Once in Denmark, al Qassimi intensified his efforts to spread the Gamaa's propaganda. Along with other Gamaa operatives who had found refuge there, he continued to publish Al Murabitun. Ayman al Zawahiri, currently al Qaeda's number-two man, reportedly also became involved with the publication while living in Copenhagen in the mid-1990s.95 Though Danish authorities admit that al Zawahiri spent time in Copenhagen, they do not confirm reports that in 1991 Denmark offered asylum to one of the world's most-wanted terrorists.96
Al Qassimi did not limit his activities to Denmark but kept in close contact with other Egyptian radicals spread throughout Europe. As a political refugee, he was free to travel and continue his propaganda and fund-raising efforts for the Gamaa throughout Europe. For example, al Qassimi frequently visited Milan's Islamic Cultural Institute, another Gamaa bastion in Europe. In 2001 the Lebanese journalist Camille Eid managed to purchase a tape containing a 1994 speech that he gave at its mosque. His words ominously signal the willingness of al Qassimi, like the other radicals welcomed in Europe, to attack whoever did not share his radical interpretation of Islam, wherever they were: "Islam is the reli gion of strength and the Muslim has the duty to be a terrorist, in the sense that he has to terrorize the enemies of Allah to represent peace and security to the faithful. Terrorism against the enemies of God is a duty in our religion. Whoever leaves jihad lives in humiliation."97
Milan was an unsurprising venue for al Qassimi's speech as it was home to another charismatic leader of the Gamaa, Anwar Shabaan. Once he was given asylum by the Italian authorities, Shabaan immediately became imam at Milan's Islamic Cultural Institute, which he began using as a launching pad for the operations of mujahideen in the Balkans. As the conflict began in 1991, hundreds of Arab volunteers, mostly veterans of the Afghan war, answered the call to arms and traveled to Bosnia. Shabaan, a charismatic leader and a skilled orator, became the leader of the Foreign Mujahideen Battalion fighting against the "infidel" Croatian and Serbian troops. Milan, Copenhagen, and Vienna, where another senior Gamaa leader had taken over a large mosque, became the main centers for the Gamaa Islamiya in Europe and played a crucial role in finding recruits for the war in Bosnia.
The network established by Gamaa leaders who had found refuge in Europe became so sophisticated that the Egyptian government lodged formal complaints with authorities in Italy, Denmark, and Austria. Egyptian militants in Europe were raising significant amounts of money for their "brothers" operating inside Egypt, and even the 1995 attempt to assassinate Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia was partially conceived on the Continent. Documents seized by Italian police during a 1995 raid of Milan's Islamic Cultural Institute indicate that in 1993 the Gamaa Islamiya's European cohorts met in Copenhagen and created the "Shura Council of the European Union," a pan-European entity whose purpose, according to official transcripts of the meeting translated by Italian authorities, was to deliberate on such issues as "how to support groups in North Africa," "how to use humanitarian organizations and charities for the cause of the Gamaa," and, more interestingly, "how to cut people's throats."98
For years the Egyptians warned European governments that the individuals who had been given asylum were extremely dangerous. Cairo repeatedly suggested that regimes in the Middle East were not the radicals' only targets and that eventually they would turn against their hosts. Another document found in Milan's Islamic Cultural Institute by Italian authorities, titled "Charter of Islamic Labor," lends support to that warning:
We as Muslims have been given the task of realizing the supremacy of the law of God on earth and of not allowing any group on earth to rule without the law of God. We fight whoever refuses obedience. The goal of the fight for Islam is that there is no temptation and religion is only that of God.
The fight is imposed on us to remove the apostate rulers from the land of Islam, to fight those who support them and their laws, to impose the caliphate, to avenge Palestine, Spain, the Balkans, the Islamic republics in Russia, and to free the Muslim prisoners. Our enemies are: Christians, Jews, apostates, those who adore the cow and fire, our secular rulers that replace the laws of Islam, and the hypocrites.
