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| Down Under |
| Australian intelligence finds further links to terrorist camps |
| 2004-08-01 |
| Australian intelligence has identified at least 10 more nationals as having trained in overseas terrorist camps, in addition to those already known to the authorities. The Sunday Telegraph said Sunday it had learned Australia's domestic intelligence agency ASIO had established the 10 trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan between 1999 and 2001. But authorities had been unable to prosecute them because they did their training before Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba were outlawed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States. Australia would also have been unable to prosecute two Australian terrorist suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. But David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib are being prosecuted under US laws. The latest revelations came as Hicks, who has been charged with conspiracy and aiding the enemy, prepares to appear on August 23 before a US military tribunal where his lawyers say he will plead not guilty. "Wudn't me. Besides, who sez they're the enemy?" Most of the 10 others were believed to still live in Sydney, the Sunday Telegraph said. The paper quoted an anonymous senior government official as confirming at least 10 others were known to have been to terrorist camps. A number were said to have worshipped at an Islamic prayer hall, well known for its fundamentalist teachings and anti-western ideology, in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba. Apart from Hicks and Habib, several other Australian nationals have been prosecuted or are in the process of being prosecuted, including Lebanese-born Saleh Jamal, who is now in jail in Beirut, after jumping bail in Sydney and fleeing to Lebanon in March. The paper said documents from the Lebanese prosecutor alleged that Jamal was also linked to suspected senior Al-Qaeda member Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. Need to keep an eye on this story. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |