A residential building in Beirut destroyed during the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in 2006. Photo: Rasmus Steen/IMS

What role does the West play as a nurturing place for Islamist Mujaheedins and what is the link to the violence in Lebanon? Lebanese journalist Fatima Rida set out to find out. She met three men in a prison in Lebanon charged with belonging to the Fatah Al-Islam group that fought against the Lebanese army in the refugee camp Nahr al-Bared in 2007. The trail led her to Copenhagen

In 2007 the militant group Fatah al-Islam fought a fierce battle against the Lebanese Army in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli in the north of Lebanon. Lasting 106 days, the fighting killed more than 400 people, forced the inhabitants to flee and led to violent clashes in the nearby city of Tripoli.

Lebanese intelligence claims that Fatah al-Islam comprises a mix of nationalities, has ties to the Syrian intelligence service and to Al Qaida - the latter is denied by the group, though it confirms endorsing the ideas of Al Qaida.

Since the Lebanese army regained control over the camp in september 2007, members of Fatah al-Islam have been apprehended by the authorities. and the hunt for the Nahr al-Bared group continues. Just two weeks ago, Lebanese media reported that the Lebanese Army had foiled an attempt to assassinate the judge in charge of investigating some alleged members of Fatah al-Islam on charges of organised terrorist activities linked to the Nahr al-Bared battle.

Investigative reporting into Fatah al-Islam

In an attempt to investigate possible ties between the men jailed in the Nahral-Bared battle to Fatah al-Islam and the allged links to countries in the West, Fatima Rida who is a journalist  with the newspaper Al Hayat, set out to interview some of the members in the Roumieh Prison in Lebanon and to hear their stories to uncover their incentives for joining a militant group like Fatah al-Islam.

Through the IMS twinning program within the Regional Media Cooperation Programme for the Arab World and Iran, Fatima teamed up with Danish journalist Mads Ellesøe to carry out research and interviews in Denmark.

This is the first part of her investigative report which was first published by Al Watan in November 2008. IMS is not responsible for the content.

From Beirut to Copenhagen

By Fatima Rida, Beirut - Copenhagen

The topic of the emergence of the Fatah Al-Islam organisation is one that takes up a large part of the attempt to examine the way its fundamental core was formed. This in turn would allow us to form a clearer image of this group, one that would show its emergence as well as its international and regional ties, not to mention its goals. Another topic of interest is the funding of this organisation, as well as its supply of interested “fighters”, as indicated by Lebanese political and security circles, as this is considered an indication of whether it is one of the many branches of Al-Qaeda or whether it is one of those organisations which some political circles consider to have been “fabricated” by Syrian intelligence services. Investigations into possible recruitment operations that took place outside of Lebanon also provide indications within the same framework.

Indeed, this organisation is made up of members of numerous nationalities, and listing the various Arab nationalities of those arrested for being implicated on charges of belonging to Fatah Al-Islam allows us to discern the role of Western societies in “exporting mujahideen” to it and nurturing it by way of Arabs residing in their countries.

An inquiry into the list of those arrested and sentenced on such charges in Roumieh Prison reveals that Sweden, Germany, Australia, Denmark and others represent the countries of exile of many of those who have engaged in “Jihadist” activities.

From Ziad Jarrah, the Lebanese national who participated in the September 11 attacks, to Assem Hammoud, the college professor who studied in Canada and was arrested in Lebanon, to dozens of similar examples which attest that Al-Qaeda has been able to recruit many Lebanese living in the European West, and finally to the arrest of suspects in the case of a plot to bomb the Italian Embassy in Beirut.

Links to Denmark, Germany, Australia.....

At the time of the arrest, it was mentioned that one of those implicated is a Saudi national by the name of Abu Abdallah, who was likely to be a coordinator for the Al-Qaeda organization between the Middle East and extremist cells in a number of European countries. He had been accused in Denmark and Italy of transferring funds from groups present there and taking part in preparing “mujahideen for the resistance” in Iraq. Abu Abdallah’s name has also been linked to that of one of the main figures of the Al-Qaeda organisation and one of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi’s aides, Mustafa Ramadan, also known as “Abu Muhammad the Lebanese”, a Lebanese of Kurdish descent who was killed in Iraq alongside his son Muhammad during a battle in the Abu Ghraib region, West of Baghdad.

