Terrorism: An Electronic Journal & Knowledge Base | Volume VII, Number 1 | March 2018

We need to ban terrorist from our sacred halls

MEP Tomáš Zdechovský Christian and Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party

Article 75 of the Treaty of the European Union clearly states that in order to “prevent and combat terrorism and related activities, the European Parliament and the Council, acting by means of regulations in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall define a framework for administrative measures with regard to capital movements and payments, such as the freezing of funds, financial assets or economic gains belonging to, or owned or held by, natural or legal persons, groups or non-State entities.”

Consequently, the Council adopted a common position in December 2001 “on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism” and in January 2017 the list of persons, groups and entities subject to the common decision were updated and named in the Annex.1

1 ANNEX List of persons, groups and entities referred to in Article 1 I. PERSONS 1. ABDOLLAHI Hamed (a.k.a Mustafa Abdullahi), born August 11, 1960 in . Passport: D9004878. 2. AL-NASSER, Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed, born in Al Ihsa (Saudi Arabia), citizen of Saudi Arabia. 3. AL YACOUB, Ibrahim Salih Mohammed, born 16.10.1966 in Tarut (Saudi Arabia), citizen of Saudi Arabia. 4. ARBABSIAR Manssor (a.k.a. Mansour Arbabsiar), born March 6 or 15, . Iranian and US national. Passport: C2002515 (Iran); Passport: 477845448 (USA). National ID no.: 07442833, expiry date 15 March 2016 (USA driving licence). 5. BOUYERI, Mohammed (a.k.a. Abu ZUBAIR, a.k.a. SOBIAR, a.k.a. Abu ZOUBAIR), born 8.3.1978 in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). 6. EL HAJJ, Hassan Hassan, born 22.3.1988 in Zaghdraiya, Sidon, Lebanon, Canadian citizen. Passport number: JX446643 (Canada). 7. IZZ-AL-DIN, Hasan (a.k.a GARBAYA, Ahmed, a.k.a. SA-ID, a.k.a. SALWWAN, Samir), born 1963 in Lebanon, citizen of Lebanon. 8. MELIAD, Farah, born 5.11.1980 in Sydney (Australia), Australian citizen. Passport number: M2719127 (Australia). 9. MOHAMMED, Khalid Shaikh (a.k.a. ALI, Salem, a.k.a. BIN KHALID, Fahd Bin Adballah, a.k.a. HENIN, Ashraf Refaat Nabith, a.k.a. WADOOD, Khalid Adbul), born 14.4.1965 or 1.3.1964 in Pakistan, passport No 488555. 10. ȘANLI, Dalokay (a.k.a Sinan), born 13.10.1976 in Pülümür (Turkey). 11. SHAHLAI Abdul Reza (a.k.a Abdol Reza Shala'i, a.k.a. Abd-al Reza Shalai, a.k.a. Abdorreza Shahlai, a.k.a. Abdolreza Shahla'i, a.k.a. Abdul-Reza Shahlaee, a.k.a.Hajj Yusef, a.k.a. Haji Yusif, a.k.a.Hajji Yasir, a.k.a.Hajji Yusif, a.k.a.Yusuf Abu-al-Karkh), born circa . Addresses: (1) Kermanshah, Iran, (2) Mehran Military Base, Ilam Province, Iran. 12. SHAKURI Ali Gholam, born circa 1965 in Tehran, Iran. 13. SOLEIMANI Qasem (a.k.a Ghasem Soleymani, a.k.a Qasmi Sulayman, a.k.a Qasem Soleymani, a.k.a Qasem Solaimani, a.k.a Qasem Salimani, a.k.a Qasem Solemani, a.k.a Qasem Sulaimani, a.k.a Qasem Sulemani), born March 11, 1957 in Iran. Iranian national. Passport: 008827 (Iran Diplomatic), issued 1999. Title: Major General. II. GROUPS AND ENTITIES 1. ‘Abu Nidal Organisation’ — ‘ANO’ (a.k.a. ‘Fatah Revolutionary Council’, a.k.a. ‘Arab Revolutionary Brigades’, a.k.a. ‘Black September’, a.k.a. ‘Revolutionary Organisation of Socialist Muslims’). 2. ‘Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade’. 3. ‘Al-Aqsa e.V.’. 4. ‘Babbar Khalsa’. 5. ‘Communist Party of the Philippines’, including ‘New People's Army’ — ‘NPA’, Philippines. 6. ‘Gama'a al-Islamiyya’ (a.k.a. ‘Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya’) (‘Islamic Group’ — ‘IG’). 7. ‘İslami Büyük Doğu Akıncılar Cephesi’ — ‘IBDA-C’ (‘Great Islamic Eastern Warriors Front’). 8. ‘Hamas’, including ‘Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem’. 9. ‘Hizballah Military Wing’ (a.k.a. ‘Hezbollah Military Wing’, a.k.a. ‘Hizbullah Military Wing’, a.k.a. ‘Hizbollah Military Wing’, a.k.a. ‘Hezballah Military Wing’, a.k.a. ‘Hisbollah Military Wing’, a.k.a. ‘Hizbu'llah Military Wing’ a.k.a. ‘Hizb Allah Military Wing’, a.k.a. ‘Jihad Council’ (and all units reporting to it, including the External Security Organisation)). 5.8.2017 L 204/97 Official Journal of the European Union EN 10. ‘Hizbul Mujahideen’ — ‘HM’. 11. ‘Khalistan Zindabad Force’ — ‘KZF’. 12. ‘Kurdistan Workers' Party’ — ‘PKK’, (a.k.a. ‘KADEK’, a.k.a. ‘KONGRA-GEL’). 13. ‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’ — ‘LTTE’. 14. ‘Ejército de Liberación Nacional’ (‘National Liberation Army’). 15. ‘Palestinian Islamic Jihad’ — ‘PIJ’. 16. ‘Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’ — ‘PFLP’. 17. ‘Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — General Command’ (a.k.a. ‘PFLP — General Command’). 18. ‘Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia’ — ‘FARC’ (‘Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’). 19. ‘Devrimci Halk Kurtuluș Partisi-Cephesi’ — ‘DHKP/C’ (a.k.a. ‘Devrimci Sol’ (‘Revolutionary People's Liberation Army/Front/Party’). 20. ‘Sendero Luminoso’ — ‘SL’ (‘Shining Path’). 21.

