|
'Ashraf' was eager jihadist, Canadian court told
A Quebec man dedicated his life to spreading propaganda for al-Qaeda and other jihadists, according to a controversial expert testifying at the man's trial. Rita Katz, the director of the Search for International Terrorist Entities, or SITE Intelligence Group, said Saïd Namouh was one of the most eager, fervent and trusted participants in an online cell dedicated to promoting al-Qaeda and other Islamic terror groups.Mr. Namouh has been charged with four terror-related offences for allegedly acting as a propaganda wing for terrorists and Iraqi insurgents and for an alleged plot to set off a bomb in Vienna. He has admitted to taking part in hundreds of pro-jihad discussions on the Internet under the name Ashraf in 2007, but Ms. Katz testified the chatter was more than idle. Ashraf was one of 73 members of the Khidemat forum, an online workshop for the Global Islamic Media Front. The front "is the oldest and most prominent of the virtual propaganda groups supporting the international jihad," Ms. Katz wrote in report presented in court yesterday. "It served as the official media outlet for terrorist organizations," she added in testimony. Writing as Ashraf from his home in central Quebec, Mr. Namouh submitted 1,075 postings to the site about a year. Ms. Katz said he was responsible for distributing hundreds of videos of terrorist propaganda through direct copies and Internet links. The productions included instructions for making a suicide bomber's vest, a kidnapping video of BBC journalist Alan Johnston and a threat directed at Germany and Austria warning them of terrorist attacks if they failed to withdraw from Afghanistan. "He even commented on the excellent international media uproar that video created," Ms. Katz said. Ashraf also got into the occasional spat with other group members for their lack of zeal. "Ashraf ... played a prominent role within the Global Islamic Media Front, and was trusted and respected by other members," Ms. Katz wrote. Ms. Katz, who entered the courtroom by a back door under heavy security, has spent more than a decade tailing jihadists online. Fluent in Arabic, she was born in Iraq, raised in Israel, and started a private intelligence agency in the U.S. in 2002. She won admiration in some intelligence circles for quickly delivering threat analysis and al-Qaeda video to law enforcement, governments and media. Critics have accused her of being an alarmist who gives jihad wannabes an oversized platform. Ms. Katz wore a disguise including a wig and a fake nose on 60 Minutes to promote her book, Terrorist Hunter, in 2003. She was sued over allegations she made on the program that a U.S. chicken farm was being used to launder terrorist money. She faced another setback in 2004 when she spent months helping the U.S. Department of Justice prepare a case against an Idaho computer scientist accused of giving material support to terrorists. A jury acquitted him. In 2007, the White House leaked a video of Osama Bin Laden, which Ms. Katz's firm had clandestinely obtained and passed along. She complained the leak destroyed SITE's capacity to infiltrate al-Qaeda online. Ms. Katz is the final Crown witness in the case against Mr. Namouh. His defence lawyer has not said if Mr. Namouh will testify. Posted by: ryuge 2009-02-18 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=262853 |