Why Bangladesh Is Turning To Terrorism ...
Bangladeshi Imam Of Mosque In Albany, New York Jailed 15 Years For
Terrorism ..... .....
http://www.newagebd.com/2007/mar/10/front.html
New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Bangladeshi expat jailed for 15 years in US
A court in New York on Thursday sentenced two persons, including a
Bangladeshi expatriate in the United States, to 15 years in prison for
plotting terrorist act and attempt to collect a missile illegally from
China.
Bangladeshi Mohammad Hossain, founder of Assalam Mosque in Albany,
the capital of the New York state and the imam of the mosque, and
Mohammad Yasin, a Kurdish origin refugee in New York, were arrested by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of devising a plot to
kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York in 2004.
The FBI also brought charges against them for attempt to collect a
portable missile from China at a cost of $50,000 to kill the diplomat.
The accused, however, denied their involvement in hatching such a plot
and claimed themselves innocent. They also strongly criticised the US
government for its discriminatory outlook towards the Muslim community
in the country.
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19 Year Old Bangladeshi-American Arraigned For Terrorism .....
[Two Georgia men, Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Sadequee, charged with
orking for terrorist organization]
Two Georgia men have been taken into custody, and at least one has
been charged with supporting a terrorist organization. The Atlanta
Journal Constitution has this article, "Tech student charged with
supporting terror group" (hat tip: Michelle Malkin):
A 21-year-old Georgia Tech student taken into federal custody last
month has been charged with giving "material support" to a terrorist
organization, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
The student, Syed Haris Ahmed, a mechanical engineering major who had
become increasingly religious in his Islamic faith, was arrested March
23 by the FBI.
"This is the first international terrorism charge ever filed in
Georgia," said U.S. Attorney David Nahmias shortly after unsealing the
indictment "The charge against Mr. Ahmed is serious and involves
national security and will be prosecuted with that in mind."
Authorities declined to provide details about the charges but said
they had nvestigated Ahmed for about a year.
Jack Martin, Ahmed's court-appointed lawyer, refused to comment on the
case. Ahmed's family has rejected the suggestion that the student has
been involved in terrorism.
On Wednesday, Ahmed appeared before U.S. Magistrate Joel Feldman and
pleaded not guilty, prosecutors said Thursday. Ahmed was ordered to be
held in custody pending trial.
Ahmed was taken into custody, his family said, apparently because
authorities suspect a videotape he made of a building may have been
related to terrorism.
Gregory Jones, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta office,
would not say what started the investigation.
Ahmed's family immigrated from Pakistan in 1997 and are now U.S.
citizens living in Dawsonville.
Family members said agents confiscated computer hard drives and data
CDs from their home last month.
Ahmed told his family that authorities found a video on the Internet
and apparently traced it to him. The video was of a building and was
perhaps made during a trip with friends. Ahmed's family members said
they did not know the location of the building or when the tape was
made.
WAGA-TV reported that the station's sources say the FBI believes Ahmed
traveled to Pakistan last year to attend a terrorist training camp.
His family acknowledged that he traveled to Pakistan, but they said he
was merely attending a religious school. The report cannot be
independently verified.
In addition to Ahmed another Georgian, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee (a
resident of Roswell, Georgia), was arrested in Bangladesh on Monday,
April 17. This excerpt is from the same AJC article:
Sharmin Sadequee [Ehsanul's sister - editor] said the family had
immigrated from Bangladesh and lived in Atlanta since 1988. Ehsanul
Sadequee was born in Fairfax, Va., and is a U.S. citizen, although he
was home schooled and attended a British school in Bangladesh from
2001 to 2004.
Federal authorities would not say what charges Ehsanul Sadequee faces
or even confirm he is in custody.
Sharmin Sadequee, the sister of the man arrested in Bangladesh, said
her brother was briefly detained last August at Kennedy International
Airport in New York when he was flying to Bangladesh to get married.
Sharmin Sadequee said her family has been interviewed by authorities
several times since.
Sadequee, who spoke to the newspaper from her home in Michigan, said
her family received a call in mid-March from a young man saying he was
an acquaintance of her brother and that he had been questioned four
times by the FBI about him. Sharmin Sadequee knew the man only by his
nickname and had met him at Al-Farooq Masjid, the mosque just north of
Georgia Tech. She said the man she met resembled Syed Haris Ahmed, the
Georgia Tech student, after seeing his photo on The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution's Web site.
Sadequee called the man this week after her brother was arrested. His
cellphone had been disconnected.