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Terrorism: An Electronic Journal & Knowledge Base | Volume VII, Number 1 | March 2018

Despite the regulation in place it still seems like name terrorist groups and connected terrorist are moving freely in the Schengen area. Just recently, on the 26th of September 2017, the Communist Group in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) hosted a forum on “The Women's Role in the Palestinian Popular Struggle” and invited Leila Khaled to be the keynote speaker.

Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP on the EU Terror list), was involved in the hijacking of an American airplane in 1969 and a failed hijacking attempt on an El Al flight the following year. Israeli security forces foiled the second attempt and subdued Khaled. The flight was diverted to London, where Khaled was then handed over to British authorities. They released her less than a month later in a deal to free hostages from another hijacking.

During the event in the European Parliament Khaled legitimised her previous behaviour and called for more hijackings until ‘Israel’s unjust occupation of Palestine was over.’

Luckily, I was alerted by NGO Monitor in Israel ahead of the event on the same day, so that I was able to write a letter to Parliament President Antonio Tajani and engage with my own political leadership in my political group in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party ahead of event. We were also able to place friends from B’nai B’rith International (BBI) and NGO Monitor in the event, who filmed and protocolled what was said. This material I was later able to show the President. Simultaneously the Members of the European Parliament from the European Reformist and Conservative Group (ECR), Bastiaan Belder and Anders Vistisen, from the Netherlands and Denmark respectively, wrote and open letter to the whole Parliament gathering signatures from other Members of the European Parliament, who would like to see terrorists banned from the building and agreed with our general notion that free speech and democracy should not be a veil, in order to protect from hate speech and incitement to violence in the European Parliament. They succeeded to gather 57 signatures and thereby additionally increased the pressure on the European Parliament leadership to take action.

On the 21st of November 2017 the Parliament sent an email to all staff informing them that all persons, groups and entities subject to the common decision of the Council were banned from entering the building from now on forward. President Tajani and I decided that this small success against terrorism in an EU Institution can only be the beginning of a larger struggle to implement what is long legislated. President Tajani successfully pushed for a similar ban in the Italian Parliament in Rome and I will do the same in my own country via the Czech Ministry of interior. Thanks to the creation of the Inter-Parliamentary Council to Combat Terrorism, to which I have recently been invited, and whose initiator, Prof. Yonah Alexander, deserves special appreciation for this important initiative, we can now easily push for a ban of named terror organisations in all Parliaments of the EU.

‘Teyrbazen Azadiya Kurdistan’ — ‘TAK’ (a.k.a. ‘Kurdistan Freedom Falcons’, a.k.a. ‘Kurdistan Freedom Hawks’). 5.8.2017 L 204/98 Official Journal of the European Union EN

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Terrorism: An Electronic Journal & Knowledge Base | Volume VII, Number 1 | March 2018

Sometimes it is necessary to move on the obvious. Too long we have been sitting on a set of rules, which had little effect in reality. We started making a change. When speaking to Belgian Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, I was saddened to hear that the terror attacks of March 2017 in Brussels had only little effect on the international collaboration between intelligence services. Instead of Belgium solely exchanging information with the other two Benelux countries, France is now also willing to collaborate. But all other EU Member States still seem to rely on their own intelligence apparatus. In a continent with open borders this makes no sense whatsoever. The Inter- Parliamentary Council to Combat Terrorism is an excellent start, in order to enhance the collaboration in our joint fight against terrorism. Even the Russian SVR and the American CIA are working together closer nowadays in their fight against Daesh (ISIS) than Sweden’s MUST and Italy’s SID for example. That is wrong and needs to be changed.

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