WRITTEN QUESTION P-3036/01

by Franz Turchi (UEN) to the Council

(25 October 2001)

Subject: Murder of Afghan military commander Ahmed Shah Masood

The murder of the Afghan resistance military commander, Ahmed Shah Masood, was carried out by two hired kamikaze killers, accredited as journalists from a fictional Arab television company ANI-TV (Arabic News International), presented as a branch of the Islamic Obervation Centre based in London.

The two supposed journalists had two genuine EU passports, both issued in Belgium, the first issued in Dilbeek and bearing the number EB616967 and the name Karim Rouzani, born in Oujda (Morocco) on 12 September 1963, and the second issued in Ixelles and bearing the number EB880773 and the name Kacem Bakkali, born in Tangier (Morocco) on 22 October 1973.

Both passports are now known to have been stolen from the Belgian consular offices in Strasbourg (France) and the Hague (Netherlands).

The letter of accreditation in the two kamikaze attackers' possession bore the header and stamp of the Islamic Observation Centre, whose director, Yasser Al Siri, is a charismatic leader of the Egyptian Jihad, who was sentenced to death in his country for involvement in the attack on the Deputy Prime Minister in 1993 and suspected of organising the 1997 terrorist attack in Luxor, in which 58 tourists were killed. Yasser Al Siri, who has applied for political refugee status in the United Kingdom, conducts his activities from a bookshop in the Edgware Road district in London. Although he has no central office, nor any premises or base of his own, he makes extremely effective use of new technologies to carry out his indoctrination and cyberpropaganda activities at the internet address http://www. ummah. org.

Will the Council, and in particular the Belgian authorities, state what additional safety measures they intend to take in the light of recent events and the new international situation?

Has the Council, and in particular the Belgian authorities, granted Yasser Al Siri political refugee status? Do they not consider it necessary, as part of the campaign against terrorism, to ensure more effective and extensive monitoring of the activities of all organisations, whether secular or religious, which use indoctrination and proselytising methods to further terrorist activities?

Reply

(12 February 2002)

Following the events of 11 September 2001 the Council has adopted a plan of action involving 67 measures. With regard to the security measures, attention is drawn to the strengthening of cooperation between the heads of anti-terrorist units, the strengthening of cooperation between anti-terrorist magistrates, the drawing up of early warning plans and the strengthening of external border checks.

Of particular interest is the request to the Commission to establish a network for information exchanges concerning visas issued and to ensure an improved input of alerts into the Schengen Information System.

Attention is given as a matter of priority to the identification of terrorists present in Europe and to the organisations that support them, with the aim of drawing up a common list of terrorist organisations. Under the Council's supervision, the measures are being implemented.