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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (38497)	2/26/2004 10:11:27 AM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Qatar Charges Russians in Chechen Leader Murder By Kedar Sharma DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar said on Thursday it had charged two Russians with involvement in the assassination of a former rebel Chechen president in what Moscow described as a hostile act against members of its special services. Russia accused Qatar of conniving with international terrorism in having given refuge to Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, whom it calls a top Islamist militant responsible for the killing of hundreds of Russians in a decade-long separatist war. It said Qatari officials used force in arresting its operatives. Yandarbiyev, added at Russia's request last year to a U.N. list of groups and people with suspected al Qaeda ties, was killed by a car bomb in Qatar on February 13. The Russians were arrested five days later. A Qatari Interior Ministry official told Reuters a third man was freed after a Russian envoy met Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani on Tuesday to request the release of all three. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov condemned the arrests and said the three were innocent. "The insinuation of the Qatar authorities cannot be seen as anything but a hostile move," he said. "The arrest was conducted with the use of arms and rough physical force. "These Russian citizens, one of whom has a diplomatic passport, are members of the Russian special services...linked to the battle against international terrorism," Ivanov told the Qatari ambassador in comments published on the Foreign Ministry Web site. QATAR TIGHTENS SECURITY Russia has been battling separatist insurgents in predominantly Muslim Chechnya for nearly a decade with the loss of tens of thousands of lives. Russia sent troops back into the restive region in 1999 to end a period of virtual independence. It has established a pro-Moscow government there but guerrilla resistance continues. Ivanov said Yandarbiyev's residence in Qatar showed Doha was not a full partner in the battle against global terrorism. "Such connivance with international terrorism raises legal concern at the United Nations. And also cannot but disturb Arab, and all Muslim, states because it voluntarily or involuntarily is grist to the mill of those who try to link terrorism with Islam." Western diplomats say the attack embarrassed generally peaceful Qatar, which hosted a key U.S. headquarters during last year's Iraq war. Qatar had let Yandarbiyev, who was briefly president in a breakaway Chechnya, and his family stay for the past three years while barring him from political activity. Qatar has tightened security since the attack and passed an anti-terrorism law which had already been under discussion and which stipulates death for "terrorist" acts. Pro-Moscow Chechens suggested Yandarbiyev's death was linked to internal disputes, while some Chechen rebels blamed Russia. In 2000, Qatar sheltered four leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas after they were expelled from Jordan. But in 2002, they were told to leave. Abbasi Madani, leader of Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front, lives in Qatar, which has furthered its maverick image in the Arab world through its contacts with Israel and its taboo-breaking Al Jazeera satellite television station. reuters.com lurqer