SCN Case Study: Recent Threats against the Jewish Community

REPORT 003—November 23, 2005

****************************************************************** Contents: Arrests, Trials, and Indictments over the Past 12 Months United States 1 United States

Canada 3 October 13, 2004 Ivan Duane Braden, a former National Guardsman discharged from an Iraq- bound unit after superiors noted signs of instability, is arrested after checking United 4 into a mental health facility and telling counselors about plans to blow up a Kingdom synagogue and a National Guard armory in Tennessee. The FBI reports that Braden told them he'd planned to go to a synagogue wearing a trench coat stuffed with explosives and get himself "as close to children and the rabbi as 4 possible."

October 25, 2004 FBI agents in Tennessee arrest farmhand Demetrius "Van" Crocker after he ______allegedly tried to purchase ingredients for deadly sarin nerve gas and C-4

plastic explosives from an undercover agent. The FBI alleges that Crocker, who local officials say was involved in a white supremacist group in the 1980s, tells the agent that he admires Hitler and hates Jews and the government. He allegedly also says "it would be a good thing if somebody could detonate some sort of weapon of mass destruction on Washington, D.C." Crocker is charged with trying to get explosives to destroy a building and other charges, and faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.

March 25, 2005 Congregation Micah in Brentwood Tennessee received an envelope with a white powdery substance and a threatening letter which also threatened other institutions in the area. The FBI took control of the suspicious package, which was sent to a state crime lab in Nashville for testing. Congregation services and activities were canceled or postponed pending the outcome of testing for Anthrax.

April 13, 2005 The U.S. government unsealed an indictment by a federal grand jury in Manhattan charging three British nationals with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, providing material support and resources to terrorists, and conspiring to damage and destroy buildings as part of a plot to attack financial institutions in New York, New Jersey, and Washington. Dhiran Barot, a.k.a. Abu Eisa al-Hindi, 32, Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26, and Qaisar Shaffi, 25, are accused of conducting surveillance on prominent financial buildings between August 2000 and April 2001. There is no mention of Al-Qa`ida in the indictment, but the September 11 Commission Report said that Al-Qa`ida leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed sent Barot to Malaysia to receive terrorist training and, at the direction of Usama Bin Ladin, sent him to the U.S. “to case potential economic and Jewish targets in New York City.” The three suspects are among a group of eight terrorism suspects arrested in England in August 2004 and currently await trial there on terrorism-related charges.

May 20, 2005 Officials in New Jersey arrest two men they say asked a police informant to build them a bomb. Craig Orler, who has a history of burglary arrests, and Gabriel Garafa, said to be a leader of the neo-Nazi World Church of the Creator and a member of a racist Skinhead group called The Hated, were charged with illegally selling 11 guns to police informants. Carafa allegedly gave one informant 60 pounds of urea to use in building him a bomb, but never said what the bomb was for. Police say they moved in before the alleged bombing plot developed further because they were concerned about the pair's activities. They taped Orler saying in a phone call that he was seeking people in Europe to help him go underground.

August 30, 2005 Sean Gillespie was sentenced to 39 years in prison for firebombing a Jewish temple in Oklahoma City and later trying to send a racist letter to the congregation. Gillespie, 21, of Spokane, Wash., was found guilty in April of three bombing-related charges for hurling a Molotov cocktail at Temple B’Nai Israel a year earlier. Gillespie’s sentence was lengthened because of the letter he attempted to send to the temple after his conviction. The letter, which was read in court, expressed hatred toward the Jewish people and a desire to spark a racial holy war.

September 1, 2005 A federal grand jury here indicted the head of a radical Islamic prison gang and three other men on charges of conspiracy to wage war against the U.S. government, conspiracy to kill service members and foreign officials, and other related crimes. According to charging documents Kevin James tried to recruit his fellow inmates into the group, which preached a radical version of Islam that called for members to attack any perceived enemies of the faith. Authorities allege that the group planned to stage two pronged attacks against military recruiting centers and synagogues during Yom Kippur.

September 29, 2005 Racist Radio Program Host Hal Turner suggested to his readers in an internet chat room to begin “drawing up lists of Jewish Yeshivas here in the United States.” Readers’ comments suggested threats and targeting of specific New Jersey Shuls and Yeshivas, citing “With winter weather comes winter coats,” wrote someone called “A-Bomb.” “With winter coats comes concealed weapons. With concealed weapons comes dead yeshiva students.”

October 25, 2005 Iraqi-born Krispy Kreme worker Ahmed Hassan Al-Uqaily was sentenced to 4 years and nine months in prison for purchasing machine guns and grenades to target Jewish facilities in Nashville. Al-Uqaily made a threat about “going jihad” and expressed animosity toward Jews and identified two Jewish facilities that he knew about.

November 4, 2005 Jewish Defense League Activist Earl Krugel, 62, was killed while serving time in a Federal Prison in Arizona for his role in a 2001 bomb plot against the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and a field office of Lebanese-American Congressman Darrell E. Issa. Krugel, who had been serving his 20 year sentence in protective custody at ’ federal Metropolitan Detention Center, was transferred to the medium security prison in Phoenix three days prior to his murder. Krugel’s lawyer, Mark Werksman indicated that previous death threats have been made against Krugel “because he was a militant Jewish activist”, but Werksman could not recall the details of the threats, only suggesting that Krugel “might have been targeted by white supremacists or Muslim extremists in the past.”

November 22, 2005 A Nashville woman who threatened to spread anthrax and blow up public places — such as city buses, shopping malls, synagogues and churches — pleaded guilty yesterday, federal prosecutors said. Piettia Heifner York admitted she had made 17 threats between March 25 and April 15 and pleaded guilty to one charge of making a bomb threat, prosecutors said. (See March 2005 Event for Details)

Canada

October 23, 2004 The president of the Canadian Islamic Congress issues a statement saying all Israelis above the age of 18 are legitimate targets of attack. Mohamed Elmasry made the comments on the Live TV Show and received heavy criticism from Canadian Jewish and Muslim groups alike.

January 18, 2005 Sleiman Elmerhebi was charged with firebombing a Jewish Elementary school in Montreal and sentenced to 40 months in jail. Elmerhebi pleaded guilty to starting a fire that destroyed the library at the United Talmud Torah School, claiming his actions were a result of an emotional reaction to the situation in the .

March 27, 2005 Two teachers at an Islamic school in Canada who praised a pupil's essay about killing Jews with hand grenades and machine guns have been suspended for allegedly inciting racial hatred. The essay drew praise from one of the teachers of at the Abraar Islamic School, who wrote on the story: "God bless you, your efforts are good. The story of the hero Ahmed and the hero Salah is still alive. The end will be soon when God unites us all in Jerusalem to pray there." The teacher's name has not been released.