From Germany, most prominent is the name of Youssef Dib, arrested on charges of attempting to bomb trains, the brother of Saddam Dib, who was killed during the events of Nahr Al-Bared in the fighting that took place in the neighborhood of Al-Mitein Street in Tripoli. Additionally, among those whose cases were transferred to the Military Court is a person from the Khazaal family, a relative of Bilal Khazaal, who was sentenced in Australia on charges of belonging to a “terrorist” organization.

Also from Australia are the members of Nabil Rahim’s group who were arrested, among them Hussam Al-Sabbagh, who had obtained the Australian citizenship but chosen to return to Lebanon, preferring to sell fava beans  in the Abu Samra district of Tripoli. Lebanese Army Intelligence discovered there a weapons depot belonging to this group, owned by Omar Hadba, who also carries the Australian citizenship and works as a taxi driver in Lebanon.

As a matter of fact, investigation is conducted of some “emigrants” quite often simply because of the “implication”, or the suspicion of such an implication, of a member of their family with a “terrorist” group. This applies to fugitive Palestinian Muhammad Azzam, as investigations have been conducted with his brothers: Ezzeddine, who has been residing in Denmark for nearly fifteen years, Zakaria, who lives in Turkey, and Nabih, a resident of Germany. The three brothers were later released.

Denmark the centre of special attention

Denmark appears more than others in investigations as a country in which “Lebanese and Arab nationals are recruited into extremist organisations”, or at least in which the road is paved for “Jihadist ideology to attract a large number of them”. Aside from the recurrence of the name Mustafa Ramadan, about whom reports indicate that he was recruited in Denmark, came to Lebanon and then moved to Iraq, where he was killed along with his son, who had not yet reached the age of sixteen at the time, Denmark is again prominent in the arrests that took place during and after the battles of Nahr Al-Bared.

The most prominent of those arrested in this case is Walid Hassan Al-Bustani, who had been said to have died in the Nahr Al-Bared battles before being arrested in the Al-Mina district after these battles had started. Also among those detained in Roumieh Prison is Palestinian Mahmoud Fayad Assaad, who, along with Bustani, holds a permanent Danish residency, having resided in Denmark for 17 years with a third “Dane” arrested on the same charges, Ali Ahmad Ibrahim, who holds the Danish citizenship.

Where does the story of those “Danes” begin? In Tripoli’s Serail, in Al-Mina or in the Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp, where they were arrested? In Bebnine, Fneideq and the Nahr Al-Bared camp, where they were born? In Qalamoun, Zahriyeh and Al-Qubba, where they were residing? Or was it in Denmark, where they spent long years of their lives?

Al-Hayat has prepared a report that includes investigations from Beirut and Copenhagen about the stories of those individuals, in an attempt to look into their willingness to be recruited into extremist organizations, and the role of their land of exile in shaping this tendency of theirs.

Part One takes place in Beirut:

My anticipated visit to Denmark, in order to shed light on the life they lived as emigrants before returning to Lebanon and later being arrested on charges of belonging to the Fatah Al-Islam organisation, represents a major cause of the readiness of the “Danes” of Lebanese origin to tell their story from behind bars. This in turn facilitated speaking with the third detainee, of Palestinian origin.

The three prisoners, despite the disparity of their stories, have in common the period of time they spent in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, in addition to the fact that accusations against them are not restricted to their ties to the Fatah Al-Islam organisation alone, but also include charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda and charges of “terrorism”. Indeed, they can be “confronted” (visited in prison) on Mondays and Fridays, whereas Wednesdays are reserved for those whose charges are restricted to belonging to Fatah Al-Islam alone.

Walid Al-Bustani

Walid Al-Bustani does not hesitate to speak of how he joined the Fatah al-Islam organisation, as he is fully convinced of the rightfulness of his “Jihadist” cause. He was born in Bebnine, Akkar, in 1964. He joined the ranks of the Islamic Unification Movement during the Civil War before fleeing to Libya in 1986, after his brother was kidnapped by Syrian forces and his name included on their wanted list. He later moved to Denmark, where he remained until after the death of Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad.

Bustani claims to have met both Ibrahim and Asaad in Roumieh Prison, and that he did not know them personally during all these years when the three of them resided in the Danish capital. However, he certifies his lasting friendship with Mustafa Ramadan, and attributes their relationship to the fact that they both follow the “Jihadi Salafist” ideology, which Bustani acquired from the teachings of a cleric named Abu Saud at the Al-Tauba (Repentance) Mosque in Copenhagen.