Sadequee said one of the family encounters with authorities was in
December when U.S. immigration agents arrested her mother at the
family home in Roswell on immigration violation charges. Her mother
was released and the case is ongoing, Sadequee said.
Sadequee also said FBI agents came to the Roswell home in September,
saying they were investigating the bankruptcy of a travel agency where
their older brother, Amimul Sadequee, had purchased a ticket.
"Then they asked how many computers do you have and does your son
[Amimul] have a laptop?" said Sharmin Sadequee, who was reviewing
notes the family had accumulated about the visits. "We wondered why
they are asking about computers when they were investigating a ticket
and a bankruptcy?"
CNN reported Thursday that Ehsanul Sadequee had been handed over to
the FBI and placed on a plane to New York, where he is expected to
face charges in U.S. District Court.
============================================================
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060422/ap_on_re_us/terrorism_arrests
AP
Sat Apr 22, 3:37 PM ET
Terror Meetings Suspect Appears in Court
By ADAM GOLDMAN
NEW YORK - A 19-year-old suspected of meeting with Islamic extremists
to discuss possible U.S. targets for a terrorist attack sat silently
in a courtroom Saturday during a brief hearing that followed his
extradition from Bangladesh.
Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, a U.S. citizen who grew up near Atlanta, is
accused of making materially false statements linked to an ongoing
federal terrorism investigation.
Sadequee was sent to a federal detention center following the
preliminary hearing in Brooklyn. Defense attorney Douglas Morris
declined to comment on the case outside court, and the terror suspect
was due back in court on April 28.
An FBI agent's affidavit said Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed, a 21-year-
old Georgia Tech student, met with at least three other targets of
ongoing FBI terrorism investigations during a trip to Canada in March
2005.
According to the affidavit, the men discussed attacks against oil
refineries and military bases and planned to travel to Pakistan to get
military training at a terrorist camp.
Co-defendant Ahmed was indicted on suspicion of giving material
support of terrorism, and was being held at an undisclosed location.
He waived his right to arraignment and pleaded not guilty.
Authorities said the two men spent several days in Canada, where they
met with others being investigated by the terrorism task force.
Sadequee is accused of lying about the trip when he was interviewed at
John F. Kennedy International Airport in August as he was about to
leave for Bangladesh. The affidavit said Sadequee insisted that he
traveled alone in January to visit an aunt.
When Sadequee's suitcase was searched at JFK, agents found a CD-ROM
containing encrypted files that the FBI has been unable to decode and
a map of the Washington area hidden in the lining, the affidavit
said.
One day later, federal agents interviewed Ahmed, who was coming back
from a monthlong trip to Pakistan, at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson
International Airport. He said he had gone to Toronto with Sadequee,
according to the affidavit.
Federal agents found that money for both men's 2005 bus trip from
Atlanta to Toronto was withdrawn from Sadequee's account.
================================================================
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/04/24/d6042401022.htm
Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Monday, April 24, 2006
Govt confirms US citizen's deportation - A CIA plane might have
been
used in the task
The government yesterday confirmed the rounding up and extradition of
Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, a 19-year-old US citizen of Bangladeshi
origin.
According to unconfirmed reports, a special chartered plane secretly
took Sadequee back to the USA on Thursday, three days into his capture
in Dhaka. He faces a charge of planning terrorist attack in the USA.
His father Sarder Mohammed Sharif yesterday gave some medicines to US
embassy officials who promised to hand those over to his son.
Sadequee's activities were suspicious; so he was sent back to the USA,
State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar told reporters yesterday
emerging out of a meeting with the new US ambassador to Bangladesh,
Patricia A Butenis.
"No extradition treaty is needed for that," he said, adding, "We have
deported many people. Every year we extradite five to seven people to
the USA."
"He was handed over on the basis of sufficient information and
evidence about his involvement in militancy," BBC Bangla Service
quoted the state minister as saying.
"If the government considers him persona non grata, it can very well
deport him. Not only our government, any government can do that," was
the comment of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud
Ahmed to reporters, also after a meeting with the new US envoy.
But, according to Barrister Tanjib Ul Alam, a junior of eminent lawyer
Dr Kamal Hossain, extradition treaty is a must to exchange detainees.
Besides, he said notice has to be served to the person concerned,
asking him to leave the country within a certain period. If the person
does not leave, only then could he be arrested and deported to the
country concerned.
Sadequee was arrested on April 17 from Dhaka. But, although a number
of foreign media reported that he was flown back to the USA for
suspected involvement in Islamist militancy, the government and police
and intelligence agencies have been keeping mum about his
disappearance.
