SA al-Qaeda claims 'unfounded'

2004-10-03 22:09

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - New allegations that al-Qaeda has a support network and even has some of its leaders in South Africa are "unfounded".

"It is allegations such as these that fuel the suspicion of all who are Muslim and have people such as the (American) CIA feel that they have the right to look over any person's shoulder," Iqbal Jassat, chair of the Media Review Network (MRN) said on Sunday. The MRN is an organisation that works towards eliminating misconceptions about Islam.

Jassat said on Sunday that it is irresponsible to make these kinds of statements without evidence.

He was commenting on a television programme on the American CBS network aired at the weekend.

The programme was based on a recent CIA report that alleged that a second and third level of al-Qaeda leader stretches from Pakistan to South Africa.

According to the report, the South African leg of the leadership would especially have ties with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Muslim extremist in Iraq.

Other than al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda apparently has at least another 21 senior leaders worldwide.

Evidence for the alleged support in South Africa is apparently found in the deportation of individual Muslims from South Africa to Egypt and Jordan about six months ago.

Other evidence includes the arrest of two South Africans, Feroz Ganchi and Zubair Ismail, in Pakistan just on three months ago.

Jassat said the CIA is desperate to show progress in its investigation into terrorism, "and in the process the organisation has already lost most of its credibility". "Recently Yusuf Islam, better known as the singer Cat Stevens, was also refused entry into the US because he apparently also supports extremist organisations.

"Afterwards it emerged that there was confusion with the spelling of his name and his arrest - all of this only after [British foreign secretary] Jack Straw intervened and objected."

Jassat said it is incidents such as these that prove the CIA is making blunders.

"Why do the police have no proof of these allegations?

"Old and stereotyped incidents are now roped in again to support the most recent allegations.

"With regards to the two South Africans in Pakistan: after three months of no consular access to the men, they have not been charged with anything.

"This is all part of the worldwide intimidation of Muslims - we cannot tolerate it any more.

"There is surely no way one can look at every Muslim through the tinted lenses of terror."

According to the programme, many of al-Qaeda's leaders in foreign countries rely on the sympathetic people in South Africa.

The earlier deportations to Jordan and Egypt apparently temporarily put an end to the local activities of these Muslims, only to deliver substitutes shortly thereafter.

This support network has reportedly been in existence for years. The CIA claims various local militants have had contact with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and many of them apparently received military training in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

- Beeld