October 6, 2005 Burhan Azzeh, Co-president of the Niagara Palestinian Association, was arrested for allegedly making a terrorist threat against the Jewish community. “Maybe it’s time to blow up some Jews,” Burhan Azzeh – husband of the other co-president, Susan Howard-Azzeh – is reported to have told co-workers at his job on the Welland Canal.

November 3, 2005 Canadian counter- terrorism investigators have dismantled a suspected terrorist cell in whose members included an al-Qaeda-trained explosives expert. The cell consisted of four Algerian refugee claimants who had lived in Canada for as long as six years and were alleged members of a radical Islamic terror faction called the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. The central figure of the Toronto-area cell was a former al-Qaeda training camp instructor who studied bomb-making at 's Al Farooq and Khaldun training camps in eastern Afghanistan.

United Kingdom

December 13, 2004 Scotland Yard believes terrorists could be planning a massive gas bomb in . Officials believe that the left of 10 large propane gas canisters may be linked to al-Qaeda. In April 2002, al-Qaeda terrorists drove a truck loaded with propane bottles into a Tunisian synagogue, killing 14 German tourists.

April 15, 2005 British security services contend that a group of Algerian terrorists, trained in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan established a poison factory in an apartment in north London with the intent of targeting the Jewish community among other targets in north London.

July 5, 2005 Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri faces trial at a London court today on 15 criminal charges including encouraging the murder of Jews and other non- Muslims and possessing a document that could be useful to terrorists. U.S. federal prosecutors indicted him in May 2004 on charges he aided efforts to set up a terrorist training camp in the American state of Oregon and plotted to take hostages during a December 1998 terror attack in Yemen. Those proceedings are on hold pending the outcome of the U.K. criminal case.

Australia

November 20, 2004 A British-born Muslim convert accused of plotting to bomb diplomatic missions in Australia traveled to Afghanistan to meet with Osama Bin Laden and his deputies in March 2000. He was instructed to form a terror cell to blow up Israel's consulate in Sydney and its embassy in Canberra. It was during his meeting with the al-Qaeda leader that the plan to bomb Israeli targets was forged, Mr. Davies said. The plan was to blow up the embassy with a truck bomb.

Extremist Plots Ex-Guardsman planned slaughter of Jews, police say

Twenty-year-old Ivan Duane Braden, a discharged National Guard soldier with neo-Nazi leanings who'd taken to calling himself the "pimpin' aryan assasin," stuffed his backpack on Oct. 12 with large knives and materials for a homemade grenade, police say. Braden allegedly left his parents' Knoxville, Tenn., home that day with a murderous plan in mind — until he decided, as he later told FBI agents, that "Jewish people were not worth dying for."

Instead of driving to the local National Guard Armory, where police say Braden had a detailed plan to take hostages, murder them and set off explosives, Braden took himself to an outpatient mental health facility, where he told staff that he had "thoughts of killing people," reportedly including the officer who'd discharged him from the Iraq-bound 278th Armored Calvary Regiment weeks earlier.

Federal authorities were contacted after a search of Braden's home and vehicle turned up additional bomb-making materials and weapons, detailed sketches of the armory, and plans to suicide-bomb a local synagogue.

The FBI says that Braden told agents he'd planned to wear a trench coat stuffed with explosives and get himself "as close to children and the rabbi as possible to cause the greatest amount of damage possible."

Braden had neo-Nazi paraphernalia in his room, including a swastika flag and videos with such titles as "Nazi America" and "KKK History." In the federal complaint against Braden, an FBI agent wrote that he "has held racist views since being a seventh-grader, and indicated that he hates Jews and blacks."

Intelligence Report Winter 2004

Tennessee Man Arrested on Chemical Weapons Charges

Posted: November 1, 2004

Federal authorities in Tennessee arrested a man for allegedly attempting to acquire chemical weapons, explosives and weapons of mass destruction in order to attack government buildings.

After a seven month investigation, Demetrius Van Crocker, 39, a farmhand from McKenzie, Tennessee, was arrested in Jackson on October 25, 2004, for trying to obtain what he believed were ingredients for sarin nerve gas and C-4 explosives from an undercover agent, according to a federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

According to the arrest affidavit, an undercover federal agent was introduced to Crocker by a cooperating witness. Crocker told the agent that he hates Jewish people, admires Adolf Hitler and that creating a concentration camp for Jewish insurance executives “would be a desirable endeavor.” Local officials familiar with Crocker said that in the 1980s Crocker had been involved with a white supremacist group.

Crocker also told the agent that “it would be a good thing if somebody could detonate some sort of weapon of mass destruction on Washington D.C., while both the U.S. Congress and Senate were in session.”

During their conversations, Crocker reportedly admitted to having once made mustard gas, another chemical weapon, in the past, as well as the explosive nitroglycerin. The affidavit also alleges that Crocker admitted to possessing an AK-47 and other weapons and would kill law enforcement officers who tried to take his weapons away.

Crocker is charged with attempting to obtain chemical weapons, attempting to receive explosives in interstate commerce with the intent to damage and destroy a building and real property, and receiving stolen explosives. He faces over 20 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.

Letter threatens Brentwood synagogue By IAN DEMSKY Staff Writer

White powder turned over to FBI for testing

The congregation of a Brentwood synagogue last night switched its service marking the Jewish holiday Purim to a local community center after receiving a threatening letter, along with suspicious white powder, in the mail yesterday afternoon.

Other Nashville-area businesses also were listed in the letter, said the FBI's D. Keith Bryars, who heads the Nashville Joint Terrorism Task Force. Bryars declined to identify or describe the other facilities, but he said the FBI had been in contact with them.

Rabbi Ken Kanter of Congregation Micah, 2001 Old Hickory Blvd., said the letter forced them to do some quick reorganization on the night of a holiday service.

''We were inconvenienced and we were forced to make some quick changes, but that's the only immediate reality change we dealt with,'' he said. ''There is a sadness that these things go on, but I also admire the strength, that in a crisis like this, the community gathers together and supports each other.''

The 260 worshippers who showed up for the service, which started late, showed ''great spirit and enthusiasm,'' Kanter said.

Kanter did not want to disclose the contents of the letter against the FBI's wishes but said it did not specifically single out the Jewish community.

An employee at the temple opened the envelope about 1 p.m., noticed the white powder and immediately placed it inside a cellophane bag, said Joaquin Toon, a spokesman for the Nashville Fire Department.

The fire department's Hazardous Material Unit was sent to the scene along with the FBI, the Metro police bomb squad and personnel from the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, the Metro Health Department and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

''It was an excellent response by all those groups,'' Bryars said. ''The individual and the area were decontaminated, and any residual effects would be negated by what they did.'' Emergency crews decontaminated the synagogue's office with water and bleach and had the employee scrub down with soap and water, Toon said.