Bustani explains that “Jihadi Salafists” aim at fighting US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, he says he had hoped to reach Iraqi soil to “carry out his duty”, but, as his name was listed among those wanted by Syrian authorities, he refrained from joining the “mujahideen” at the request of Ramadan himself. Furthermore, the death of Ramadan has had a negative impact on Bustani’s chances of reaching Iraq.

After 2002, Bustani began to make intermittent visits to Lebanon, “in order to check on his new family”, i.e. his second wife whom he had wed that same year in a marriage arranged by his family. He would reside in their home, separated by a wide street and the bed of a dried-up river from the family home of Shehab Al-Qaddour, a.k.a. Abu Hureira.

In 2006 Lebanon regained its stability, and Bustani quickly joined the Fatah al-Islam organization after finding that he shared common interests with them, such as “Jihad in Mesopotamia”, fighting “the agents of Syria and Iran who are in league with the US plan represented by the Shiite Crescent in the region”, in addition to “fighting the Jews” and “defending Sunnis in Lebanon”.

Although Bustani does not deny his involvement with Fatah al-Islam, pointing to the fact that none of those behind bars were “just taking a walk on the street and got arrested”, he nevertheless considers that harm has been done to him twice: the first time when the role that was ascribed to him was blown out of proportion, as he certifies that he was no “leader” in the organisation; and the second time when the organisation was accused of being controlled by the Syrians, explaining that their movement is linked to Al-Qaeda, which he does not consider to be an accusation he should be ashamed of, as in his view Al-Qaeda is an organization that carries a rightful Islamic ideology that aims at “fighting occupation and all those who would harm Sunnis”.

He feels grief at what he has come to, as a result of “getting involved in a battle against the Lebanese Army”, certifying that the developments of that phase were caused by “Syrian intelligence having infiltrated the organization”. Bustani reaffirms his loyalty to Al-Qaeda, which he considers a cause for pride, unlike the accusation of belonging to Syria, “which is hated by most of the Lebanese”.

He is father to seven children, five from his first marriage, and two from a second marriage. His second wife certifies that his comings and goings outside prison were ordinary, and that he was “taken advantage of” due to the kindness of his heart. She says his daily life in Lebanon was similar to what he did in Copenhagen, where “he would go to a gym and come back sweaty after a few hours, would take a bath, eat and spend some time with his children. In Denmark he would visit his children from his first marriage every day from five to ten thirty in the evening”.

She points to the fact that she did not know anything about his friends in both countries, as she “does not reveal herself to men” and would retire to her room if a visitor were to come in, “which was a rare occurrence”. She says he owned a gun, “I think it was registered, for our protection”, which he used to constantly replace, but which he had given up long before the events of Nahr al-Bared, and had before that “sold” his laptop.

She tells that “they had to leave their house in the Beddawi refugee camp shortly before the Nahr al-Bared incidents, after her husband was arrested for one day for interrogation because of his bringing up “a document on the Internet that reveals the intentions of the Shiites in Lebanon” at the mosque. And because “intelligence” was spreading out in the area and conducting a series of arrests and incarcerations, Bustani left his home and returned to move his family to an apartment in the Qalamoun district a few days later, during which he had forbidden his wife from contacting anyone, even his sister who lives in the same neighborhood.

- The apartment was empty except for a few covers and pillows, in addition to a butane tank connected to a small stove. I stayed in one part of the apartment, which I would not come out of. I knew there were others, but I did not know how many there were or what they looked like. They were not many, as the amount of food I used to cook was not large, says Umm Radwan.

Her going out with her two children “to buy a few things” prevented her from being arrested during the raid of “the Qalamoun apartment”, one day before the start of the battles in the Nahr al-Bared camp. After that “Walid disappeared, but would call every four days to reassure his wife”.

About this period, Bustani says that he hid in the mountains and was following the news from afar “amazed at how the battle had turned against the Lebanese Army”.

Bustani is waiting for “general amnesty”, as he “has not hurt anyone and did not participate in the Nahr al-Bared events”. Then he would “take his family and travel to Denmark once again” in agreement with the Danish government. Indeed, Danish representatives visit him every three months and provide him with his medication, as he suffers from “schizophrenia”, which Bustani calmly states. He continues: “a careful reexamination of what happened is absolutely necessary, to find out the defect that afflicted the organization and allowed Syrian intelligence to infiltrate it”.

Mahmoud Assaad (Abu Omar)

The “openness” of Walid Al-Bustani and his family to show all the phases he went through before being arrested, does not apply to his fellow “Danish citizen” of Palestinian origin, Mahmoud Assaad (Abu Omar). Indeed, Assaad answers questions with extreme reservation, after asking about the reason behind each of them.

