Free Republic

Does America need a terrorist financier to secure its “freedom”? Sami al-Arian thinks so. His National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom poses as a watchdog for the Constitution, but he has focused his lobbying efforts on repealing anti-terrorist legislation. While Sami al-Arian himself has been arrested for being a prime financier for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (and likely one of its three founders), his political movement continues to threaten homeland security. Al-Arian founded the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF) in 1997 as a reaction to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996. The coalition’s stated goal “is to help change the...

Prince Abdul-Majid bin Abdul-Aziz, the governor of the Islam's holy city of Mecca, died Saturday after a long illness, a Saudi Arabian royal statement said. He was 65. Abdul-Majid, who was the half brother of Saudi King Abdullah, was flown to the United States where he died after sudden health deterioration, the statement said. The brief statement did not provide any other details about the cause of death or say exactly where the prince died in the U.S. It said he had undergone a surgery earlier and had traveled back to Saudi Arabia, but was flown back to the...

(Islamabad/Moscow, October 25) There is now a nuclear dimension to the Afghan war. A second retired Pakistani atomic scientist was picked up by Islamabad on Tuesday night on the suspicion that he was developing a nuclear device for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. The arrests followed tip-offs by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to the Pakistani authorities. Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood and Abdul Majeed, both scientists who had retired from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), were picked up after the FBI provided evidence of their links to jehadi outfits. The Pakistan Interior Minister, Moinuddin Haidar, said on ...

wo of Pakistan's top atomic scientists were grilled yesterday about possible contacts with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers amid reports Osama Bin Laden had obtained nuclear material. Sultan Bashiru-Din Mehmood, one of the founders of the country's nuclear program, was detained Tuesday in Lahore, Interior Ministry officials said on condition of anonymity. They said Abdul Majid, a scientist who worked with Mehmood at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, also was being held. "The investigation has nothing to do with the nuclear program," said Rashid Qureshi, a Pakistani military spokesman. However, the Interior Ministry officials said the men were questioned about possible links ...

WASHINGTON: Under tremendous pressure from the United States, Islamabad’s ruling dispensation appears to be zeroing in on Pakistan’s national hero, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, as the source of nuclear proliferation. Several people, perhaps up to 25, included some of Khan’s closest aides, have been detained in recent days. Some of them have been dragged out of their homes kicking and screaming, according to family members who have spoken to the Pakistani media. Khan himself has been treated more circumspectly, but he has also been questioned exhaustively and further steps against him seem imminent. The military government already seems to be...