Former Al-Qa'idah
member writes book on terrorism in Bosnian prison
BBC Worldwide Monitoring - November 7, 2004, Sunday
Excerpt from report aired on "Posteno govoreci" (Frankly Speaking) current
affairs programme broadcast by Bosnian public broadcaster BHTV1 on 4 November
Host, Duska Jurisic: Since 1997, Ali Ahmad Ali Hamad as heard has been
serving a prison term of 12 years and nine months for a car bomb explosion in
Mostar and aggravated assaults on a Croat married couple in the vicinity of
Travnik and on a US military instructor in Zenica. Ali Hamad is currently
writing a book on international terrorism and Al-Qa'idah in the world and
Bosnia-Hercegovina. Elvira Jahic has a report:
Reporter, Elvira Jahic: The first person convicted for terrorism in
Bosnia-Hercegovina is serving his sentence in Zenica prison. Ali Ahmad Ali Hamad
claims that he had fought in Bosnia-Hercegovina as member of the Al-Qa'idah
terrorist organization. This is the topic of his first book, which he is now
writing in his prison cell.
Ali Hamad was born in 1971 in Bahrain. Although he gave us his photograph photo
shown , he did not want to speak on camera footage of a man sitting in a
semi-darkened room shown . In the semi-darkness of the prison visitor's room, he
recalled how he had found himself in the street at the age of 17 because of his
disagreements with his family and violent treatment by his father and brother.
After several months of roaming, he met people who introduced themselves as
Muslim brothers, offered him food and board, and one year later - in 1989 - sent
him to Afghanistan, where fighting against the Russian occupation was ongoing at
the time.
Following brief military training, during which he was forced first to drink
other people's and then his own blood, he was sent to the front line. Once he
won the trust of his fellow fighters, he was invited to take the oath and become
a member of Al-Qa'idah.
Passage omitted: extract describing his meeting with Usamah Bin-Ladin read
from Ali Hamad's unpublished book
Reporter: The Afghanistan experience taught Ali Hamad that Al-Qa'idah's
proclaimed goals - the fight for Islam, an Islamic state in Afghanistan and the
unification of Islamic countries - did not correspond to what was happening on
the battleground: torture and killing of all non-Muslims, including women and
children. To give up would have meant to be killed.
Passage omitted: the reader reads from the manuscript a passage depicting Ali
Hamad's experience on the battlefield
Reporter: In late 1992, he claims, he was sent to a new battlefield -
Bosnia-Hercegovina: by plane to Zagreb, by bus to Split and Travnik. In all
those places he was welcomed by people he did not know, who sent him on. His
final destination was the unit Muslimanska snaga Muslim Force and the Karaula
near Travnik? front line.
Reader reading from the manuscript: Immediately after the start of the
war, they sent small groups to Bosnia-Hercegovina, which were to test the ground
for sending in Al-Qa'idah men. One of those groups established a training camp
in Mehurici outside Travnik. Through local units, and later through the Seventh
Corps, they were linked to the Bosnia-Hercegovina Army. I think that the local
army did not know that this was Al-Qa'idah, although people from this unit had a
strong influence even then on the authorities. Al-Qa'idah deceived many Muslims.
Reporter: Ali Hamad claims that Al-Qa'idah sent mojahedin to Bosnia-Hercegovina
not to help their Muslim brothers but to expand their network across Europe. He
decided to talk about this, and about the inhumane treatment of non-Muslim
prisoners in central Bosnia, only after he saw TV coverage of the attacks on the
US of 11 September 2001 in the safe environment of Zenica prison, where he had
ended up in 1997 for terrorism and aggravated assault.
Passage omitted: a description is given of Ali Hamad's letters to all major
embassies, the US president, the Pope, the NATO commander in Bosnia, the High
Representative for Bosnia, in which he offered assistance in the fight against
terrorism; the letter was followed by his interviews with the Bosnian Federation
intelligence service and the FBI
Reporter: Although he offered a concrete programme to fight terrorism in
Bosnia-Hercegovina, the Bosnian Federation and Bosnia-Hercegovina authorities
have not shown much interest in what he wants to say. Ali Hamad has thus decided
to write a book on the matter. He says that because of this he feels unsafe even
in prison since his former fellow fighters are threatening to kill him. Many
among both international and local political and military officials are afraid
of the book's content. Its publication in the middle of next year is, therefore,
certain to cause a stir in the local public.
SOURCE: BHTV1, Sarajevo, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1900 gmt 4 Nov 04
Copyright 2004 British
Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Posted for Fair Use only.