Jihad has been introduced to spread God's religion and to destroy any ruler that is not subject to the adoration of God. Islam is not local dawaa [religious propaganda] referring only to Arabs, but for all of humanity and we must spread the word; jihad has the purpose of making God's word the highest. Fighting the infidels has the purpose of exalting the revelation of God.99
Here the agenda of the Gamaa Islamiya in Europe is fully revealed. Though the secular Egyptian regime is the initial target, Europe is second on the list. As the charter ominously declares, "Jihad has been introduced to spread God's religion and to destroy any ruler that is not subject to the adoration of God" (italics added). Other extremist groups based throughout the Muslim world that have been allowed to operate in Europe took the same position. Ignoring these alarming statements of purpose, Europe opened its doors to murderers who openly declared their intention of fighting any regime that was not based on Islamic law.
Though a few European countries-most notably, France-understood the danger of welcoming known radicals, others maintained their ultraliberal policies that offered asylum to any person facing persecution in a foreign country, whatever the circumstances. An interesting conversation taped in 2000 by a bug placed by Italian intelligence inside the car of Mahmoud Abdelkader Es Sayed, a high-ranking Egyptian al Qaeda member operating in Italy, recorded a conversation that reveals how easily Islamic fundamentalists exploited Europe's asylum system. Es Sayed, who had in fact disclosed to Italian immigration authorities his affiliation with the Egyptian terrorist group Islamic Jihad, is explaining to his unidentified passenger how he had gained asylum:
Man: Did you get political asylum?
Es Sayed: Yes, when I got here I went to Rome, I came to Milan only after obtaining the asylum. Anyway, when I came here I shaved my beard and I "shaped up. "
Man: Yes [laughing], of course they never got to know anything about your extremism....
Es Sayed: I filed my claim in Rome ... [laughing] ... naturally I told them I have three brothers in jail ... I also told them I had been in jail....
Man: Even with the brothers from the Aden Army?'°°
Es Sayed: This is a thing ... I left Egypt a long time ago ... I told them I was a wanted man ... I told them I was unjustly persecuted ... that my wife had a car accident ... bad luck ... but I told them that the accident had been caused by the Egyptian secret service.
Man: Very nice!
Es Sayed: All this seemed like persecution and, as a consequence, they gave me the asylum in the month of November ... December.101
Later, Es Sayed complains about changes in the policy:
Es Sayed: Now there is a law in Italy that requires that asylum claims, even those that have already been approved, have to be reviewed every three months to see if the initial conditions are still in place ... this is a very strange thing ... by doing so a person can suffer oppression ...
Man: This is a form of terrorism.
Es Sayed: Of course it is terrorism ... Italy is a terrorist country ... it is a criminal country ... all this shows you that in Italy you cannot obtain a real political asylum ... the intent of the government is to take advantage of the Muslims living in this country.
With remarkable temerity, Es Sayed both brags about lying to win asylum and calls Italy a "terrorist" and "criminal country" just because it dared to pass a law requiring a periodic review of asylum claims in order to verify their validity.