Medics and representatives from the Metro Health Department examined the employee, who did not seem to have any ill effects, he said.

The FBI took control of the suspicious package, which was sent to a state crime lab in Nashville for testing.

The lab is part of a nationwide response network qualified to handle and test such an unknown material, Bryars said. It also reports to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

''The substance is undergoing testing to be 100% positive, but at this time there's no indication that it is, in fact, a biological agent such as anthrax or ricin.''

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that followed, the frequency of similar suspicious incidents has declined, Bryars said.

Sunday religious school and adult programs at Congregation Micah have been canceled this week pending the results of the laboratory tests. A Bat Mitzvah ceremony scheduled at the temple today will be at the Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Blvd.

To report information

Law enforcement officials urged anyone with information about the suspicious letter received yesterday to contact the FBI at 292-5159 or call the Metro police nonemergency line at 862-8600.

Indictment Cites Plans to Target Financial Hubs 3 Britons' Extradition to Be Sought By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 13, 2005; Page A10

Three British nationals who are being held on terrorism charges in the United Kingdom have been indicted in the United States on related allegations that they planned to blow up financial buildings in Washington, New York and New Jersey, according to court documents unsealed yesterday.

The four-count indictment, handed up last month in federal court in Manhattan, alleges that Dhiran Barot, Nadeem Tarmohamed and Qaisar Shaffi took part in months of methodical reconnaissance of financial targets between August 2000 and April 2001, including video surveillance in Manhattan. The alleged plot led to a controversial terrorism alert last summer for financial sectors in the three jurisdictions, amid fears that al Qaeda might be planning an attack tied to the November elections.

The Justice Department said it would seek to extradite the three defendants after they are tried in Britain, where they and five others are charged with possessing reconnaissance plans and other information useful in conducting a terrorist attack. Authorities have also linked the group to a plan targeting London's Heathrow Airport.

The men could face life imprisonment if convicted of the U.S. charges, which include conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists, officials said.

The indictment provides new details about the suspected activities of Barot -- also known as Esa al-Britani and Issa al-Hindi -- and his associates, who are considered by many U.S. officials and terrorism experts to be among the most dangerous suspects arrested since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But the eight-page document leaves many questions unanswered, including whether the plot was still viable last year or whether it had been largely abandoned after the Sept. 11 attacks. The new charges also make no mention of al Qaeda, the terrorist network repeatedly identified as responsible for the surveillance.

At a Washington news conference announcing the charges, Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey defended last summer's alert and said the indictment "sends a message about our resolve to terrorists."

"We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect our nation from the acts of terrorists and to prosecute those who plot to harm us, whether those individuals are found in the United States or overseas," Comey said. He added later: "Terrorists looking to harm Americans will work for a very long period of time conducting sophisticated surveillance, and they are very, very patient. . . . These kinds of operations take years to plan, as demonstrated by the scope of this conspiracy." Barot has been widely described as a senior al Qaeda operative and is identified in the indictment as having been "a lead instructor at a jihad training camp in Afghanistan" in 1998. An al Qaeda leader in U.S. custody has also told interrogators that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden sent Barot to the United States to "case potential economic and 'Jewish' targets in New York City," according to the final report of the Sept. 11 commission.

During trips to the United States in 2000 and 2001, Barot and the two others are alleged to have scouted the Citigroup Center and the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, the Prudential Financial building in Newark, and the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the District. The reconnaissance included "video surveillance" in Manhattan in or around April 2001, the indictment says.

The indictment also alleges, without providing details, that the terrorist conspiracy continued until August 2004, when the three defendants were among a series of suspects arrested in raids by British authorities.

"This conspiracy was alive and kicking up till August of 2004," Comey said. "That date is in there for a reason."

The trail that led to the U.S. alert and the British arrests began with the seizure of al Qaeda computers in Pakistan, which contained more than 500 photographs related to the financial buildings in New York, New Jersey and Washington, intelligence officials said. Although the photos were at least three years old -- and some were merely lifted from the Internet -- U.S. officials said the files also included chilling details, including the location of security desks and cameras in the buildings, traffic and pedestrian patterns surrounding them, and which kinds of explosives would do the most damage to the structures.

Brian Jenkins, a Rand Corp. terrorism expert, said the British group appears to be particularly dangerous.

"Reconnaissance is a continuing activity on the part of these guys," Jenkins said. "But the fact that they were apparently planning attacks in the U.K. makes them an active operating cell."

Officials said the three men are expected to stand trial in Britain in January. Barot, 32, is charged there with possessing reconnaissance plans as well as notebooks with information on poisons, explosives and other topics useful to a person planning an act of terrorism. Tarmohamed, 26, was charged with having plans related to the Prudential building, while Shaffi, 25, is alleged to have had a portion of a terrorist's handbook containing explosive recipes.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

Nab Neo-Nazis in bomb plot

New York Daily News/May 25, 2005 By Derek Rose

Two avowed New Jersey racists have been charged with trying to build a fertilizer bomb similar to the device that blew up in Oklahoma City, authorities said yesterday.

Gabriel Carafa of Pennsville, N.J., and Craig Orler of Whiting, N.J., allegedly gave a federal informant 60 pounds of a fertilizer component and asked him to build a bomb.

"Carafa boasted that this urea was more pure than the stuff that [Timothy] McVeigh used," authorities said in court papers.

McVeigh was executed for his role in bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City.

Convicted of beating a Hindu store owner in 2002, Carafa, 24, has "rahowa" tattooed across his forehead - skinhead shorthand for "RAcial HOly WAr."

New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice spokesman John Hagerty said authorities are still trying to determine why they wanted a bomb. "We're not quite sure of the target that Mr. Carafa had in mind, if anything in particular," Hagerty said.

Authorities cut short the five-month-old investigation last week, after the pair allegedly sold 11 stolen rifles, handguns and shotguns to undercover investigators. The weapons were stolen from a home in Pennsville, authorities said.

Carafa is a leader in Matthew Hale's racist Creativity Movement, formerly known as World Church of the Creator, authorities said. Both Carafa and Orler are members of "The Hated," a neo-Nazi skinhead group, authorities said.

Hagerty said the hate groups had some "limited activity" in South Jersey. The Southern Poverty Law Center says the group is active in Newark and Toms River, N.J.

Orler, 28, also has three felony convictions, for two burglaries and an assault. The pair were both barred from possessing firearms.

MSNBC.com

Oklahoma synagogue bomber gets 39 years Washington state man threw Molotov cocktail, sent letter to congregation

The Updated: 9:37 p.m. ET Aug. 30, 2005

OKLAHOMA CITY - A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a man to 39 years in prison for firebombing a Jewish temple and later trying to send a racist letter to the congregation. The defendant raised his hand in a stiff-armed Nazi salute as the judge left the court.

