometimes longer and even 2-3 days. During that time you will not be allowed back into the house. They will take any documents of importance, phone numbers, diaries, scraps of paper, your computer hard disk, floppy disks, cash, CD's, audio tapes, books and anything they want. They will search very thoroughly including opening floorboards, unscrewing screws and checking the loft and cellar. You will not get a list of what they take.
Do NOT speak to them unncessarily because they may use your words as evidence against you. Ask to see each of their ID's and make a note of the officers involved in the search, if they do not tell you this information.
LEGAL ISSUES: You have to let them execute the search warrant (if it is correct) and you cannot obstruct them. Short of ensuring there is nothing illegal in your house or on your hard drive, there is not much you can do other than notify your solicitor. If you have any encrypted files on your hard disk or floppy disks etc., you have to give them the password otherwise you can face two years in prison.
SCENARIO 5: ARREST
SCENARIO: Either accompanied by the above raid, or at another time at your house or office, a few plain clothes Anti-Terrorist Police officers will show you an arrest warrant with your full name and reason why you are being arrested. They will take you to the nearest Anti-Terrorist Police station, e.g. Paddington Green for London. They will take all your possessions, ask for your name, address and date of birth, they may ask you to change your clothes, they will take your fingerprints and your photograph, and then you will be put into a cell until they want you. When they question you, you will be alone in a room with two or more of them. The room may have a camera in the corner to record the interview and it may have a one-sided mirror, so people in another room can observe the interview.
The arrest or raid may or may not follow earlier, unsuccessful, friendly visits or phone calls from them.
ACTION:
(i) Do not resist or try to run away because you will only make more problems for yourself. Go with them but do NOT speak to them about anything because they WILL use your words as evidence against you. Be calm and do not panic. Usually, by the time they take your fingerprints and your details, most people will just crack and start saying everything to them, even if they are not guilty of anything. Be calm and composed, do not panic. You have not done anything wrong so do not worry if they ask for your fingerprints etc. If you panic and speak, you risk causing problems to yourself.
(ii) Refuse their offer for a solicitor. Instead, ask to contact your own solicitor (you should have memorised their number in advance). Do NOT say ANYTHING to them until your solicitor comes, even if they threaten you, try to sympathise with you, say that you have done nothing wrong and you are not in trouble. Ignore all these words (if they say you have not done anything wrong, why have they humiliated you like this?) and wait until your solicitor comes. If it is a weekend, wait a day or two if you have to. Spend the time in worship, prayer and reciting Quran (they will get one for you if you ask).
(iii) When your solicitor arrives, the Police will show them some 'evidence' against you, then your solicitor will advise you, infront of them, normally to say "No comment" to every question that they ask you.
(iv) During the interview, where your solicitor will be present, they will ask you a number of questions, they may show you some photos, they may bring some 'true' facts about yourself. Do not feel pressured, just say "No comment" to every question they ask, from "Which school did you go?" to "Do you know the person in this photograph?" to "What day is it today?" Do NOT try to outsmart them and answer the questions. They are trained and you will not be able to outsmart them. Do NOT say YES to some questions, NO to others and NO COMMENT to the rest. This will work against you. Say "No comment" to every single question, comment or suggestion they make. At times you may feel the urge to answer the question, seeing nothing wrong in it, but be patient and control yourself. Psychologically, they will have tortured you into speaking. Make remembrance of Allah in your mind, for strength, and do not fall into their trap. They will try to threaten you or say that "We know you have not done anything wrong, we just want to know about...". Be firm, be strong, do not come under pressure and do NOT sell out your fellow Muslims and heroes. If you do sell out your fellow Muslims, there is a chance you may have to repeat your Shahaadah (testimony of faith) when you leave the door. They may try to offer you deals to free you if you give evidence against someone else. This is all a ploy and in the end, two people will go down instead of one; you will NOT get off lightly. Even if the deal is genuine, how will you explain to Allah that you sold out your Muslim brother in order to save yourself? Even if they torture you to death or kill you, you cannot sell out another Muslim to save yourself. Be firm and steadfast; this is where your loyalty to Allah and His Messenger will be put to the test.
(v) Hopefully, if there is no solid evidence against you, you have refused to admit to any crime (by saying "No comment" to every question), you will be released, not charged and be free to go home. 'Smart Alecs' who tried to answer their questions have been charged and are still in jail. Say "No Comment" and you will be OK insha-Allah, even if the case goes to court.