In his deception and ingratitude, Es Sayed is typical of Islamic radicals who have obtained asylum in Europe. Europeans dreamed that these fundamentalists would integrate easily into their societies, but reality has been quite different. Not only have the refugees continued their terrorist activities, but they have also recruited European Muslims and new immigrants to their cause, establishing radical mosques and Islamic centers throughout the Continent. Jus
t as the Gamaa Islamiya leaders who received asylum in Denmark, Italy, and Austria created a sophisticated fund-raising and recruiting network, so, too, did members of other Islamist groups. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, for example, settled in the German city of Aachen, where Issam El Attar, one of its leaders, had received political asylum, and turned the former Carolingian capital into a hotbed of fundamentalism.102 Members of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group who were welcomed in England established their headquarters at London's Finsbury Park mosque, which soon became one of the beacons of Islamic radicalism in Europe.103
Similar examples of undeserved and pernicious generosity abound. In the 1980s, Germany granted asylum to Metin Kaplan, a known Turkish Islamic fundamentalist who had fled the death penalty in his home country.104 Once in Germany, Kaplan settled in Cologne, where he and his father ran an ultraradical Islamist organization, Caliphate State; it aimed at violently replacing the Turkish republic with an Islamic state. Followers of the "Caliph of Cologne" were involved in a plot to crash an aircraft into the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the creation of the secular Turkish Republic.105 But Kaplan did not limit his activities to Turkey; he proselytized among Germany's vast Turkish community, and his followers reportedly killed a rival imam in Berlin in 1997.106 His contempt for secularism and Western society influenced many Turks living in Germany, and German authorities estimate that in the late 1990s, Kaplan's organization had about thirteen hundred members and an even larger number of sympathizers. 107
Some of the most important terrorist leaders of the last decade have successfully won asylum in Europe. Abu Qatada, the man who is commonly described as bin Laden's ambassador to Europe, was granted asylum in Great Britain in 1994 after claiming he was persecuted because of his religious beliefs.108 Abu Qatada is believed to have been the spiritual leader of most of the key terrorists who have set foot on European soil, including the 9/11 hijackers and the Madrid train bombers. Mullah Krekar, the founder and spiritual leader of Ansar al Islam, a terrorist group that has been sending scores of suicide bombers to attack US and civilian targets since the beginning of the war in Iraq, is also one of Europe's imported threats, as he was given asylum by the Norwegian government in 1991.109 Authorities have proved that Krekar spent more than a decade fund-raising across Europe for Kurdish terrorist groups, and they suspect that from his Oslo apartment he has also directed attacks against US targets in Iraq.110
Europe is now paying the price for its naivete and shortsightedness, as the radicals it has welcomed for years are now turning against it. Imported fundamentalists thrived in Europe's free and open environment, establishing their headquarters and attracting new adherents. European authorities ignored the explosive potential of mixing seasoned radicals and young, disillusioned Muslim men: the perfect candidates for jihad were already present on its territory, and Europe opened its doors to professional recruiters. The cost to its security has been extremely high.
Moreover, the high-profile terrorists that have entered have further tarnished the image of Islam in the eyes of many Europeans, perpetrating a vicious circle of mistrust. That 80 percent of native Norwegians say that the case of Mullah Krekar has made them more skeptical toward "immigrants" (a euphemism for Muslims) underscores the decades-long mistake of the European political class. To some extent, 9/11 was a wake-up call. But while some countries changed their policies (Germany, for example, deported Kaplan to Turkey in October 2004),111 the case of Wali Khan Ahmadzai, the Taliban member welcomed to England after he fought against British forces in Afghanistan, shows that Europe is still not united in stopping the entry of terrorists.
FAMILIES, WOMEN, LONE WOLVES
In 2003 Italian authorities intercepted a phone call between a Tunisian man living in Milan and his family members at home. 112 In the lengthy conversation, the man and his family talked about the death of Said, the man's brother who had died a few days earlier in a suicide attack against US forces in Iraq.
Man: My brother Said became a martyr the day before yesterday.
Second man, in Tunisia: We heard he is a martyr.
The second man than passes the phone to a woman.]
Man: Mom, congratulations for Said.
Mother: Great news!
[They recite verses from the Quran together.]
Man: Mom, did you have a dream about him?
Mother: He is OK, he is fine. Do not have fear, my son. God is everywhere. God shows the right path. Do not have fear, you have to fear only God.
Man: Mom, are you happy?
Mother: Yes!
Man: Tell me the truth, did you have a dream about Said?
Mother: Yes, he is fine. Everything is open for him.
Man: Here everybody loves admire and envy him. They all say they had a dream about him and came to tell me.
Mother: He is in good, in good.
Man: Do you always see him?
Mother: He is fine.
Man: Here there are people who are complimenting me
Mother: God is great. Thank God.