Sean Gillespie, 21, of Spokane, Wash., was found guilty in April of three bombing- related charges for hurling a Molotov cocktail at Temple B’Nai Israel a year earlier. The act, which caused minor damage to a brick wall and a glass door, was captured on a security videotape.

Gillespie’s sentence was lengthened because of the letter he attempted to send to the temple after his conviction. The letter, which was read in court, expressed hatred toward the Jewish people and a desire to spark a racial holy war.

Temple B’Nai Israel’s Rabbi Barry Cohen said the attack sparked fear and anger among temple members.

“There was little physical damage to the building, but there was clear psychological damage,” Cohen said. “In this country, we can’t be afraid in our places of worship. That’s just not acceptable.”

Gillespie, who once belonged to the white supremacist group , asked Judge Robin Cauthron for leniency on grounds he had a troubled childhood.

‘An act of violence’ Federal sentencing guidelines called for a minimum of 30 years in prison, but Cauthron said a greater sentence was warranted, citing the letter and the nature of Gillespie’s crime.

“What you’ve done is not an act of vandalism, it’s an act of violence,” Cauthron said.

Elsewhere Tuesday, a federal grand jury indictment unsealed in Eugene, Ore., charged three men with various crimes after rocks engraved with Nazi symbols were thrown through windows at a synagogue during a service in 2002.

Two brothers — Jacob A. Laskey, 25, and Gabriel D. Laskey, 20 — and Gerald A. Poundstone, 27, all were charged with conspiracy to violate civil rights. Jacob Laskey faces other charges including solicitation relating to attempts to kill potential witnesses.

Trial was set for Oct. 26. Prosecutor William Fitzgerald said the case remains under investigation.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9136468/

4 Charged With Terrorist Plot In California By Amy Argetsinger and Sonya Geis Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, September 1, 2005; Page A02

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 -- Federal and local law enforcement officials said Wednesday that they had blocked a terrorist conspiracy with roots in the state prison system that had allegedly plotted to attack military facilities, synagogues and the Israeli consulate, among other Southern California targets.

A federal grand jury here indicted the head of a radical Islamic prison gang and three other men on charges of conspiracy to wage war against the U.S. government, conspiracy to kill service members and foreign officials, and other related crimes.

The conspiracy unraveled, officials said, after two of the men were arrested in early July in connection with a string of gas station robberies. A search of one suspect's home turned up jihadist literature, bulletproof vests and lists of potential targets.

"We dodged a bullet here, perhaps many bullets," said Police Chief William J. Bratton. "These individuals had devised a plan, selected targets, obtained the weapons, picked the dates," including Jewish holy days in October.

The indictments highlighted a growing area of concern -- the potential for radical movements to be nurtured within U.S. prisons, where religion is often a solace for an alienated population.

"We have a tendency to think of terrorism as something that is foreign," said U.S. Attorney Debra W. Yang, who added that there is no evidence the prison group was tied to al Qaeda or other overseas organizations. "This is a stark reminder that it can be homegrown."

Officials allege the conspiracy began with Kevin James, 29, a longtime inmate at California State Prison-Sacramento who is serving time for attempted robbery and possession of a weapon in prison. In 1997, James founded a group called Jamiyyat Ul- Islam Is-Saheeh.

According to charging documents, James tried to recruit his fellow inmates into the group, which preached a radical version of Islam that called for members to attack any perceived enemies of the faith. Last fall, one of his alleged recruits, Levar Haney Washington, 25, was paroled from the prison and returned to Los Angeles with orders from James to recruit more followers with clean records, then acquire firearms and explosives.

In late May, Washington began the robberies along with Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21, and Pakistani immigrant Hammad Riaz Samana, 21, both former college students who attended the same suburban mosque as Washington. Yang said the robberies were "designed to finance the operations of the terrorist conspiracy." Washington remained in contact with James, according to the indictment, updating him on Patterson's and Samana's involvement. The charging documents also allege that Patterson had used the Internet to research the offices of the Israeli airline El Al at Los Angeles International Airport and the Yom Kippur events in the city this fall, while Samana had researched information about the Israeli consulate and military recruiting offices.

If convicted, all four men could face life in prison without parole, officials said.

Schools, shuls on alert after Web site threat by Robert Wiener NJJN Staff Writer

The Anti-Defamation League urged Jewish institutions in New Jersey to ramp up security measures after a racist Web site discussed using yeshivas as bomb targets.

The threats appeared on a Web site run by Hal Turner, a North Bergen man who until last year broadcast a white supremacist radio program on shortwave radio and the Internet. When Turner recently suggested that readers of his Web site’s chat room begin “drawing up lists of Jewish Yeshivas here in the United States,” it led to a discussion in which contributors named specific schools and neighborhoods and urged killing yeshiva students.

“With winter weather comes winter coats,” wrote someone called “A-Bomb.” “With winter coats comes concealed weapons. With concealed weapons comes dead yeshiva students.”

The New Jersey region of the ADL, whose national office monitors hate groups, notified the New Jersey Office of Counterterrorism, the FBI, and local police departments as well as synagogues, schools, and Jewish community relations committees, said Etzion Neuer, ADL’s regional director in New Jersey.

“It is unclear whether or not the threat is constitutionally protected free speech,” said Neuer, “but we just err on the side of caution.”

Although an ADL report said Turner has a record of “explicitly encouraging extreme violence against Jews, other minorities, and government officials,” Neuer acknowledged that “Turner himself does not have any history of violence.” Nevertheless, Neuer said, his “concern is less with Turner than with the lone wolf phenomenon.”

“We only have to go back to the incident in the Los Angeles JCC several years ago,” said Neuer, referring to the August 1999 attack on the North Valley Jewish Community Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Granada Hills. Buford Furrow, a member of the racist Aryan Nation, was given a life sentence for killing a postal worker and wounding five people in the shooting spree.

“For most people the watchword here is vigilance,” Neuer said, “and not just around the High Holy Days. This really goes to the message that we try to encourage in Jewish communal institutions and all institutions, for that matter: that people have to be careful and if you see something, to say something. It means having a security plan in place.”

Neuer said the yeshivas in Lakewood — the heavily Orthodox town in southern New Jersey specifically mentioned in one of the chat room posts — and other parts of the state “are covering their bases. They took the threat seriously, and they are working very closely with law enforcement for the safety and security of their constituents.”

Neuer said the ADL is sensitive to laws protecting free speech but that it “cannot ignore expressions of hate that cross the line until they become real security concerns. We acknowledge the right of someone as despicable as Turner and his ilk to say what they want to about anybody. But we would insist on that same right to call that filth what it is.”

Contributors to the chat room referred specifically to the “numerous shules” in the heavily Orthodox community of Lakewood, and to Hillel Yeshiva High School in Monmouth County.