(vi) If you are charged, praise Allah because this was your destiny. Wait a few months until your court appearance. Spend the time in memorising the Quran and worship. Congratulaations to you at this stage because you have followed in the Sunnah and footsteps of the early Prophets and Scholars, who were also imprisoned for their faith and beliefs. Be firm and strong and do not give in.
LEGAL ISSUES: You are not obliged to answer any question they ask you. They cannot force you to say something you do not want. They cannot force your brain to function the way they want. You are allowed to say "No comment" to everything they ask. If you say YES or NO to some questions and NO COMMENT to others, this can be used as evidence against you. Under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2000, they can keep you for seven days without charge and then apply for another five days. By the end of 12 days, they must either charge you with a crime or release you.
CONCLUSION:
A Muslim believes that no harm can come to him except by Allah's Permission. Likewise, no-one can bring him benefit except by Allah's Permission. Therefore, the Intelligence, Police and all the authorities in the World cannot do anything to you without Allah's Will. They may be smart, but Allah is smarter than them. They may 'beat' you in this Life, but Allah will beat them in the end. If it is written for you by Allah that you will go to prison, then no-one on Earth can stop that from happening. Likewise, if Allah has written for you to be protected, all the powers in the World cannot change that. Know that whatever happens to you is a test and happens by Allah's Will. Consider the Police and Intelligence as hateful human beings in your mind and that will help you win over them. Do not feel relaxed if they bring a 'Muslim' officer or 'scholar' to question you; he is on their side, not yours. It is a trap. Islam survives on its members being firm and steadfast. Do not 'crack', waiver, falter or fail. Be firm and in the end, victory will be for you, for Islam, for Allah and His Messenger (SAWS).
EV1.NET is also home to the Al-Qassam Martyrs Brigade and several other terrorist groups. No wonder Azzam uses them as their entry portal. This ISP is certainly Islamist friendly.
Whois Information from "whois.arin.net" about 216.40.201.216
Everyones Internet, Inc. (NETBLK-EVRY-BLK-6)
2600 Southwest Frwy Suite 500
Houston, TX 77098 US
Netname: EVRY-BLK-6
Netblock: 216.40.192.0 - 216.40.255.255
Maintainer: EVRY
Coordinator:
Williams, Randy (RW172-ARIN) admin@ev1.net
(713) 400-5400 x255
Whois Information from "whois.arin.net" about 209.81.71.83
Digital Telemedia Inc (NETBLK-DTELEMEDIA-3-CIDR)
11 Beach Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10013
US
Netname: DTELEMEDIA-3-CIDR
Netblock: 209.81.64.0 - 209.81.95.255
Maintainer: DTI
Coordinator:
hostmaster, DTI (HD7-ORG-ARIN) hostmaster@DTI.NET
(212)625-5300
Fax- - (212)255-1339
Whois Information from "whois.apnic.net" about 202.43.163.180
inetnum: 202.43.160.0 - 202.43.175.255
netname: DTPNET-ID
descr: Dwi Tunggal Putra, PT.
descr: Network Access Point
descr: Jakarta
country: ID
changed: hostmaster@apnic.net 20011210
person: Hostmaster DTP
address: Gedung Elektrindo
address: Jl. Kuningan Barat no.80 Lt. 5
address: Jakarta
country: ID
phone: +62-21-5260628
fax-no: +62-21-5260627
e-mail: hostmaster@id.net.id
changed: hostmaster@apjii.or.id 20011018
Whois Information from "whois.gkg.net" about saranadata.com
Registrant, Administrative, Technical, Billing:
PT. Graha Sarana Data
Saranadata Graha
Elektrindo Building,
Basement Fl., Jl. Kuningan Barat No.8
Jakarta, DKI Jaya 10270 ID
(62) (21) 526-9257
44007@whois.gkg.net
"No place for radical Islam" MY EYE!!!! The Laskar Jihad slaughters Christians by the dozens, and sometimes by the hundreds, in the Moluccas!!!! Azzam should feel right at home there!!!!
How do you propose to attack azzam now? What's that Houston connection--I suppose that they are out of reach in Indonesia.
Stop in and ask them why they are hosting a terrorist website.
The ultimate attack is publicity -- ISPs and websites are pretty much immune to hacker attacks -- because if they are not, they will be put out of business. We got Azzam.com out of Burst.net with publicity and it might work in Indonesia too.