At the end of the call, the man tells his mother that a man who used to pray with Said at the same Milan mosque from which he is calling has decided to send eight thousand euros to Said's family in Tunisia. He politely asks if he can keep half of the money to "fix the house."
Though it is hard for Westerners to understand how a mother can cel ebrate the death of her twenty-three-year-old son, this conversation is representative of a troubling tendency among the families of Islamic terrorists. Traditionally, terrorists have been rebels, lone wolves who turn against their past and former environment to pursue their revolutionary goals. Europe experienced domestic terrorism in the 1970s, when communist and fascist extremist groups shed blood in the streets of Germany, Italy, and France. Those involved were largely young men and women who broke away from their families and friends to embrace a radical ideology that brought them to the margins of society. While many Islamic terrorists operating in Europe today still fit this profile, other jihadis stay close to their families and acquaintances, who provide moral or material support for their activities.
Militants' families often do not accept their decision to join the jihad. Strong resistance comes not just from the families of converts, who generally have no understanding of or sympathy for Islam, but also from Muslim parents, who frequently fight their sons' fundamentalist positions and try to convince them that they have embraced a false interpretation of Islam. Young men who become extremists often cut all ties to their families, contacting them only sporadically and hiding their real whereabouts. The image of the moderate Muslim father going from mosque to mosque, looking for his young son who has become prey to the extremists, is now commonplace in the European Muslim world.
Nevertheless, Said's mother and family are far from unique. Evidence from various parts of the world suggests that many terrorists operate with the support of their relatives, who feel a sense of pride in the actions of their next of kin. In many Middle Eastern countries, the families of suicide bombers celebrate the martyrdom, with mothers and fathers publicly declaring their joy and pride over their son's actions. Some Palestinian mothers have shocked the public by declaring that they wished they had more children so that they could provide more suicide bombers to the cause. Parents of "martyrs" are generally revered by the whole community, which brings sweets to the hero's house to honor him at festive celebrations.
The situation is different in Europe, where if such emotions are felt they cannot be openly displayed. The public reaction of families of sui cide bombers or other Islamic terrorists is always one of disbelief and defense of their next of kin. Parents invariably describe their sons as normal young men, as moderates who enjoyed a quiet life and were loved by everybody. In most cases they deny all the charges, blaming the accusations either on a mistake or on the authorities' prejudices toward Muslims and Islam. While in many cases this reaction is genuine, authorities sometimes strongly suspect that families knew more about
the terrorist acts than they admitted.
Over the past few years, several European countries have prosecuted or investigated family members of terrorists, believing that they had information on their relative's activities. In April 2004, for example, British authorities brought to trial the wife and two relatives of Omar Sharif, a British Muslim who participated in a suicide operation that killed four people at a popular cafe on the seafront of Tel Aviv.' 11 Prosecutors believed that Sharif had communicated his murderous intentions to them via both e-mail and telephone.' 14 Indeed, European authorities have recently seen cases of entire families actively involved in jihad, dispelling the myth of the jihadi as the lone warrior estranged from his family.
Amel Benchellali, a twenty-six-year-old resident of Venissieux, a poor immigrant neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Lyon, protested in 2004, "I don't know why they have picked on my family ..... Her complaint rings hollow in the ears of French magistrates and intelligence officials, who are well aware that the Benchellalis are a textbook case of a jihadi family: two generations of radicals working together to kill infidels.
Amel's father, Chellali Benchellali, was born in Algeria in 1944.16 After immigrating to France in the 1960s, he settled in Venissieux-a low-income suburb of Lyon that, with its violence and high levels of unemployment, epitomizes the problems of France's banlieux. Benchellali, a man known for his religious fervor and radical views, proclaimed himself imam of the Abu Bakr mosque, a small prayer room located on the ground floor of his building. Benchellali has repeatedly attracted the media's attention. In 1991 he sparked a national debate by requiring his daughters to wear their veils at school, clashing with school authorities and starting a controversy that continues to rage in France."' In 1996 he openly defied French law again, this time by taking a second wife.' 18
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