Stanley Stone, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, said, “No threats to institutions in Central Jersey have come to us through official channels. But this time of year we do as we always do by sending out security reminders to the local synagogues and Jewish agencies. I think in this day and age, every threat has to be dealt with by being prepared. You can’t prevent something from happening, but we always remind everyone to keep their guard up.”

Attempts to contact Turner by telephone and to visit his North Bergen apartment were unsuccessful.

Robert Wiener can be reached at [email protected].

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Copyright 2005 New Jersey Jewish News. All rights reserved. For subscription information call 973.887.8500.

Tuesday, 10/25/05

Iraqi who targeted Jewish sites sentenced

Krispy Kreme worker who purchased weapons will be deported after prison

By BONNA de la CRUZ Staff Writer

An Iraqi-born defendant was sentenced yesterday to four years and nine months in prison for purchasing machine guns and grenades to target two Jewish facilities in the Nashville area, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Ahmed Hassan Al-Uqaily, 34, had made a threat about "going jihad. He told a friend he wanted the weapons because " I cannot take it. I cannot wait," according to federal court papers.

But his friends at the Krispy Kreme, where Al-Uqaily made doughnuts for four years, said they saw no signs of his terrorist intentions.

"That doesn't seem like him," said Jean Tucker, who was one of his supervisors. "I never heard him say anything out of line as far as wanting to get revenge on somebody or wanting to hurt somebody."

Instead, he was a friendly colleague who baked homemade birthday and wedding cakes for his co-workers, who gave away doughnuts to the children in his neighborhood and who would report to work whenever he was needed, Tucker said.

Al-Uqaily had expressed animosity toward Jews and identified two Jewish facilities that he knew about, according to his plea agreement. Prosecutors de-clined to say which facilities he may have wanted to target. The maximum sentence for two weapons charges against Al-Uqaily is 10 years each, but federal sentencing guidelines ratchet the top range down to four years and nine months. He must serve at least 85% of the sentence with credit for good behavior.

Also during the hearing yesterday, U.S. District Judge Robert Echols made Al-Uqaily's deportation back to Iraq part of his sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eli Richardson said.

"The parties agreed in this case that, under the facts, the maximum was appropriate," Richardson said. "It's a very significant case."

The federal public defender, David Baker, did not return a telephone message yesterday.

Al-Uqaily first came to the attention of the FBI when an old acquaintance told agents the doughnut maker was extremely angry. The pair met several times at the Krispy Kreme on Thompson Lane to discuss how Al-Uqaily could get weapons, including airplane missiles, according to federal prosecutors. The acquaintance, who has not been named, ultimately introduced Al-Uqaily to a weapons dealer. The dealer was actually an undercover agent.

On Oct. 7, 2004, Al-Uqaily paid the undercover agent $1,000 to buy two M-16 machine guns, four hand grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He was arrested soon after getting the weapons.

But even before then, Al-Uqaily had begun calling attention to himself. In one instance, he stood hooded on Lower Broadway in a public re-enactment of one of the infamous pictures taken at Iraq's Abu-Ghraib prison.

At the time, Al-Uqaily said his brothers and mother had been killed during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and that his father had been jailed.

Tucker yesterday said Al-Uqaily often talked lovingly of his family and of someday returning to Iraq.

"He talked about his family constantly," Tucker said. "He missed them. … To a certain extent, I think he wanted to go back, but I also think he liked it here."

Jewish extremist killed in jail A Jewish extremist who plotted to blow up a mosque in California and the office of a US-Lebanese congressman has been killed in jail.

Earl Krugel, 62, died after an assault on Friday at the federal prison in Phoenix, Arizona, the FBI said.

A spokesman said that a homicide investigation had been launched, without giving any further details.

Krugel - a Jewish Defence League member - was jailed for 20 years in September after admitting the plot charges.

Krugel's wife, Lola, said FBI investigators told her an inmate had struck her husband on the head from behind with a cement block, the AP news agency reported.

"Earl never saw it happening. He was exercising," she said.

Krugel was arrested in 2001 with another leader of the Jewish Defence League, Irv Rubin, who died in jail in an apparent suicide.

Bomb plot

FBI agents arrested Krugel and Rubin at their homes in November 2001.

Investigators seized bomb-making equipment they believed was destined to be used in an attack on the King Fahd mosque in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles.

The pair were charged in December 2001 with conspiring to bomb the mosque and send explosives to the offices of Congressman , who is of Lebanese Christian descent.

Krugel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the civil rights of worshippers at the mosque and to a weapons charge linked to the plot against the congressman.

In return, he was to escape trial on more serious charges related to the bomb conspiracy.

The plot was discovered before any blasts took place.

The Jewish Defence League was founded in 1968 by a far-right US rabbi, , who advocated the expulsion of all from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990.

Woman pleads guilty in anthrax, bomb threats case Psychological, medical problems to be considered in sentencing, prosecutors say

By BONNA de la CRUZ Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, 11/22/05

A Nashville woman who threatened to spread anthrax and blow up public places — such as city buses, shopping malls, synagogues and churches — pleaded guilty yesterday, federal prosecutors said.

Piettia Heifner York admitted she had made 17 threats between March 25 and April 15 and pleaded guilty to one charge of making a bomb threat, prosecutors said.

Her admission to the series of threats will be taken into account during her sentencing in February, as will her significant psychological and medical problems, prosecutors said.

No other information on her health was available yesterday, but her attorney said it would be released later.

The single charge against York carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, said her attorney, assistant federal public defender Sumter Camp.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, she could face 10 to 16 months in prison, Camp said.

A news release from the U.S. attorney's office said York's plea agreement contemplates that she will request a sentence of five years probation, which prosecutors would not oppose. "I think the proposed resolution is very appropriate," said Eli Richardson, assistant U.S. attorney. "It's important we catch people that commit these kinds of hoaxes and that they suffer the consequences."

York, 47, has been in the custody of her father, who lives in Forest Hills. Phone calls made to a phone number listed in his name were not answered yesterday.

Federal agents caught onto York in April after she left threat notes at 100 Oaks Mall and a Wal-Mart in Madison. They followed her to Hickory Hollow Mall on April 15 and arrested her after she left an envelope in a Hecht's restroom that said there was a bomb in the store, in a public library and another at the Metro Transit Authority bus shelter.

In 12 other cases, she left letters, some containing a white powder she claimed was anthrax, on buses and the restrooms of malls and public libraries.

Three letters — addressed to Metro's police chief, to Congregation Micah, and to the city of Forest Hills — were sent by U.S mail, officials said.

She also made one threat by telephone, calling MTA to say there would be a bomb on a bus that day, prosecutors said. •

Adult Israelis seen as `targets' by foe Islamic leader's comments spark row Remarks on broadcast anger head of CJC Oct. 23, 2004. 01:00 AM HICHAM SAFIEDDINE STAFF REPORTER

The president of the Canadian Islamic Congress is under fire for saying all Israelis above the age of 18 are legitimate targets of attack.