Even yesterday, Deputy Commissioner (North) of Dhaka Metropolitan
Police Obaidur Rahman Khan said they still do not know what has
happened to Sadequee. He said an abduction case has been filed about
his disappearance and it is still under investigation.
"After his rescue, we will talk to him and then we will know what
actually happened," Obaidur told The Daily Star.
"I have seen newspaper reports that he has been deported to the USA
but I don't know who have sent him there," the DC claimed.
AP REPORTS HIS TRIAL IN NY
A report of news agency AP yesterday said: An American teen has been
arraigned in federal court in New York for his alleged role in
planning a terrorist strike in the United States.
An FBI affidavit says 19-year-old Ehsanul Sadequee was one of two US
citizens who met with Islamic extremists in Canada. There they
allegedly discussed possible terrorist targets within the United
States.
The teen sat silently during a brief court appearance in Brooklyn
Sunday, looking slightly dishevelled. He had just returned from
Bangladesh, where he was taken into custody. FBI documents say his
suitcase held a map of Washington and a CD-ROM with encrypted files
agents have not yet been able to decode.
He was indicted along with a 21-year-old student at Georgia Tech. Both
of them live in Atlanta.
SUSPICIOUS AIRCRAFT
One of the chartered aeroplanes allegedly used for the controversial
'extraordinary rendition' by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) has
been tracked flying out of Bangladesh on April 20 midnight, sources
said.
The objective of the Gulfstream Aerospace G-V aircraft's calling at
Zia International Airport (ZIA) could not be verified. However, its
departure did coincide with Sadequee's extradition.
A group of human rights researchers, who tracks the activities of US
chartered air planes previously used for CIA's 'extraordinary
rendition' flights, reported that one such private plane was seen
flying out of Bangladesh that night.
The identification number of the aircraft, manufactured in 2000 and
operated by US National Aircraft Leasing, is N596GA, according to
information available in the Internet.
The planned departure time of the flight was 1700 hours. According to
its flight manifest, it flew to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska,
then to Teterboro, New Jersey, and finally to Manassas, Virginia, USA.
The researchers had earlier seen this flight arrive in Turkey, but the
stopover in Dhaka attracted attention, as it was the first time one of
these flights was seen in Bangladesh, sources said.
When The Daily Star contacted the airport inquiry at ZIA last night,
an official concerned confirmed that an unscheduled flight of a
Gulfstream G-V aircraft left the airport at five minutes past midnight
on April 20. He, however, declined to provide further details.
========================================================
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/04/23/d6042301033.htm
Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Sunday, April 23, 2006
US attorney confirms Sadequee's extradition - Dhaka still keeping
mum
A US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, who was
picked up on April 17 from the capital, is in the custody of the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), BBC Bangla Service reported
yesterday.
A US government attorney confirmed to BBC that Sadequee was supposed
to be produced before the Federal Court in New York yesterday for his
suspected involvement with Islamist militancy. An FBI special agent
was supposed to officially press charges against him in the court.
A legal expert in New York in an interview with BBC was surprised by
the news of Sadequee's extradition and said the US does not have any
extradition treaty with Bangladesh. Consul General of Bangladesh in
New York Kazi Imtiaz Hossain also confirmed to BBC that the US does
not have any extradition treaty with Bangladesh. However, he declined
to comment on how then Sadequee was extradited to the US.
A US attorney's office told BBC that there had been a warrant issued
through Interpol for arrest of Sadequee and possibly he was extradited
based on that warrant.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh government and the police authorities continue
to keep mum about how Sadequee ended up in FBI custody.
Police officials concerned yesterday said he was abducted and the case
is still under investigation. Asked about his whereabouts, top police
officials at an exchange of views programme with journalists yesterday
bypassed the question and suggested reporters to contact the police
station concerned.
An AP news report posted on The New York Times website yesterday
reported that Sadequee, 19, who is accused of making materially false
statements in connection with an ongoing federal terrorism
investigation, was arrested in Bangladesh and was en route to New York
City to be arraigned.
Sadequee's father, Sarder Md Sharif, in Dhaka said the allegations
against his son regarding involvement with militancy are totally
baseless.
He also confirmed to BBC that his son is now in custody of FBI.
A top official of the US Embassy in Dhaka told BBC Bangla Service
yesterday that they are not sure whether Sadequee was handed over to
FBI.
However, Sharif yesterday told a news conference that the US Embassy
in Dhaka asked him to send Sadequee's medicine and inhaler to them
after they had come to know about his son's illness. He also said he
had given those to them on Thursday.
