Those of you who care probably know already that Mullah Krekar was arrested again on Friday. (This isn't the blog for breaking news.) Krekar was leader of Ansar al-Islam until he was arrested in 2002, but he's still some kind of spiritual leader among Kurdish Islamists. The police says he's been holding regular sermons (in audio) in internet chatrooms, where, according to his lawyer, seekers have found guidance on such topics as "suicide bombings and jihad - holy war. He has also discussed politics and answered questions as a scholar". I doubt he's come out openly in favor of suicide terrorism. He's not that stupid, and there are ways to spread the radical Islamic meme that does not involve saying "Osama bin Laden is my hero and I wish he'd blow up more American buildings". But we don't have to take his lawyer's word for that. The police has been given hours of recordings by Kurds who listened to them, some of which the police hasn't had time to translate.

The specific charges concern Krekar's involvement with suicide bombings in Kurdish Iraq in 2002. The police was forced to drop the previous charges of terrorism and kidnapping, and the case has a high profile, so there may be some prestige involved here. It will at least look very bad if they fail this time as well - and the first signs aren't good.

The case against Krekar is built partly on the testimonies of two young members of Ansar al-Islam, who say that Krekar encouraged them to blow themselves up. From a court document:

The witness states that the accused [Krekar] taught the witness to fight against non-Muslims and kill all non-Muslims. One was meant to kill Americans or other foreigners, as well as members of PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which now controls the areas where the witnesses live). The accused was leader of Ansar al-Islam when the witness was member and was taught by him. He was "convinced" by the accused (and others) that he should fight PUK, and his cousin wanted the witness to blow himself up. His cousin showed him how to detonate a hand grenade, and wished him good luck. The accused did not have to approve of any act by the witness, but he wished to be informed about any use of explosives.

This first witness was 16 years old at the time. The second witness, known as Didar, was 19 when Ansar began to plan his suicide, (with Krekar present and explicitly approving). To Dagbladet Didar explains what happened. He strapped on his explosives, and drove to a PUK command post:

I stepped out of the car and went to the command post. There were five or six people there, while others played soccer. I had orders to ask for Muhammad, and if they replied "Who's Muhammad?" I would blow myself up. .. They asked me, "Who's Muhammed", but I was afraid to trigger the dynamite belt. The guard became nervous, and saw that I had a big body and that the zipper on my jacket was closed. When another guard put his hand on my chest, I told him it was TNT. They threw me down on the ground and cut the wires.

In both these cases, the targets were military, forces belonging to PUK, though Krekar told Didar that God would forgive him if any civilians were killed.

The lower court in Oslo was not convinced by this evidence, and in a hearing on Monday it ordered Krekar released. About the first witness, it states that ..

.. the fact that general weapons training is given in a war situation between competing groups is not sufficient reason to suspect attempted murder. The fact that it is taught that warriors go to Paradise when they die and that the enemy goes to hell, is not enough either to ascertain guilt.

The court also doubted the reliability of the witnesses.

In addition there is the substantial inaccuracy factor attached to the trustworthiness of a witness who is in such conditions as he is, captured by the other side, with minimal education, under very uncertain conditions, obviously deeply influenced by fundamentalist religious indeas.

In other words, as both witnesses are currently held under arrest by PUK forces, (where they according to Krekar's lawyer have been promised release in return for cooperation), they can not be trusted.

The court went even further than that. It also implicitly doubted the police's interpretation of Krekar's religious beliefs:

The court misses a more thorough theological and sociological/cultural evaluation of the statements from the accused [Krekar]. Even though the choice of words and metaphors are unusual to Norwegian ears, they may - when seen against a religious setting - also be seen as being "not of this world", but as the views of a scholar on moral issues.

