Exclusive: New NEFA Report on Weakening of FARC in Colombia [7/01/08]: This paper by NEFA Senior Investigator Douglas Farah is a follow-up to a report by the NEFA Foundation on April 1, 2008, on the state of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-FARC), the Western Hemisphere's oldest insurgency. The... (read more)

Exclusive: Interview w/ Mangal Bagh, Commander, Lashkar-e-Islam (Pak) [6/29/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained an exclusive video-recorded interview with Mangal Bagh, the charismatic, de-facto leader of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in control of approximately three-quarters of Pakistan’s Khyber Agency. Bagh took control of Lashkar-e-Islam approximately two years ago from... (read more)

USS Cole Plotter Charged at GITMO
[6/30/08]: The Department of Defense announced that charges have been filed against Guantanamo Bay detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in connection with his central role in the October 2000 USS Cole bombing. According to DOD, al-Nashiri, previously identified by the Director of National Intelligence as Al-Qaida's "operations chief in the Arabian Peninsula," "was involved...(read more)

Hamas Militant Challenges Political Wing over Elections
[6/26/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new video from dissident members of the Izzadeen al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Palestinian territories – of their recently slain comrade Rami Abu Suweirah (a.k.a. Abu Huzaifah) condemning the political...(read more)

Sami Al-Arian Indicted on Criminal Contempt Charges
[6/26/08]: In June 2008, former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on two counts of criminal contempt for "unlawfully, knowingly, and willfully disobey[ing] and resist[ing] the lawful order of a court of the United States" on October 16, 2007 and March 20, 2008. According to open source reporting...(read more)

Canadian Supreme Court Rules in Charkaoui Case
[6/26/08]: Canada's Supreme Court ruled that CSIS had erred in destroying notes it took during interviews of Adil Charkaoui, a Canadian permanent resident arrested in May 2003 on a Security Certificate and an alleged member of Al-Qaida: "the destruction by CSIS officers of their operational notes compromises the very function of judicial review. To uphold...(read more)

Court Upholds VA Jihad Network Conviction - Kohlmann Testimony
[6/23/08]: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the February 2007 conviction of Sabri Benkahla on two counts of perjury before a grand jury, one count of obstruction of justice with respect to a grand jury investigation, and one count of making false official statements to the FBI. Commenting on Benkahla's criticism of the expert witness testimony of NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann, the court stated, "Benkahla also attacks Kohlmann’s qualifications as an expert, but those qualifications were obviously substantial...(read more)

Mohammad Momin Khawaja's "Hi-Fi Digimonster"
[6/23/08]: Mohammad Momin Khawaja was arrested in Ottawa in March 2004 and charged for his role in a British terror cell that plotted attacks in the U.K.; five of those U.K.-based cell members were convicted of terrorism charges in April 2007. As Khawaja's Canadian trial begins, attention will focus on a remote-controlled initiator seized at Khawaja's home that, according to British police, was "developed to activate the detonator of an improvised explosive device...It was referred to, by some of the defendants, as the 'hi-fi digimonster'." In addition to providing a picture of that device, the NEFA Foundation has also previously posted a numbers of exhibits from the trial of Khawaja's alleged co-conspirators in the U.K. (read more)

L.A. Plot Conspirator Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison
[6/23/08]: In August 2005, federal prosecutors indicted four California men -- Kevin James, Levar Washington, Gregory Patterson, and Hammad Samana -- on an array of charges, including conspiracy to levy war against the U.S. government. DOJ alleged that the men planned to attack U.S. military facilities, Israeli government facilities and Jewish synagogues in the Los Angeles area. Washington pled guilty and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. For more on this conspiracy, see the NEFA "Target: America" report "The L.A. Plot to Attack U.S. Military, Israeli Government, & Jewish Targets." The plot is also discussed in the NEFA Special Report, "Terrorists Behind Bars." (read more)

Treasury Department Designates Multiple Terrorists Across Globe
[6/19/08]: Recently, the U.S. Treasury Department has acted against a number of terrorists across the globe, labeling them Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The Treasury actions were against two Venezuela-based supporters of Hezbollah, two leaders of the Islamic Jihad Union, seven members of the Rajah Solaiman Movement, and three Gulf-based Al-Qaida financiers. (read more)

