Yassin al-Kadi

So where is Yassin kadi now? London? More likley Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
-Shimron

9 May 2007

• In the Balkans, a support structure has been identified for several terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, among the Muslim communities in Albania and in the former Yugoslavia, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia, the Washington Times reported.
• The six foreign-born Muslims accused of planning a shooting attack at the U.S. military base included four ethnic Albanians, the article says, citing US officials.
• They comment that the arrests highlight how Islamist groups are using the Balkans region to help in recruiting and financing terrorism.
• "When it comes to extremists, we're talking about very, very small pockets in Albania, as well as among the ethnic Albanian populations in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and other parts of the Balkans," an unnamed official with access to intelligence reports told the Washington Times

Sarajevo, 8 Sept, 2006

• (AKI) - Bosnia’s wartime president, the late Alija Izetbegovic received money from a Saudi businessman, Yassin al-Kadi - who has been designated by the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union as a financier of al-Qaeda - Sarajevo weekly Slobodna Bosna (Free Bosnia) has reported, quoting local and foreign sources
• Izetbegovic, a Muslim, who died in 2003, received 195,000 dollars in 1996 from al-Kadi, Slobodna Bosna alleges.
• Al-Kadi’s bank accounts were frozen in 2001 by the United States authorities for money laundering and financing al-Qaeda.
• The weekly said that Bosnian authorities obtained the information on this transaction from a British bank in the process of investigation of activities of al-Kadi’s humanitarian organisation, Mufavak, which was outlawed four years ago and which began operating in Bosnia under the name ‘Blessed relief’.
• Under the guise of humanitarian aid, Mufavak channeled 15-20 million dollars to various organisations, which at least three million dollars went straight into the bank accounts of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Slobodna Bosna said, quoting unnamed Saudi sources.
• Izetbegovic led Bosnia to independence from the former Yugoslavia, and thousands of foreign fighters or ‘mujahadeen’ from Islamic countries came to Bosnia to fight on the side of local Muslims in bloody 1992-1995 civil war.
• The war effort was partly financed under the cover of ‘humanitarian’ organisations from Islamic countries, according to intelligence sources.
• Many mujahadeen remained in Bosnia after the war, and some have been operating terrorist training camps and indoctrinating local youths with radical Islam, intelligence reports have claimed.
• The Bosnian authorities are currently reviewing the citizenship Izetbegovic’s government granted to 1,500 individuals from Islamic countries. So far, 50 people have been stripped of their Bosnian citizenship as a result.

24/10/2005

• Albanian authorities have seized property in downtown Tirana that was being used to launder financial activities of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
• Authorities seized premises in Tirana’s “Twin Towers” belonging to Yasin al-Qadi, a fugitive Saudi businessman, on 18 October.
• Albanian authorities took possession of office space Tuesday (18 October) at the so-called “Twin Towers” of central Tirana.
• In 2004, the government confirmed that the location was being used to launder financial activities for the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
• The seized premises belong to a fugitive Saudi Arabian citizen named Yassin Qadi, a businessman who was named a specially designated global terrorist by the US Treasury Department in October 2001.
• Qadi owned 18 per cent of shares in the two buildings, located opposite the Albanian prime minister’s office. “The seizure procedures are based under the Council of Ministers’ decision on 3 December, 2004, in the framework of the measures to prevent terrorism funding.
• Even though it has been ten months since the decision was taken, it has not been executed until now,” the finance ministry said in a press release. According to the ministry, the premises will not be sold but rather managed by state authorities. One option is to rent them out to state institutions or private firms. Both the government and the opposition have been anxious to show they are taking the problem of terrorist-related activity seriously.
• Earlier this year, the opposition Socialist Party vowed to seek a probe into how thousands of foreigners — including people allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden — were able to get Albanian citizenship during the last 13 years.
• Qadi is thought to have had close links to Abdul Latif Saleh, a Jordanian-Albanian dual citizen who has been designated by the US Treasury Department as an al-Qaeda supporter.
• According to Washington, he is associated with a number of Albanian NGOs linked to Egypt’s Islamic Jihad — a group with ties to al-Qaeda — and has received $600,000 from Osama bin Laden to establish extremist groups in Albania.
• Saleh set up an Albanian jihadist organisation, financed by the Abdul Latif Saleh, with the goal of destabilising Albania by “fomenting conflict among the different religious groups in the country,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
• In addition, Saleh and Qadi ran several joint business partnerships, including a sugar importing business, a medical enterprise and a construction business.
• Saleh served as the general manager of all of Qadi’s businesses in Albania, and reportedly holds 10 per cent of the Qadi Group’s investments in Albania,” the department said.

Erlis Selimaj