Mohamed Elmasry made the comments Tuesday on the Michael Coren Live TV show and was criticized yesterday by the Canadian Jewish Congress.

When asked whether "anyone over the age of 18 in Israel is a valid target," Elmasry replied: "Anybody above 18 is part of the (Israeli) army."

The show's moderator followed with another question: "Anyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid target?"

"Yes, I would say," Elmasry responded. Canadian Jewish Congress president Ed Morgan said his organization was outraged by Elmasry's comments.

"The very notion that anybody endorses the killing of civilians is beyond what we as Canadians are used to hearing," he said.

"Anybody who makes a statement like that, to me, is not making an error. And if it is an error, then he should correct the record."

Elmasry said on the show that since all adult Israelis are part of their country's army, they are not bystanders in the conflict.

"But they are not innocent if they are part of the total population which is part of the army. ... From 18 on, they are soldiers, even if they have civilian clothes," Elmasry said. Morgan disagreed.

"It is a ridiculous assertion. A civilian population is a civilian population. When people are sitting in a restaurant or at a bus stop, they are civilians. Simply because Israel has a draft doesn't mean any person is a target," he said.

The CJC was not the only organization to protest Elmasry's statement.

Tarek Fatah, a founding member of the , said Elmasry's comments were a thinly veiled attack on Jews and hurt the Palestinian cause.

"Palestinians have a moral and legal obligation to fight the Israeli occupation but to believe all Israelis are targets is ... the height of hypocrisy," he said.

Elmasry could not be reached for comment yesterday. Man given 2 years for firebombing Montreal Jewish school Last Updated Tue, 18 Jan 2005 20:29:59 EST CBC News

MONTREAL - A man charged with firebombing a Jewish elementary school in Montreal last year has been sentenced to 40 months in jail.

But the judge gave Sleiman Elmerhebi credit for the eight months he has already spent in detention, which counts as double time, leaving him with a two year sentence.

Elmerhebi, 19, pleaded guilty last month to starting a fire that destroyed the library at the United Talmud Torah school.

He said it was an emotional reaction to the situation in the Middle East.

Quebec Court Judge Jean Sirois said judges must send the message that such acts will not be tolerated. Sirois rejected a defence request that Elmerhebi serve his sentence in the community.

The defence and the Crown agreed the firebombing was a hate crime.

Crown prosecutor Anne Aubé had requested Elmerhebi serve two years in prison for what she called his "act of terrorism." The maximum sentence for arson is 14 years.

In December, the teenager admitted his guilt as part of a plea bargain with the prosecution. The deal meant there was no trial. Sleiman Elmerhebi (file photo)

• FROM DEC. 16, 2004: Guilty plea in Jewish school firebombing

In exchange for his guilty plea on the arson count, the prosecution announced it had no evidence to present against Elmerhebi on a conspiracy charge.

Elmerhebi's mother, Rouba Elmerhebi Fahd, is charged with being an accessory after the fact and has pleaded not guilty.

She's free on $10,000 bail and is awaiting a court date.

Teachers suspended for praising anti-Jewish essay Last Updated Thu, 24 Mar 2005 19:49:08 EST CBC News

OTTAWA - Two teachers at an Islamic school in have been suspended while the school and the government investigate allegations they incited hatred against Jews.

One teacher praised a student essay about martyrdom and killing Israeli soldiers and another helped with the artwork.

The administration of Abraar Islamic school was shocked by the student's tale of ambushing and killing Israeli soldiers, said school principal Aisha Sherazi.

The eight-page story, written in Arabic, was about avenging last year's death of one of the founders of the militant movement. It included a cover page illustrated with a burning Star of David, a machine gun and a Palestinian flag flying from the top of the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem.

"Without thinking, Ahmed took his M-16 machine gun and threw the bombs and he showered the Jews, this resulted in the killing of the soldiers," the student wrote in one passage.

A teacher wrote on the title page "God bless you, your efforts are good," adding that Ahmed's story "is still alive and the end will be soon when God unites us in Jerusalem." A second helped with the artwork. They were both suspended Wednesday.

"It's very disturbing," Sherazi said on Thursday.

"The whole thing is very, very disturbing indeed, but as I say, it's being investigated now and we're certainly going to try and get to the bottom of it."

Ontario's Education Minister Gerard Kennedy has agreed to launch an investigation. He said the incident proves the province needs more control over what goes on in private schools.

Sherazi said the school of 200 students, ranging from kindergarten to Grade 8, does not condone this kind of thinking.

"Encouraging or inciting hatred is strictly prohibited at our school," she said earlier in a prepared statement. "We will take all measures to investigate this matter and insure that it does not reoccur."

External investigation needed: Jewish group

The Canadian Jewish Congress praised the principal for her swift response.

"We believe the principal did exactly what was supposed to be done," Bernie Farber said.

He called for a government investigation. Kennedy agreed with the request.

October 6, 2005 — Tishrei 3, 5766

Man arrested for threat against Jewish community

MarshallShapiro Tribune Correspondent

ST. CATHARINES, ON – One day after pro-Palestinian demonstrators broke up a Hamilton Police Services Board forum regarding a controversial trip to Israel by Chief Brian Mullen, a “co-president” of the Niagara Palestinian Association was arrested by Niagara Regional Police for allegedly making a terrorist threat against the Jewish community.

“Maybe it’s time to blow up some Jews,” Burhan Azzeh – husband of the other co- president, Susan Howard-Azzeh – is reported to have told co-workers at his job on the Welland Canal. One of them called police to report this threat. Azzeh, 49, was arrested and charged and was then released on bail after spending one night in jail. He was ordered to surrender his passport to police and not to leave the St. Catharines area, to stay away from St. Catharines’ B’nai Israel synagogue and to avoid “any functions or protests where members of the Jewish community can reasonably be expected to be in attendance.”

Last year the Jewish Tribune did a survey of security measures at synagogues across Canada and, coincidentally, B’nai Israel was the only one to report hostile activity with damage to parked cars. At the time it was dismissed as “mischief” rather than an antisemitic act.

In the wake of Azzeh’s arrest, which was immediately reported by police to the synagogue, B’nai Israel has hired extra security personnel for the high holidays and has been assured of frequent patrols by Niagara Regional Police.

According to sources, local police are sensitive to terrorism because of the large Muslim population with several St. Catharines area residents reportedly in custody at Guantanamo Bay, the US’s repository for suspected Al-Qaeda members.

Niagara Regional Police are continuing to investigate the matter but were unequivocal in stating that there is no connection with the actions of Azzeh’s wife who was instrumental in breaking up the Hamilton forum when she reportedly snatched the microphone from in front of Police Services Board Chairman Bernie Morelli. Said NRP Inspector Brian Eckhart: “One of the things I wanted to be very clear about was that this arrest has nothing to do with anything that was said or done at that meeting. This is something that was said the following day here in the Niagara region.”