I heard something interesting the other day. Three of Mullah Krekar's four children are named after Sayyid Qutb and his books: Sayyid Qutb, Ma'alem (Ma'alim fi'l Tariq, "Milestones") and Zhilal (Fi Zilal al-Quran, "In the Shade of the Quran"). The fourth kid is called Ibnu Taymiah. Now, Sayyid Qutb is the leading thinker of modern Islamic extremism, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood until he was executed by Nasser, and an idol to all the wacky movements that have been inspired by the Brotherhood, including al-Qaeda. Ibn Taymiyyah was his 14th century precursor, and one of the inspirators of Wahhabism. I already knew that Krekar was a fanatic, who introduced Taliban-like conditions in Ansar-controlled villages and probably cooperated with al-Qaeda, but this is one of those details that make a person's character stand clearly before you. This guy named all his kids after the heroes of Osama bin Laden. I can't believe that this has been overlooked by the entire Norwegian press corps. (Well, I can, but I wish I couldn't.)

These thinkers and their followers have all been very much "in this world". When Krekar speaks about Jihad and martyrdom, we can be sure that he means it in a quite physical and violent way. When he speaks of the restoration of the Khaliphate, we can be sure that it represents to him what it represents to bin Laden, one massive, totalitarian nation under God. Read this interview and tell me that Krekar is a mere "scholar on moral issues", as the court suspects:

Naturally the constitution of the Movement requires us to support all the Jihad movements throughout the world, even if they have not heard of us or are not supporting us, and even if these were to take an opposing stance to us - which they would not. For example, we take a supporting stance with the brothers in Thailand and Burma, even if they have not heard of us, or may have heard of us but are not supporting us. Hamas, for example, if they were to take a non-supportive stand towards us for a particular strategy, our position would remain one of support for them without hesitation, as is our position with every Jihad movement. As for the non-Jihad movements, our mutual relationship is based on common interests, on advise and support, and on taking and giving.

..

I remind my brothers and sisters not to forget the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan, for it is a Movement which has none except Allah Most High, and to this day there is no one to adopt its orphans. The Islamic Movement does not have the depth behind it which our Palestinian, Eritrean, Phillipino, or Kashmiri brethren have, knowing that 30 dollars suffices to assist one Mujahid in his home and his family.

On reading this, can there be any question of how Krekar sees his place in the scheme of things? Can there be any doubt that he a approves of suicide terrorism, even against civilians? The court's statements indicates its own reflexive multiculturalism, not confusion on the part of the police.

The police has appealed the decision, and intends to put forward new evidence it had planned to keep hidden for now out of "concern for the life and health of witnesses".

The coverage has been mostly pro-Krekar, with lawyer Brynjar Meling's conspiracy theories about American pressure and CIA involvement dominating front pages and headlines. The strongest criticism of the police has come from TV2 Nettavisen, where editor Gunnar Stavrum complains about police "harassment" of Mullah Krekar. Nettavisen ran a series of articles a few months ago where it criticized the way the police had handled the Krekar case. They raised several good questions, for instance about the validity of Jordan's extradition request, but there's no basis for a charge of harassment. At most we're speaking of incompetence, but in a climate bordering on the conspiratorial that's an unattractive explanation.

As blogger Hans Rustad writes:

There is a whiff of Iraq and spiced intelligence-reports in the air: one attributes the most vile motives to the powers that be. Krekar is a Kurd, the USA wants him behind bars, and it seems plausible that the methods employed are as bad as in London and Washington. Those assumptions are present as an unspoken premise in the reporting, and has been so for quite some time. It apparently made no impression that the US commander in Northern Iraq, Bullion, yesterday told an NRK-correspondent in Arbil that they had been following Krekar for a long time, and were convinced that he was still active at least as a spiritual guide for Ansar al-Islam.

And:

The climate in Norway is such that the word "CIA" is almost synonymous with a criminal organization. The end result is a world turned on its head. The worrying thing is that these attitudes are widespread among the the elite, in this case the judiciary. There is a feeling that America stands for "might is right", and that Krekar is being framed. Reports about suicide operations that were performed by Ansar before the war began in March, seems to cut no ice with the courts.

That said, I see two weaknesses with the new case against Krekar, or at least the part of it that is public. One is specific and the other more general. First, the witness statements seem a bit vague. Is there any evidence that Krekar explicitly ordered any attacks, or is there only evidence of approval, ie. that he stood by and nodded while others gave the orders? If the latter, it actually increases the trustworthiness of the witnesses in my eyes. If they were under pressure from PUK to frame Krekar they would have made up something more damning, like "and then Krekar pushed the suicide belt into my hands and told me to blow up the command post". But I would imagine that this also makes it more difficult to convict Krekar.