Abu Omar claims to be “innocent” of the accusations of terrorism and of belonging to both Al-Qaeda and Fatah Al-Islam simply because he was “transferring religious donation funds from Denmark to Lebanon”. He adds that he is “an emigrant who does not know the way to the poor whom this money is intended for, money which he used to deliver to his neighbor in the camp, Hajj Nasser Ismail, who was later arrested for being one of the leaders of Fatah Al-Islam in the camp”.

Abu Omar is married to three women, a Palestinian, a Somali and a Lebanese. He was arrested two weeks after the start of the Nahr al-Bared incidents, while coming out in an ambulance “in order to get to the airport in time for his flight”. After being asked why he was still inside the camp, and “being unable to convince security forces that he had no other place to go”, he was arrested and is still in jail.

"He has no personal relationships inside the prison, and does not know any more details about Fatah Al-Islam than what he has heard on the news”. However, he has heard inside the prison from people arrested and convicted on these charges, and especially from those among them who are Syrian, that the confessions that were aired on Syrian television were “for the most part fabricated”. Indeed, his cellmates pointed out that some of those who appeared on television “have been incarcerated in Syrian prisons for a long time, up to ten years for some of them”.

Ali Ibrahim (Dib)

Excited about expounding his cause, aware of every word organized in his information, explaining what happened to him in the minutest details, such is Ali Ibrahim (Dib):

- My case is different from that of everyone here. I am not waiting for the general amnesty because I am innocent”, he says.

Ibrahim accuses the Danish government of implicating him and turning him in to Lebanese authorities.

Alone among those arrested, he carries the Danish citizenship and studies literature. He asserts that he returned to Lebanon to settle down with his family, because the environment in Denmark is not ideal for children if they are to be raised according to customs and traditions. He regularly visited Denmark because of the financial aid he was receiving as a Danish citizen who is still a student. He tried to travel in February 2007, but was “surprised to be banned from traveling for classified reasons”. He took his case to the Danish Embassy, and after some debate, the Danish Consulate in Lebanon contacted him and informed him that he could travel, as there was no reason preventing him from doing so. Ibrahim, who had been limiting his movements after the death of his brother Saddam Dib in the incidents of Al-Mitein Street, headed to Tripoli’s Serail along with his father, “in order to obtain a passport in replacement of the one he had lost, to be able to travel”, and was arrested there.

- The Lebanese media broadcast breaking news saying that I was there with the intention of bombing the Serail, and the Danish Embassy did not respond to clear my name, although they knew I was coming here, he says.

He suspects that his arrest took place because of his brother Saddam, in addition to his brother Muhammad Hajj Dib (24 years old), who was arrested in Germany on charges of attempting to bomb trains on July 31, 2006. He also indicates the possibility of a mix-up between his nickname, “Abu Arabi”, and that of another who participated in the Zahriyeh battle. He wonders: “does not the fact that I have a brother in the army equal that of my having another in Fatah Al-islam?” By this he points to his two brothers, one of them a retired soldier, and the other having been killed in an Israeli air raid on the Lebanese Army post in Abdeh.

He keeps all the dates of the times his case was shown in the media, especially those which confirm the violation of human rights in arrests conducted. He points to the fact that he has been tortured and placed in solitary confinement. He shows his readiness for a public trial on Danish television in order to expound his “rightful” cause, especially that “throughout his stay in Copenhagen he never once committed an offense that would taint his record”. He says that he used to pray at the Al-Tauba mosque or the Scandinavian Waqf mosque, which is the “most moderate among the other mosques”, certifying that he used to pray then return home, and did not mingle with anyone, especially if they were from among those he heard had “something fishy about them”.

He accuses the Danish government of practicing “racism towards him because he has black hair”, and holds the government morally responsible for everything that is happening to him and his five children, after it deprived them of his salary. Indeed, he asserts that his family’s situation is deteriorating with his presence in prison along with his younger brother, and that his father is unable to support them.

The Tripoli-Roumieh van

Ten women, two men and five children have gathered in different areas of Tripoli, along with a driver who takes them every week to Roumieh Prison. The first stop is the Military Court (Beirut), in order to obtain special permission to visit those of their husbands and sons who were arrested.

