Thousands protest
against deportation of Jihadists from Bosnia
February 02, 2008 10:40 AM
ZENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina-Up to 5,000 people protested Saturday against
the government's decision to expel a Syrian native who fought on the side
of Muslim Bosniaks during the 1992-95 war.
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Muslims shout slogans during a protest against the deportation of Syrian
native Imad al-Husini, known as Abu Hamza, in the central town of Zenica,
Bosnia Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008. |
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Imad al-Husini, known as Abu Hamza, was stripped of his Bosnian citizenship
last year after a special commission found that naturalization procedures
had been ignored in the cases of some 500 people from countries including
Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Tunisia, Sudan and Russia.
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| Bosnian
Muslims sign a petition in the central town of Zenica February 2, 2008
during a protest against the deportation of Syrian-born Imad Al Husayn,
known as Abu Hamza. |
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Husini, the vice president of the war veterans' organization Ensarije,
and the most visible former Islamic fighter in Bosnia, has led a protest
against the revocation of citizenship and the expulsions.
Shouting "Halali nam, Hamza" or stay with us, speaker after speaker
called the deportation an injustice citing that Hamza and many other Jihadists
were Bosnian Muslim patriots that fought in the Bosnian Muslim Army in
the 1990s. Most grotesque killings of Christian Serbs such as beheadings,
mutilations, decapitations and other bestial methods are attributed to
the Jihadist fighters.
The basic message of the protest was that "We all are Hamza" and the
organizers urged all protesters to raise their children in a strict form
of Islam.
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| Women
and children attend a protest in the central town of Zenica February 2,
2008 against the deportation of Syrian-born Imad Al Husayn known as Abu
Hamza. |
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Organizers of the rally claim Bosnia is not respecting basic human
rights and say there is no legal basis for deportation since Husini has
no criminal record. He has a wife and six children in Bosnia.
"I hope they will deport me to Syria," said Hamza for the Bosnian weekly
Globus.
"That is the country in which I was born and there I wish to return.
In the eyes of the Syrian authorities I look like a terrorist, some form
of Osama bin Laden, and I am sure there awaits me a prosecution for taking
part in armed attacks in another country and in organizing militant units.
In Syria, as you know, I can be sentenced to death," said Hamza.
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| Syrian-born
Imad Al Husayn, known as Abu Hamza, wipes tears during a protest against
his deportation in the central Bosnian town of Zenica February 2, 2008. |
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His legal appeal was dismissed Jan. 21 and he was given two weeks to
leave Bosnia voluntarily or he would be deported. His lawyers said they
will bring his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Bosnia
was accused of granting citizenship to people who had links to international
terrorism networks. Many foreign Islamic fighters came to Bosnia during
the war to fight beside the Muslims here. Some married local women, obtained
citizenship and remained in the country after the war.
After Sept. 11, such people were under particular scrutiny, and investigations
revealed that a number of them had a dubious past and links to people suspected
of being members in international terrorist networks. This prompted the
government in 2001 to set up a commission to review the cases of everyone
who was naturalized after Bosnia became independent in 1992.
The special commission checked more than 1,300 naturalizations. It makes
recommendations to the government, which has the final say in whether to
revoke citizenship. |
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