My other objection is this: In both these cases the intended targets were military, and unless we ever formally recognized the Kurdish government in Northern Iraq, the situation was one of civil war between equally illegitimate guerilla groups. There was civil war, and Krekar told his followers to attack the enemy. The method was terrorist-like, but terrorism is the deliberate targetting of civilians for political purposes. That was not the case here. What does it mean to be an accomplice to the murder of enemy soldiers in a war zone? Is all war then murder in the eyes of Norwegian law, or just some? I may be missing something obvious, since I haven't seen these points made anywhere else. Even the court seems to accept the prosecution's claim that a suicide attack on PUK soldiers would be "attempted murder" punishable by Norwegian law. Why?

The Kurds themselves want the Krekar case to be handled elsewhere - in Kurdish Iraq or by the Human Rights Court in Hague. If their legal system can be trusted, I would prefer the first. For all I know Krekar can be convicted in Norway after all, and that would be good, but still feel wrong somehow, like a mobster put in jail for tax evasion. The important thing is that he's an evil fanatic who has done a lot of harm to many people, and we should do all we legally can to stop that.

You know the monkey drill: Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

It is true you write no blog for breaking news, Bjørn, but you surely beat everybody on depth!

Excellent summary.

At least I have the comfort of being able to accurately predict the outcome of the latest case before it happened:

http://blogs.salon.com/0001561/2004/01/03.html#a4282

Though I admit you don't have to be a great prophet to know that "Økokrim" will fail.

Dear Bjorn,

I know you don't do "up-to-the-minute news" on your blog, but I thought it was interesting that Norway's embassy was shut down in Cairo today because Norway is on Al Qaeda's hit list.

I hope that after the so-called liberals (or whatever you call them in Norway) analyze "what they did wrong to antagonize the peaceful Islamists," they will then start to think hard about the REAL world, where jihad has been declared against the entire civilized world--meaning Norway too.

Totoro, Chicago, U.S,

"where jihad has been declared against the entire civilized world--meaning Norway too."

Just against infidels and any opponnets to their plans to bring back a united Islamic super state.

The problem is that that previous state was powerful not only due to its unity, but also due to its scholarly adoption of the cutting edge technology at the time (Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was instrumental in the development of the decimal system and also of algebra). It was their increasing devotion to theocracy as opposed to science and the material world, that led to the dominance of the west over them, in deed is this very religious excess which endangers their prospects for improvement today.

"My other objection is this: In both these cases the intended targets were military..."

Yes, that does not sound at all the same as blowing up a university cafeteria or an ice-cream shop. I hope the prosecution has some better charges or he is very likely to go free again.

Krekar was interviewed on Al-Jazeera no more than five weeks ago, and there he was addressed and subtitled as "leader" of Ansar al-Islam, according to a Norwegian article in Aftenposten:

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article.jhtml?articleID=705308

Krekar also confirms that a suicide attack in Iraq March 22 that killed three people, among them an Australian journalist was Ansal al-Islam, and he speaks about the perpetartors as "our brother."

The Aftenposten story about Krekar's Al-Jazeera appearance has been translated into English:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=705480

I blogged about this, and added a few comments of my own:

http://blogs.salon.com/0001561/2004/01/09.html#a4336

Meling seems to have a few problems reconciling his client's stories:

"Krekar's defense attorney initially refused to comment on the Al-Jazeera broadcast, telling Aftenposten that he was standing by Krekar's claims that he hasn't been the leader of Ansar al-Islam since May 2002.

On Friday morning, however, Meling told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that he would take up the Al-Jazeera interview with his client and was confident he'd be able to explain the contradictory claims."

No doubt it is all due to a CIA conspiracy.

Everything is a CIA conspiracy. Even the CIA. I read one blog that said that the CIA and the FBI were infiltrated by the Saudis, and that's why they didn't do anything useful before September 11.

This sounds like a good plot for a novel. Maybe it's true. Who knows?

