Muslim groups eulogize Khadr
But some say death might have been staged using a decoy
Stewart Bell
National Post
nationalpost.com
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Intelligence officials are treating with caution a report that a suspected al-Qaeda member from Ontario was killed in a shootout in Pakistan, but Muslim groups are already eulogizing the "martyr" they called The Canadian.
While Ottawa is awaiting the results of forensic tests before confirming whether Ahmed Said Khadr was shot dead in Waziristan, a British-based Islamic organization released a lengthy tribute honouring him as a "holy warrior brother."
"You were like a burning flame, full of enthusiasm," the Islamic Observation Centre in London said of Mr. Khadr in a statement yesterday. "You wanted to give whatever you could to your brothers who were raising the flag of jihad."
The eulogy said Mr. Khadr supported mujahedin Islamic holy warriors in northern Afghanistan in their fight against the Soviet and U.S. forces. "Basically, you are the one who defeated the Russians and Americans," it said.
Mr. Khadr was reported by the Islamic centre to have been among 12 al-Qaeda and Taliban members killed by Pakistani security forces during a raid on an armed encampment near the Afghanistan border. The announcement called him a "founding member" of al-Qaeda and said his 14-year-old son was also dead.
The Canadian government is pressing Pakistan for confirmation but is taking the approach that until DNA tests are completed, the reports will be treated as false, perhaps even faked. "We don't believe it based on what we know," one official said.
Officials said that if the Egyptian-born Canadian was a senior figure in the Osama bin Laden network, as they believe, his death might have been staged in order to throw investigators off his trail.
But intelligence experts said such a deception would be highly unusual for al-Qaeda, and noted that similar notices announcing the deaths of other senior al-Qaeda members have proven accurate.
"Never, never did they fake that somebody is dead," said Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Institute, a Washington, D.C., counter-terrorism research group that works closely with the U.S. government. "I really believe he is dead."
Yasser al-Sirri, the Islamic Observation Centre spokesman, also insisted Mr. Khadr's death had been confirmed by witnesses. "We know he was killed in this attack because some people [were] injured and some people [were] killed and we know from them."
Intelligence officials believe Mr. Khadr, also known as Abu Abdulrahman Al Kanadi, is closely tied to bin Laden. Two of his sons are imprisoned by the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a third ran an al-Qaeda training camp.When Mr. Khadr was arrested in Pakistan for his alleged role in the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, intervened in the case. Mr. Khadr was released shortly thereafter.
The eulogy said the Pakistani government agreed to release Mr. Khadr in exchange for a promise that Canada would not file a torture complaint against the government of then-prime minister Benazir Bhutto. It depicted Mr. Khadr as a committed Muslim and humanitarian who devoted himself to helping the mujahedin and the refugees displaced by warring in Afghanistan.
"Your life to your Lord and your religion. So if you have left the house of trials, you are a martyr and you are living eternally ... You kept your calm to assist your brothers instead of returning to Canada with its clear water and greenery and beauty."
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said DNA tests were being conducted on the bodies of fighters killed in an Oct. 2 raid on an al-Qaeda stronghold in Waziristan to see whether Mr. Khadr and his son were among the dead. "Checks are being run by our High Commissioner in Islamabad ... to determine exactly whether we are talking of the people whose names have been quoted," said Reynald Doiron, a department spokesman. "Whether it's them or not, this can be obtained only through forensic evidence and this is what's being done at this time, and our people in Islamabad are after the information."
Mr. al-Sirri, who is wanted in the United States on terrorism-related charges, denied Mr. Khadr was a member of al-Qaeda. "He worked in Afghanistan, but not for people inside Afghanistan with al-Qaeda." Mr. al-Sirri and his organization are considered close to Egyptian extremist groups such as Al Jihad and the Islamic Group.
Ali Hindy, the Imam at the Salahedin Mosque in Scarborough, where Mr. Khadr worshiped and collected donations, also said the man was no terrorist. "I don't think that he was al-Qaeda, but I think he felt that now he became part of Afghanistan." He said while Mr. Khadr worked with the Taliban, the regime was mostly doing good. "Actually, honestly, they were doing good work except what happened on Sept. 11 and harbouring those people that were doing the bombing around the world," Mr. Hindy said. "He was convinced this was a good government."
Born in Cairo in 1948, Mr. Khadr was a proud Canadian, he said. "Yes, he was proud of [being a] Canadian citizen. That's why he was coming here all the time because of the generosity of the people. This is our duty to help other nations." After moving to Ottawa in 1975, Mr. Khadr joined Human Concern International (HCI), a Muslim charity financed by the Canadian government. He brought his family to Pakistan, where he was supposed to be running refugee camps.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, however, says the camps were actually mujahedin bases, used by Islamic fighters entering and exiting Afghanistan.
sbell@nationalpost.com
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