The Houston connection, EV1 claims that someone from the US Customs office (which has no authority over the web) is forcing them to keep up terrorist websites. Burst.Net said the same thing. Very strange. Of course, the US Customs Service denies it and the FBI has no knowledge. Then everyone who hears this says to themselves (without bothering to really think it through) that these terrorist sites are part of some vast NSA/CIA monitoring program and we shouldn't say or do anything about them or we will be interfering with an important government operation.
It's kind of twisted -- Indonesia hosts Azzams site (which wants to overthrow the US government) and the US hosts Laskar Jihad (which wants to overthrow the Indonesian government).
I think the actual number Christians slaughtered by Laskar Jehad is closer to thousands rather than dozens. There aren't many Jews in Indonesia so the hardworking, more prosperous, mostly Chinese Christian racial minority get to be the scapegoats.
http://www.laskarjihad.or.id/id/index.php
Whois Information from "whois.arin.net" about 66.162.73.15
HR Web Services (NETBLK-TWTC-ALBY-C-HRWEB-02)
21 Corporate Dr
Clifton Park, NY 12065 US
Netblock: 66.162.73.0 - 66.162.73.255
Coordinator:
Brader, Brendan (BB1811-ARIN) bbrader@hostrocket.com
518-371-3421
This is just speculation, but...
The host they are using in Houston, Everyone's Internet, is one of those mass advertising $10.99 a month ISP's. Some contact of theirs probably simply subscribed to an account for web hosting or dialup and probably has an email address of (username)@ev1.net - the company's home page.
I wouldn't know why they'd pick Houston, but for the record there have been similar incidents in the past in Texas. You may remember that there is/was a group of radical islamics operating in Richardson up near Dallas that the government busted after 9/11. It made national news for a while and Bush specifically mentioned catching them in a press conference back in December or something - the main agent was an arab non-profit group called the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) that was seized for laundering funds to HAMAS or something like that.
HLF was closely tied with a computer and ISP company called InfoCom, also based in Richardson, which was also shut down. I think they had something to do with hosting websites for radical islamic groups. InfoCom corp. was run by a bunch of muslim activists affiliated with the HLF and CAIR. One of them, Ishan "Sammy" Elashi, was arrested post 9/11 for shipping computer parts to Libya, Syria and other places in the mid-east through another company he ran that was tied to InfoCom, which is run by his brothers and family members etc. He faces about 60 years behind bars or something for violation of a ban on shipping there and other charges. The justice department website has a press release about it here: ttp://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/PressRel02/elashyi_ple_pr.html
And in case anybody's interested there is one more very big piece of information about the radical islamic groups and computer companies in the Dallas area - several of their members, including federal convict Elashi, were political donors to the mayoral campaign of former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk. Now Kirk is the Democrat nominee to the open US Senate seat from Texas this november.
The FBI believes that Hamas has even gone so far as to set up a for-profit American corporation. On September 5, 2001, agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force operating out of Dallas, Texas, executed a search warrent against InfoCom Corporation, and Internet service provider in Richardson Texas, for its ties to Hamas. Though the affadavit requesting approval for the search of InfoCom's offices remains classified, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) notified InfoCom that two of its bank accounts, totaling $70,000, had been frozen due to a lump-sum investment of $250,000 provided to InfoCom in 1993 by Nadia Elashi Marzook, the wife of Musa abu Marzook (the "Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas" -- he directly provided the funds and ordered the killing of hundreds of Israelis). As a by-product of the search instituted against InfoCom, the Bureau of Export Administration had suspended InfoCom's export privileges based on suspicions that InfoCom had violated U.S. Export control laws by making shipments to Libya and Iran, two states listed as state sponsors of terrorism.Furthermore, subpoenas were served on two of InfoCom's clients, the Islamic Association of Palestine and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Ghassan Dahduli, a former empolyee of InfoCom and an officer in the American Middle Eastern League for Palestine (AMELP) - a 501(c)(3) charity with direct links to the Islamic Association for Palestine - was taken into custody by federal authorites on September 22, 2001, after refusing to answer questions. Dahduli has aslo been implicated as an associate of one of the individuals who was convicted for a role in the August 1998 attacks on the United States embassies in Africa.
More info on the Texas connections here.
I just went to the InfoCom.com site and it appears to be MyVine.com operating out of Indiana. I wonder if InfoCom sold their business? I'll ask the webmaster of MyVine.com
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.