Black curtains cover the windows of the bus, matching what the women were wearing, with the exception of one of them who wore a red hijab (veil) decorated with a golden pin. The violation committed by the color of her hijab does not extend to the remainder of the matters which she shares with the other passengers of the bus, as she is mother to a child who is accompanying her to visit his father. More than one woman complains that she was still a new bride when her husband was arrested. Some of them count the years based on the age of their children, who were born or were a few days old when their father was arrested. Among them are two girls who had announced their engagement a few days before “the men of their future” were incarcerated, and have been waiting for them to come out of prison for more than a year and a half. Indeed, they are willing to wait their whole lives, because their men “have done no wrong”, and wonder naively “has defending one’s religion become a crime one should be tried for?”

Many of these women assert that their men have appeared before a judge only a few times and for a few minutes. They consider this to be an act of  “injustice one cannot be silent about”, and demand a general amnesty that would bring their husbands out of prison. Indeed, many are incarcerated on charges based on little more than denouncement, such as “one whose name was mentioned by one of those involved with Fatah al-Islam during questioning; or another who sells “religious” clothes and items and whom members of this organization were customers of; or a third who bought or sold a mobile phone that belonged to one of its members”.

The women met each other on the “trips” to Roumieh Prison and have become friends. Alongside the fact that their husbands have been arrested, some of them now share family prayer. Eyes glitter from underneath the veil, and one of them says “this is the trail of tears to Roumieh”. Laughter bursts out from mouths hidden underneath black burkas.

Arriving at the outer gate of Roumieh Prison, the congestion increases in the bus, as each lady tries to gather whatever children she has brought along, and to carry the food, clothes and other items she has brought for her husband.

Much confusion characterizes the passage through the first checkpoint, where the IDs and permissions granted to the relatives of prisoners are verified and checked. The margin of “leniency” enjoyed by the relatives of convicted “Islamists” grants those who are thus dressed the chance of crossing to the prison building. The women enter the inspection point, where they are thoroughly searched. At this point they are not asked for ID, and the comment of the lady “inspector” to the women in front of her that “her face is unfamiliar” remains fleeting, as it is assumed that she simply does not visit the prison very often. After that, an internal bus, for 500 Lebanese Pounds per passenger, takes them to the gate of the detainees building, which makes it easier for them to move around with everything they are carrying, although some of them consider this van’s fare to be an additional burden, considering the weekly expenses of going to Roumieh.

Entering from the gate of the detainees' building requires registering in a neighboring room. Although the security officer sitting a desk at which dozens of women are crowded hardly gets the chance to make sure that he has “registered everyone”, the mere fact of carrying heavy bags or running after children leads to an “easy” passage through the third checkpoint, without the IDs being verified or any questions being asked, such as about the name of the prisoner or how they are related.

After a few minutes, in which the heart flutters in fear of something that would require being asked for ID, one reaches the place reserved for visitations. It is enough to know the “looks” of the prisoners’ relatives to be introduced to them, and all that is left is for them to show readiness to speak after you have revealed your identity. Visitation takes place from behind a glass panel, and through internal telephones (“interphones”), some of which are out of order while others produce a “crackling” sound that prevents long conversations. Small insects crawl out of the devices, and the speaker feels as if the bugs are sharing in visiting the prisoner. The visitors stand and give each other turns, just like the prisoners who organize their turns on the phones, supervised by the “head prisoner”, Wassim Abdel Mohti, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Sheikh Nizar Al-Halabi in 1995.

The visitors spend hours standing up, and while the adults speak in whispers, the children talk loudly, and you hear a little girl tell her father about a bracelet she won at a “draw”, or a child who complains that their mother will not allow them to eat a lot of chocolate…

Shortly before three o’clock, the visitors begin to withdraw, and the passengers of the “Tripoli van” come out and wait for all the others to gather. Some of them appear carrying paintings and handicrafts made by their husbands behind bars. The tension seems much higher than it was earlier in the day: old women complain that they cannot bear any more, and one of them scolds her children preemptively, to prevent them from persisting in the rowdy behavior they displayed during the morning trip. Another complains of the number of “bail requests” she has presented.

Walid Al-Bustani’s second wife, whose face was unveiled, despite saying in our first meeting that she had agreed to the condition placed by him that she should cover her face when he asked for her hand in marriage, returns to the van carrying yet another bail request form. She squeezes herself with her two children into a window seat after a forced one-day holiday to visit their father. When the younger child (3 years old) is asked what he was doing inside, he answers: “seeing daddy”. And when asked where daddy is, he says “abroad” and then hides his eyes with his hand, indicating that he does not wish to continue talking.

Read Part Two, about tracking those incarcerated in Roumieh Prison - to Copenhagen.