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| Middle East |
| Al-Qaeda suspect could get death |
| 2003-02-27 |
| The Lebanese Military Tribunal has called for the death penalty against a Turkish man accused in absentia of collaborating with al-Qaeda and planning terrorist attacks in Lebanon and abroad. In a report, Chief Military Investigating Magistrate Riad Talih accused Miglit Ziakar of "creating a terrorist organization in Lebanon and abroad to commit crimes against civilians, undermine the state and carry out terrorist operations." According to Talih's report, the organization's members were from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunis, Yemen, Palestine, and Turkey, worldnews.com reported. "Ziakar, who is also known as Abu Obeida al-Turki, is a top official at al-Qaeda. He runs his operations from Istanbul by facilitating the entry of militants from all Arab and Muslim countries to Afghanistan through Iran to fight with the Taliban," Talih said. He added that Ziakar "collected donations for al-Qaeda and managed its networks and cells in several countries." All that seems to be in the al-Qaeda controller's job description. We don't even have to know anything about the guy, just what position he holds, to know what he does... Investigations into four individuals, already in custody and suspected of belonging to a cell of Osama bin Laden's terror network, indicated that Ziakar is the main coordinator for smuggling the fighters into Afghanistan, the judge said. Ziakar also allegedly cooperates with a Saudi known as Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Saudi, who lives in the Iranian border town of Zaboul. The four suspects  Mohammed Sultan, a Lebanese, and Abdullah Mohtadi, Khaled Minawi, and Saudi Ihab Dafeh  were arrested in November 2002. Ziakar allegedly met with Sultan, Mohtadi and Dafeh in Istanbul, where he asked them to create a cell in Lebanon. Talih said Sultan was entrusted with recruiting, while Dafeh was seeking the aid of a military expert from a Saudi cell. Ziakar visited Lebanon in 2000 to follow up on work and set up a restaurant with Sultan in Tripoli to host al-Qaeda members wanted in their home countries. The statement added that Ziakar's crimes fell under the country's Terrorism Law and carried the death penalty. Interesting peek at the way the Bad Guys worked it. Lebanon is at ease with its Syrian and Iranian-sponsored terror organizations, like Hezbollah, but doesn't seem to like the interloping Qaeda guys — probably because it's an organization of loose cannons. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |