The United Arab Emirates is trying to shield itself against terror by cracking down on extremists and promoting a culture of moderation, Interior Minister Sheikh Seif bin Zayed al-Nahyan said Wednesday. "Over the past years, we have handed over a number of people wanted on security charges to their countries" in keeping with international agreements, Sheikh Seif said. "The authorities also started dealing with extremist elements among expatriates more than 20 years ago by considering them persona non grata, and consequently forcing them to leave the country," he said.Expatriates, mostly South Asians, make up some 80 percent of the four-million population of the U.A.E., which has so far managed to escape attacks by suspected Al-Qaeda militants who have struck in neighboring countries, notably Saudi Arabia. The minister said one factor which "has protected our country from acts of violence so far" is that "all residents ... (are) here in order to make a living, not in order to achieve political or suspicious partisan goals."
Sheikh Seif, a member of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi, did not give details about the expelled suspects. But one of the most prominent militants known to have been extradited to the U.S. after Emirati authorities arrested him in October 2002 is Abdel-Rahim al-Nashiri, who was described at the time as Al-Qaeda's chief for naval operations and its operations chief in the Gulf. Nashiri, born in Saudi Arabia but of Yemeni descent, was sentenced to death in absentia by a Yemeni court in 2004 for playing a major role in the October 2000 bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole in Aden port, killing 17 U.S. sailors. He is also suspected of involvement in other attacks against U.S. and French targets.
The U.A.E. is also known to have handed over to Pakistan in 2004 the leader of a Pakistani Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The minister said U.A.E. authorities had not uncovered "organized terrorist cells in the accepted sense of the word, but a group of individuals, mostly expatriates, who espouse views that conflict with the line of centrism and moderation upheld by the U.A.E." None of those detained had carried out attacks inside the country, he said. Efforts to stop illegal infiltrations into the U.A.E. had also led to "the arrest of many extremist elements," he added.