The AP news report also said another US citizen of Pakistani origin,
Syed Haris Ahmed, and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee traveled to Canada to
meet with Islamic extremists to discuss 'strategic locations in the
United States suitable for a terrorist strike', according to an
affidavit made public Friday.
Ahmed and Sadequee, both of whom grew up in Atlanta area, met with at
least three other targets of ongoing FBI terrorism investigations
during a trip to Canada in March 2005, an FBI agent's affidavit said.
The affidavit also said the men discussed attacks against oil
refineries and military bases and planned to travel to Pakistan to get
military training at a terrorist camp, which the authorities said
Ahmed then tried to do.
The AP report said Sadequee is accused of lying about a trip he made
in August when he was interviewed at John F Kennedy International
Airport as he was about to leave for Bangladesh.
The affidavit also said Sadequee had said he had traveled alone in
January to visit an aunt.
When Sadequee's suitcase was searched at JFK, agents found a CD-ROM
containing encrypted files that FBI has been unable to decode and a
map of the Washington area hidden in the lining of the suitcase, the
affidavit said.
One day later, federal agents interviewed Ahmed, who was coming back
from a month-long trip to Pakistan, at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson
International Airport. He said he had gone to Toronto with Sadequee,
according to the affidavit.
Federal agents found that money for both men's 2005 bus trip from
Atlanta to Toronto was withdrawn from Sadequee's account, AP reported.
==========================================================
Bangladeshi Terrorists In Maldoves .....
two [of the arrested] are Bangladeshi nationals .....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7020319.stm
BBC News
Monday, 1 October 2007, 11:58 GMT 12:58 UK
Ten arrested over Maldives blast
Ten suspects have been arrested in connection with a bomb blast in the
Maldives which left 12 tourists injured, local police said.
Two Britons, two Japanese and eight Chinese tourists were hurt by the
bomb in a park in the capital Male.
The injured British couple have been named as Christian Donelan,
originally from Rotherham, and his wife Jennifer, whose maiden name is
Green.
They will be airlifted to Britain for further medical treatment.
Tourism Minister Mahamood Shaugee said: "In total, police have
arrested 10 suspects."
Seven of the arrested are Maldives nationals and two are Bangladeshi
nationals.
Mr Shaugee said many Bangladeshi nationals work in the Maldives, but
he gave no details of those detained.
'Burns and cuts'
Local media said a mobile phone and washing machine motor attached to
a gas cylinder triggered the bomb - reported to have been homemade.
This is the first time a bomb has exploded in the Maldives.
It is not yet clear who was behind the attack, or what the intended
target was.
Mr and Mrs Donelan, aged 36 and 31, may need skin grafts after
suffering burns in the blast, Mr Shaugee said.
"We are assisting the Donelans to return to Britain as soon as
possible to continue with their medical treatment," he said.
Mr Donelan suffered 27 per cent burns to his lower body and limbs
while his wife has 40 per cent burns to her face, hands and lower
body, Maldivian officials said, quoting doctors.
The couple are currently in a privately-owned hospital in Male and the
air evacuation to a specialist burns unit in Manchester is expected to
take place Monday or Tuesday.
Tim Bulleyment, a friend of the couple, said an air ambulance has been
booked and a spokesman for the Maldives High Commission in London
confirmed that the Maldives government is paying for the
repatriation.
"Everything is in place. The only thing we were waiting for was the
money and now that is sorted they should be coming back to
Manchester," Mr. Bulleyment said.
He added that he had spoken to Mr Donelan just after he came out of
surgery. "He told me they were just lucky to be alive."
Honeymoon
The couple live in the Gulf state of Qatar and were thought to have
been on their honeymoon after marrying in Italy two weeks ago.
Mr Donelan is a keen sportsman who has played hockey for Rotherham's
main club. The couple have been able to speak to friends and relatives
by phone.
It is thought they were staying on Baros - one of 87 designated
tourist islands in the Maldives.
Mohamed Shareef, a government spokesman, said all 12 victims were in a
stable condition. He said the British nationals had suffered the most
serious injuries.
"The Maldives has never had something like this before. We are taking
this very seriously because tourism is our lifeblood," he said.
A spokeswoman for Universal Resorts, which owns hotels complexes in
the Maldives, said 10 of those injured, including the Britons, were
staying with them.
She said: "As far as we are aware Universal Resorts have a total of 10
guests who were injured, two of whom were UK citizens that actually
live in Qatar.
"Those two guests are being taken care of in the hospital in Male and
are with Universal Resorts staff.
The two other injured tourists, who were not guests of Universal
Resorts, are believed to be from Japan.
