November 10, 2009
Yemen Decides to Search for Anwar Al Awlaki
Yemeni-American terror advocate and penpal to murderer Nidal Hasan, Anwar Awlaki was never charged with a crime in Yemen or the US. He had one of those "Saleh" deals - he promised to refrain from all violent activity within Yemen and they let him released him from jail. Its quite a common arrangement. But he stopped checking in nine months ago.
One person jailed with Awlaki, Nabil al Dahab, later showed up on Syrian television confessing to a Fatah al Islam suicide car bomb attack that killed 22 people in Damascus in September 2008. His brother in an 11/07 interview with Marib Press said al Dahab was arrested as a result of a personal dispute and later transfered into the PSO prison with al Alawki. This cell mate is another person associated with Anwar al Awlaki who committed a terrorist act besides 9/11 hihgjackers Ramzi Binalshibh, Nawaf al Hazmi and Hani Hanjour. Abdulmajid al-Zindani referenced in the AP article below is classified by the US Treasury and the UN's 1267 committee as a major terror financier.
AP -- A radical American imam who communicated with the Fort Hood shooting suspect and called him a hero was once arrested in Yemen on suspicion of giving religious approval to militants to conduct kidnappings. Yemeni authorities are now hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki to determine whether he has al-Qaida ties.Al-Awlaki, who has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims around the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, disappeared in Yemen eight months ago, according to his father (former Minister of Agriculture and previous head of Sana'a University). Yemeni security officials say they believe he is hiding in a region of the mountainous nation that has become a refuge for Islamic militants. ( In August Anwar excitedly blogged about a battle in Marib between Yemeni forces and al Qaeda.)
-------Al-Awlaki was arrested in 2006 with a group of five Yemenis accused of kidnapping a Shiite teenager for ransom...The group also plotted to kidnap the U.S. military attache in Yemen and rented a villa near the attache's house using a fake ID, the officials said. There was no immediate confirmation of the plot from American officials.
But investigators could not find any evidence for al-Qaida ties. Tribal leaders - who hold enormous influence in Yemen, where the central government is weak -intervened and pushed for the group's release, the Interior Ministry official said. The group was freed in December 2007 after they signed documents promising to remain in Yemen and to avoid any contacts with militants.
But authorities' suspicions over al-Awlaki were raised again several months after his release because he stopped checking in regularly with security officials as required under his release agreement, the officials said. Also, months later, another member of the group arrested with al-Awlaki left Yemen and was arrested in Syria on terrorism charges.