CSIS: terror cell busted Bomb expert among four Algerians in Toronto

Stewart Bell

Thursday, November 03, 2005

TORONTO - Canadian counter- terrorism investigators have dismantled a suspected terrorist cell in Toronto whose members included an al-Qaeda-trained explosives expert, the National Post has learned.

The cell consisted of four Algerian refugee claimants who had lived in Canada for as long as six years and were alleged members of a radical Islamic terror faction called the Salafist Group for Call and Combat.

The central figure of the Toronto-area cell was a former al-Qaeda training camp instructor who studied bomb-making at Osama bin Laden's Al Farooq and Khaldun training camps in eastern Afghanistan.

The group was watched by intelligence officers before being broken apart in an inter- agency operation involving the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada Border Services Agency and police.

A senior CSIS counterterrorism official, Larry Brooks, announced the dismantling of the cell at a closed-door national security workshop held this week at a hotel north of Toronto.

Mr. Brooks told workshop delegates that three members of the group were deported this summer and the key figure left Canada voluntarily in March, 2004, after he was confronted by investigators.

The investigation was described as ongoing.

The group was unrelated to Canada's most notorious Algerian terror network, the Groupe Fateh Kamel in Montreal, whose most infamous member, Ahmed Ressam, tried to blow up Los Angeles airport in 1999.

But there were parallels between the Montreal and Toronto groups, notably that the members of both were failed Algerian refugee claimants who had learned how to manufacture explosives at the Khaldun training camp. The case "is a prime example of inter-agency co-operation," Mr. Brooks told delegates. CSIS was the lead agency in the investigation, but police and immigration enforcement officers from the CBSA in the Niagara region were also involved at various stages.

"CSIS's mandate is to collect, analyze and report threat-related intelligence to government. This means that effectively, our intelligence is shared with a variety of domestic and international security intelligence and law enforcement partners," Barbara Campion, the CSIS spokeswoman, said yesterday.

"CSIS does not discuss details of specific cases," she added.

But on Monday, Mr. Brooks, the chief of counterterrorism for the Toronto region, gave an outline of the case to delegates at the National Security Workshop 2005, a federal initiative that brought together security officials and representatives of Ontario industries involved in critical infrastructure, such as telephone, hydro and transit.

Mr. Brooks did not name the alleged terror-cell members, but during his presentation he showed several photographs, including what appeared to be surveillance photos taken in a parking lot.

A recent report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., claimed 600 of the estimated 3,000 foreign fighters in Iraq are Algerians, making them the largest contingent, ahead of even Saudis.

The Salafist group, better known as the GSPC (short for Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat), is the leading Algerian terrorist group. It is a breakaway faction of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group and is aligned with bin Laden and al- Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Mussab Zarqawi.

The federal Cabinet added the GSPC to Canada's list of banned terrorist groups in November, 2002. "The GSPC is a radical Sunni Muslim group seeking to establish an Islamist government in Algeria," Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada said in a background report.

"The GSPC has adopted a policy that violence should be targeted on security or military targets, foreigners, intellectuals and administrative staff. The GSPC is believed to have been active outside Algeria. The group has been affiliated to Osama bin Laden and groups financed by him."

The ringleader of the Toronto cell was an Algerian-born member of the GSPC who entered Canada on Aug. 8, 1998, using a forged Saudi passport and made a refugee claim that was ultimately turned down.

Initially, CSIS began preparing a national security certificate that was to be used to deport him, but instead authorities subjected him to "confrontation interviews," a counterterrorism tactic that is sometimes used to make suspected terrorists know they are being closely watched.

The explosives expert left on his own shortly afterward on March 7, 2004, and the three others were later arrested and deported to U.S. border crossings because they had entered Canada from the United States.

The operation is the latest indication that trained terrorists, some of whom are versed in bomb-making methods and have links to bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, have been living in Canada.

"We know that terrorists are in our own backyard," Inspector Jamie Jagoe, the officer in charge of the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team for Ontario, which co-hosted the workshop, told delegates.

During his presentation, Insp. Jagoe showed slides of several suspected terrorists who had lived in Canada, including Amer El-Maati, , Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohamed Mahjoub, Ressam, Mohammed Jabarah, Abdul Rahman Jabarah and Ahmed Said Khadr.

While few terrorists in Canada aside from Ressam have built bombs here, he said they are "involved in other aspects of terrorism" such as fundraising, recruiting, propaganda and arms trading. "All of these contribute to the cause as much as someone building a bomb in their basement."

The terrorist presence in Canada must be taken seriously because both bin Laden and an al-Qaeda targeting manual have listed the country as one of a handful of nations that should be attacked, Insp. Jagoe said.

© National Post 2005

13 December 2004 TERRORIST GAS PLOT TO BOMB LONDON WARNING AFTER CANISTERS THEFT By Gary Jones And Nathan Yates TERRORISTS could be planning a massive gas bomb blast in London, police revealed last night.

Scotland Yard's leading anti-terror detectives believe the theft of 10 large propane gas canisters may be linked to al-Qaeda.

They have put all units on full alert following their removal from a warehouse in Shepherd's Bush, West London.

A senior detective said last night: "This is a very serious situation. It is enough explosive material to cause large devastation and loss of life."

The canisters, each containing 47kg (103lb) of gas, were stolen last weekend.

In April 2002 al-Qaeda terrorists drove a truck loaded with propane gas bottles into a Tunisian synagogue, killing 14 German tourists.

They have also tried to use small gas canisters as grenades hidden in children's toys.

The detective added: "Propane gas can cause a large explosion. We are talking about a huge amount, which could be loaded onto a vehicle.

"It is urgent that these canisters are found."

Detectives are particularly concerned because the market value of the gas is not high.

They believe the canisters would be of "very limited" use for thieves looking to make money.

The detective added: "It is a real possibility that the perpetrators of this theft are terrorists."

Last week Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said his officers had prevented an attack on London on the same scale as the Madrid train bombing which killed 191 people.

British Police Thwart Terror Plot to Poison Englands Jews 14:31 Apr 15, '05 / 6 Nisan 5765

A terrorist plot to poison the Jews of Britain has been thwarted, the British Independent newspaper reported today.

A group of Algerian terrorists, trained in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, established a poison factory in an apartment in north London.

British security services and government scientists raided the lab and established that the intended target was to be the Jewish community in north London.

The poison “Ricin,” was discovered in the chemical lab and an alert went out for an illegal immigrant named Kamel Bourgass, who lived in the apartment.