A Foreign Office official is flying to the Maldives to provide
consular assistance. The Foreign Office does not have staff
permanently based in the Maldives.
A witness reported seeing scattered nails after the blast.
The park is in the shadow of the Maldives army headquarters and
several surveillance cameras are trained on the area.
More than 600,000 tourists visited the Maldives last year, and the
tourist industry is the linchpin of the country's economy.
The Muslim country has a reputation for tranquillity and the capital
has not witnessed gunfire or explosions since an attempted coup in
1988.
==========================================================
Bangladeshi Imam Held By New York Police For Giving Lessons On
Shaving
Pubic Hair To Teenage Boys .....
http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/may/14us6.htm
Sexual abuse charge against NY imam riles Bengali Muslims
It will be months before Mohammed Rahman, the 51-year-old imam of a
mosque in Brooklyn, will be defended against charges of sexually
abusing two boys. But outside the mosque for the last two weeks, his
defenders -- who seem to outnumber his critics -- believe the charges
will have no prayer in court. They heckle the imam's critics and
invoke the wrath of Allah on them as police keep a wary eye on the
situation.
The imam's supporters believe those who resent his orthodoxy and want
to wrest control of the Masjid Dul Aman have framed Rahman. Then there
are those who insist the cleric touched the genitals of the boys --
ages 17 and 10 -- to teach them about the "Islamic way of hygiene".
They portray him as a deeply pious man who wanted to make sure the
young men understood what he was saying.
But liberal Muslims such as Mina Farah, a physician, say supporters of
the cleric are misusing Islam to get him off the hook. She said they
are citing Islamic prayer guidelines to defend the imam, but doubted
whether a jury would buy the argument.
Critics like Farah are reminded of an Italian immigrant from Sicily
who was found fondling his pre-teen daughter. His lawyer argued,
unsuccessfully, that the man was showing affection for his daughter in
the Sicilian tradition and his act was "culturally misunderstood".
Farah said to show the boys how to shave was a proper thing. But it
could have been done without touching their private parts.
The last aspect of the controversy is intensely debated not only at
the Masjid Dul Aman, but in other mosques and shops in New York
frequented by Muslims from the subcontinent. "My teenage sons wanted
to know if it is true that they have to shave the genitals if they
have to attend religious classes in summer," says Aslam Chowdhary, a
liberal Muslim.
Adding to the tension are the alleged death threats to a Bangladeshi
editor who ran a story on Rahman's arrest.
Though the alleged incidents took place in 1997 and 1998, the parents
of the boys came to know of them only a few months ago, and the cleric
was arrested on April 22 and released the next day on a $ 5,000 bond.
But the arrest was hardly known till the Bengali weekly Thikana ran a
report on April 28.
While the cleric told the media he was innocent of the charges, his
backers accused the editor of the weekly, Sayeed Ur-Rabb, of playing
politics. More than a dozen stores in Queens and Brooklyn, where more
than 20,000 Bengali Muslims live, have been persuaded by the cleric's
supporters not to sell the paper.
More seriously, Ur-Rabb has received death threats and sought police
protection.
Imam Rahman's supporters believe it was wrong for the newspaper to
publicise the event. "There are many people in this country who want
to write bad things about Muslims all the time," said Mohammad
Chaudhary, a taxi-driver. "By giving publicity to these bad rumours,
our community is made to look very silly."
The boys' fathers say it was not easy for them to go to the police,
but they felt they could not get justice elsewhere, least of all in
the mosque.
The 17-year-old told the police that in August 1997 the imam grabbed
his genitals. The complaint said he pushed the imam and fled the
basement of the mosque. The imam had reportedly told the young man
that under Islamic law, men had to shave their pubic hair. According
to the complaint, the imam also tried to kiss him.
According to the second complaint, the imam asked the 10-year-old boy
last year to remove his pants and touched his buttocks.
While several of the eight Bangladeshi publications avoided discussing
the story of the imam's arrest, Weekly Bangladesh rose to support him.
Its editor, Mohammed Khan, said teaching young men to "beautify"
themselves before going to the mosque adds to the sacred atmosphere.
"This man is very well loved and respected," Khan said. Echoing Khan's
sentiments, another Bangladeshi businessman reminded a reporter that
many Catholic Church leaders have been accused of sexually molesting
children. "Cardinal Bernadin faced a lot of charges, didn't he?" the
man asked, referring to the late Catholic leader in Chicago. "And yet
his accuser recanted and Bernadin became even more famous."
When reminded that several Catholic leaders in America have been found
guilty of sexual charges, the man wrung his hands, looked upward, and
said, "Allah's will be done."
===========================================================