Well, if anyone has concrete evidence the FBI or CIA is infiltrated by the Saudis, they should bring it forward.

But given how infiltrated western intelligence and security services were by the Soviets during the cold war, and given the close contact between filthy rich Saudis and Washington DC, somebody should at least look very closely at that question.

Arne Treholt, Norway's most famous cold war spy, was convicted not only for spying for the Soviets, but for Iraq too. This was way before Iraq was on the west's shitlist.

Next year in November 2004 Dick Cheney will no longer be the VP candidate for the Republicans. He will be replaced by current Secretary of State Colin Powell, and since Bush will probably be re-elected Powell will be the first Black Vice President of U.S. history.
On January 1, 2006 Bush will resign, so Powell will become the first Black President of the United States.
And 2006 will be a very important year for Norway. It's by now clear that Norway hides the WMD not found in Iraq, thanks to Ansar-Al-Islam chief Krekar and his allied of Turkish-Pakistani Mafia (supported by Italian gangsters emigrated in Norway).
Probably Norway will be invaded, unless it accepts to let U.S. forces enter the country to find and destroy those weapons.

It seems that "neutral" nations like Norway suffer the indignation of protecting the rights of known murderers, or their fanatical beliefs. I am sure president Bush will enable the forces available to counter these groups through careful infiltration.
It is a sad indictment on our Western values when the media pays too much regard for those responsible for terror and their lust to drag every human to such base concepts.

Fanatic Wahabism + Saudi oil wealth = recipe for worldwide disaster. Krekar is one of the thousands of tentacles of the hydra.

The article in the latest New Yorker, "Kingdom of Silence" by Wright, is one of the most depressing pieces I have read lately.

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david elson of australia wrote:

" The problem is that that previous state was powerful not only due to its unity, but also due to its scholarly adoption of the cutting edge technology at the time (Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was instrumental in the development of the decimal system and also of algebra). It was their increasing devotion to theocracy as opposed to science and the material world, that led to the dominance of the west over them, in deed is this very religious excess which endangers their prospects for improvement today."

Hi David....just a comment on your comment above. Islam has always been about theocracy from day one. The much vaunted golden age of islam is actually quite fallacious. Islam is incompatible with science , since it is theocratic fascism that does not permit dissent from dogma. The much vaunted 'golden age' of 'al andaloos' ref: Cordoba, Toledo, alHambra etc the works....is due to the ingenuity and scholarship of the conquered people and the high cultures of the vanquished natives ex. the persians, the assyrians, the jews, the various mediterranean peoples and races that constitute islamdom of that era ! There are a few injunctions in the Quran that exhorts muslims to use their Aql/mind/mental faculty !!!
يا )
المسلمون, يستخدمون عقلك و مخّك للتّفكير ...هذه هي
(!!! الهديّة من اللّه

Yes alKhawarizmi contributed much..hence logarithms ( al-khawarizm--> lokharizm-->logarithms)..but remember many of the islamic scholars and scientists excelled dispite the draconian nature of islam which does not really afford an atmosphere conducive to scientific research...they were human individuals of excellent fortitude that escelled despite the prevailing socioreligious milieur. Consider that Ibn Rushid or Averroes suffered the indignity of the reigning Caliph ( probably over matters of dogma ) and was persecuted and exiled and died a broken man..........in a similar train of thought...do we really think that catholicism in those day and age condones scientific investigation...i would venture to say that it is the wonderful resiliency and the inherent intelligent nature of man that prevails over idiotic dogmas . Recall that when galileo invited one of the princes of the church to view the heavens through the telescope, the proud and pompous minion of the church retorted that all the knowledge he needs of the heaven is already known to him through the bible....and of course more recently in the scopes monkey trial we have blathering religionists spouting nonsense like " i know the rock of ages not the ages of rock" which of course brought him much applause from the foolish humanities of his time .....to wit, l.5 billion human beings are still enslaved by this most pernicious and nefarious Cult of death and destruction, not to mention of superstition and utter immorality !!!

真相和科學天使
engel van waarheid en wetenschap
ملاك الحقيقة و العلم
angel of truth and science
진실과 과학의 천사
anjo da verdade e da ciência

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