Bourgass’ capture came in January 2003 when the British intelligence service MI5 were contacted by the Algerian security services with some shocking information. They had arrested a suspected Algerian terrorist, Mohammed Meguerba, 36, who told them he had been working with Al-Qaeda supporters in Britain and had been helping them produce Ricin at the north London apartment. The two produced “two pots” of Ricin – neither of which were found when the apartment was raided.

The police did find a locked bag in Bourgass' bedroom with an envelope containing a set of recipes in Arabic in his handwriting. On the front of the envelope was the address of the Finsbury Park mosque in north London with the name of "Nadir", by which Bourgass was also known. These recipes were later photocopied on a machine at the Mosque, the court heard.

Details of five poisons that could be made with easy–to-obtain ingredients were written out and scientists later followed the instructions in the recipes, producing enough ricin and cyanide to kill hundreds of people.

The ricin trial, which began in September last year, ended this week. The jury found Bourgass guilty of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance by using poisons and explosives for which he was given a 17 year sentence.

Four other Algerians - Mouloud Sihali, 29, David Aissa Khalef, 33, Sidali Feddag, 20, and Mustapha Taleb, 35 – were accused of helping Bourgass, but all were cleared by the jury. Following the not- guilty verdicts, prosecutors dropped plans for a third trial involving four other alleged conspirators - three Algerians and a Libyan.

Terrorism Trial of Muslim Cleric Al-Masri Opens at London Court

July 5 (Bloomberg) -- Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri faces trial at a London court today on 15 criminal charges including encouraging the murder of Jews and other non-Muslims and possessing a document that could be useful to terrorists.

British prosecutors charged al-Masri, 48, with the crimes in October, halting a bid by U.S. authorities to extradite him on terrorism-related allegations. The cleric, who has a hooked prosthesis in place of an arm lost while fighting Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan in the 1980s, denies the charges.

He is being tried on nine counts of soliciting or encouraging murder at public meetings and four of using ``threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior'' with the intent to stir up racial hatred at London's Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey.

Egyptian-born al-Masri also faces one count of possessing a document, the ``Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad,'' containing information ``likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism,'' and one count of possessing ``threatening, abusive or insulting recordings of sound.''

The cleric, who has been held at Belmarsh high-security prison in southeast London, preached outside the Finsbury Park mosque in the north of the city after he was removed as the imam, or head of the congregation, in February 2003.

U.S. federal prosecutors indicted him in May 2004 on charges he aided efforts to set up a terrorist training camp in the American state of Oregon and plotted to take hostages during a December 1998 terror attack in Yemen. Those proceedings are on hold pending the outcome of the U.K. criminal case.

Soliciting to murder carries a maximum sentence of life in prison in Britain, while ``using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior'' carries a maximum seven-year term. The trial is expected to last between three and four weeks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Megan Murphy in London at [email protected]. Last Updated: July 5, 2005 02:32 EDT

Jack of all trades

November 20, 2004

After years on his trail, police have finally caught up with the taxi driver known as Jihad Jack. Cynthia Banham reports.

For nearly three years, since shortly after September 11, 2001, Joseph Thomas, otherwise known as "Jihad Jack", had eluded Australian authorities.

But early on Thursday morning, the federal police finally swooped on a house in the outer western suburbs of Melbourne and bagged their prize, taking Thomas into custody and seizing documents and computer equipment.

Thomas - a former chef and taxi driver who converted to Islam in the mid-1990s and changed his name to "Jihad" - was charged this week with terrorism offences linked to al- Qaeda .

Appearing in court the same day as his arrest, Thomas was charged with receiving funds from a terrorist organisation and providing support or resources to a terrorist organisation.

He is the first person to be charged with those offences, which were introduced in 2002 and carry jail terms of up to 25 years. He has also been charged with possessing a false passport.

It is alleged Thomas received the money while overseas between November 2002 and January 2003, altered his passport to avoid detection by the authorities and had a close association with known al-Qaeda members.

It has been alleged previously that Thomas had links with , al- Qaeda's operations chief, who was behind the September 11 attacks.

Only one Australian has been convicted on terrorism offences, Perth man Jack Roche, who was jailed for nine years in June for plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra.

Four others have been arrested - Faheem Lodhi from Punchbowl, Pakistan-born student Izhar ul-Haque, former baggage handler Bilal Khazal of Lakemba and Zeky Mallah. The authorities' interest in Thomas, 31, began with a phone call to federal police from his parents, Ian and Patsy, who live in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Williamstown. They had become concerned about his whereabouts after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Their son had moved to Pakistan early in 2001 to study Islam with his wife, Maryati, who is the daughter of an Indonesian police chief, and their young daughter.

Thomas's early life was unexceptional. Born and bred in Melbourne, he formed a punk band with his brother Les while at school, studied cooking at a TAFE college and worked as a chef in upmarket city restaurants. In 1995 Thomas left his job to take up taxi driving and converted to Islam the following year. He began wearing traditional Muslim dress and changed his name.

After September 11, at the behest of the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, his parents began emailing their son asking him to go to the Australian embassy in Islamabad.

But a frightened Thomas refused. He was eventually arrested at Airport on January 4, 2003, by the Pakistani intelligence agency as he tried to flee to Australia.

Pakistan said it was holding Thomas while investigating possible offences under the Security of Pakistan Act, which prohibits activities against the "interests of the state".

Questions were raised about whether Thomas was the Australian man the convicted American fighter, John Walker Lindh, told the FBI he had met in an al-Qaeda camp. Nine days after Thomas's arrest , the Australian Government alleged he had trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001.

The claim was backed up by Pakistan, but his family has disputed Thomas was ever in Afghanistan. Thomas spent the next five months detained in Pakistan before the Australian authorities got access to him.

His parents' greatest fear was that Thomas would be sent to join his compatriots and at Guantanamo Bay. Both are still awaiting their trial by military commission.

Luckily for Thomas, it was not to be.

When the Federal Police were able to interview Thomas, they feared the evidence would be inadmissible in an Australian court, partly because of the absence of a lawyer during questioning.

The Pakistani security agencies never charged Thomas, and in June last year the AFP said it did not have enough evidence to make an arrest. So Thomas returned to Melbourne last year a free man. He started driving taxis again, while the AFP continued its investigations overseas in an effort to assemble the evidence it needed to make an arrest. This week, after receiving advice from the federal Director of Public Prosecutions, the police decided they had enough.

Thomas's lawyers disagree. His solicitor Rob Stary says if the charges rely on interviews carried out in Pakistan, they would be "tainted" and would not be accepted by a court in Australia. Stary says Thomas was refused legal advice, and there were suggestions he was manacled and hooded during his detention.

Thomas's barrister, Lex Lasry, QC, who was an independent observer at the Guantanamo Bay military commission preliminary hearing of Hicks, upbraided his solicitor yesterday for making the comments. Lasry said that as a lawyer in a case before the courts it was not appropriate to comment.