Ahmed Khadr: Difference between revisions
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==Quotes about Khadr== |
==Quotes about Khadr== |
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*"We believe dying by the hand of your enemy because you believe in… you're doing it in the way of Allah, that it's the best way to die. My father had always wished that he would be killed… he would be killed for the sake of Allah. I remember when we were very young he would say, if you guys love me, pray for me that I get [[ |
*"We believe dying by the hand of your enemy because you believe in… you're doing it in the way of Allah, that it's the best way to die. My father had always wished that he would be killed… he would be killed for the sake of Allah. I remember when we were very young he would say, if you guys love me, pray for me that I get [[shahadah]], which is killed." -- Khadr's daughter Zaynab, on her father<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/khadr/etc/synopsis.html Son of al Qaeda: Intro], ''[[Frontline (PBS)]]''</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 20:57, 28 August 2007
An Egyptian-Canadian computer engineering lecturer, Ahmed Said Khadr (أحمد سعيد خضر) (March 1 1948 - October 2 2003) was an alleged senior associate of Osama bin Laden's militant network in Pakistan and Afghanistan, while he was running charitable NGOs schooling orphans.
Khadr family
Born in Egypt, Khadr immigrated to Canada in 1975. He and his wife Maha Elsamnah, who he met after his arrival, had six children, among which are four sons, Abdullah, Abdurahman, Omar, and Abdulkareem; and two daughters, Zaynab and a younger daughter who is still a minor.
After receiving his Masters Degree in Computer Programming from the University of Ottawa, he took a job with the Gulf Polytechnique University in Bahrain.
In 1983, inspired by the jihad declared by Muslim scholars against the Soviet Union in response to the invasion of Afghanistan, Khadr travelled there. His young family joined him there shortly afterwards.
In 1985 Khadr started working in Peshawar as volunteer co-ordinator for the charity Human Concern International.[1]
In 1992 Khadr was injured by a land mine, and returned to Canada for over a year of recuperation.
Khadr's name became widely known in Canada in 1995, when he was arrested by the Pakistani government for an alleged role in a terrorist bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad in 1995. He launched a hunger strike and was interviewed in hospital, proclaiming he was innocent and that his work consisted solely of charitable work to provide food and schooling to Afghan orphans.
As Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien happened to then be visiting Pakistan, he mentioned the matter to Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who promised "fair trial and fair treatment". Later the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Human Concerns International cut its ties to Khadr after his arrest by Pakistani Security officials.[citation needed]
Khadr then founded his own charity, Health and Education Project International.[1]
Human Concern International has done its best to isolate its name from Khadr after hiring a lawyer to audit all of their financial records, and having found no discrepancies, insist that he never subverted any of their resources. Khadr is widely believed to have subverted funds donated to Health and Education Project International to fund terrorist activities[citation needed].
Health and Education Project was an NGO that founded several orphanages and schools for both boys and girls. It also worked with the UNWFP 'Work For Food' programs for widows which established the trade of cottage industry for staples such as flour, oil, rice, etc. HEP also provided formula, beds, medicines, etc. for local hospitals throughout Afghanistan through a program supported and sponsered by WHO. Khadr was killed in South Waziristan on 2 October 2003. His son Abdulkareem, then 14, was paralyzed in the same incident.
Khadr and the RCMP's project "AO Canada"
On December 7 2006 it was acknowledged that Khadr's inlaws' property was raided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in January 2002.[2] Khadr's secret search warrant was issued on January 22 2002, as part of project AO Canada. Abdullah Amalki, Nazih Amalki, and Ahmad El Maati also had search warrants issued against them. The identity of three of the other seven individuals remains secret.
Dennis Edney, one of the Khadr family's lawyers, responded to the news:[2]
- "I'd be really interested in obtaining one piece of evidence that would show indeed that Mr. Khadr was actually a terrorist. To me, it's just folklore."
Assets frozen, estate sued
The United States Treasury froze Khadr's assets, after Sgt. Layne Morris and the widow of Sgt. Christopher Speer, announced their intentions to sue the Khadr estate, since Omar had been a minor at the time of the attacks, and thus his father was legally liable.[3] While one can't normally sue for acts of war, the claimants argued that Omar's grenade was an act of "terrorism", rather than war.[citation needed]
An article published in the June 14 2007 Salt Lake Tribune said that Morris and Speer's widow might collect funds via the U.S. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, and that while Senator Orrin Hatch had been asked to intervene, it would be up to the claimants to locate the Khadr's funds.[4]
A Utah court awarded Speer and Morris $11 million.[citation needed]
Quotes about Khadr
- "We believe dying by the hand of your enemy because you believe in… you're doing it in the way of Allah, that it's the best way to die. My father had always wished that he would be killed… he would be killed for the sake of Allah. I remember when we were very young he would say, if you guys love me, pray for me that I get shahadah, which is killed." -- Khadr's daughter Zaynab, on her father[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b National Post Apologizes to Human Concern International, South Asia Partnership Canada, April 26 2004
- ^ a b
Kate Jaimet (December 8 2006). "RCMP 9/11 dragnet targeted eldest Khadr: Patriarch identified as one of seven searched by police after attacks".
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|dateaccessed=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|pub=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ GI injured in Afghan war wins lawsuit: Unique case: Court awards default judgment to man blinded in one eye, Salt Lake Tribune, February 16 2006
- ^
Dawn House (June 14 2007). "Judge clears way for wounded soldier to collect judgement against terrorist". Salt Lake Tribune.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Text "urlhttp://www.sltrib.com/ci_6140530" ignored (help) - ^ Son of al Qaeda: Intro, Frontline (PBS)