NAIT and ISNA Challenge "Unindicted Co-Conspirator" Label
[6/19/08]: In a filing in Texas, attorneys for the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) challenged the inclusion of those two groups as Unindicted Co-Conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case, stating that "the government's characterization of each organization as part of a criminal conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization has profoundly harmed...(read more)

NEFA Exclusive: Interview w. Pakistani Taliban Cmdr. Maulvi Faqir Mohammad
[6/18/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained an exclusive video-recorded interview with Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, a senior commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and an acknowledged deputy of notorious Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. When asked during the interview whether... (read more)

NEFA Exclusive: Interviews with Sunni Insurgent Groups in Iraq
[6/18/08]: The NEFA Foundation has released English transcripts of two exclusive interviews recently conducted by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann with “Hamas al-Iraq” and the “Al-Rashideen Army”—arguably two of the most influential Sunni insurgent factions fighting in Iraq. Both groups have... (read more)

NEFA Briefing: The Case of Samina Malik and Sohail Qureshi
[6/18/08]: Following the U.K. Court of Appeal decision to overturn the conviction of the "Lyrical Terrorist" Samina Malik, the NEFA Foundation is releasing a PowerPoint briefing, authored by NEFA Senior Analyst Josh Lefkowitz, that provides an overview of Operation Orbile, the British counterterrorism investigation that targeted Malik and Sohail Qureshi. The briefing includes more than a dozen exhibits entered into evidence in the course of those prosecutions, including email correspondence between Malik and Qureshi in which Qureshi sought information on airport security from Malik, who worked at a newsstand in Heathrow Airport...(read more)

Historical "Al-Qaida Organization in the UAE and Oman" Threat to UAE
[6/18/08]: In light of the June 14, 2008 warning by the U.K. Foreign Office that it believes "terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE," the NEFA Foundation is releasing a July 2005 communiqué from the military wing for the Al-Qaida Organization in UAE and Oman titled "A Letter to the UAE Oppressors." The letter stated, "We send you this loud and clear letter since you have brought it upon yourselves and did not change your way and kept on following the nation of cross and the Jews...(read more)

AQIM Claims Bomb Attacks on French Contractors in Algeria
[6/17/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new communiqué from Al-Qaida’s Committee in the Islamic Maghreb claiming responsibility for several recent terrorist attacks in Algeria, including a June 8 bombing near the Beni Amrane train station which killed a French contractor...(read more)

U.K. Prosecutors Comment on Overturned Samina Malik Conviction
[6/17/08]: After the Court of Appeal overturned Samina Malik's conviction for collecting information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not seek her retrial. Sue Hemming, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Counter Terrorism Division, commented: "Since Ms Malik's conviction, the law has been clarified...(read more)

Associate of Andrew Ibrahim Arrested
[6/17/08]: British police arrested a 19 year old Somali, an associate of Andrew Ibrahim, under the Terrorism Act. Ibrahim was charged in April under the Terrorism Act after a police raid turned up Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine, as well as...(read more)

University of S. Florida Student Pleads Guilty to Terror Charge
[6/14/08]: University of South Florida student Ahmed Abellatif Sherif Mohamed pled guilty to providing material support to terrorists. According to a previous court filing, Mohamed admitted making an explosives training video "to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries. He considered American troops, and those military forces fighting with the American military, to be invaders of Arab countries." The NEFA Foundation has made available numerous legal documents pertaining to this case. (read more)

Exclusive Documents from Hindi, Amawi Case in Toledo
[6/13/08]: In the wake of today’s conviction of three men in federal court in Toledo, Ohio for conspiring to help kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the NEFA Foundation is providing an expert report submitted in the case by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann. During the investigation of the three men—Mohammed Amawi...(read more)

Jury Convicts Ohio Jihad Network Members
[6/13/08]: In a case in which NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann testified as an expert witness on behalf of the prosecution, an Ohio jury convicted three Ohio residents -- Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, and Wassim I. Mazloum -- of conspiring to commit terrorist acts against Americans overseas, including U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and other terrorism-related violations...(read more)

USCRIF Expresses Concern About Saudi Islamic Academy Textbooks
[6/13/08]: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom examined 17 Arabic-language textbooks at the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), a Saudi government school in Northern Virginia. USCIRF "confirmed that these texts...include some extremely troubling passages that do not conform to international human rights norms." Further...(read more)

DOJ Outlines CARE International's Extensive Jihadist Ties
[6/12/08]: In a court filing, federal prosecutors explain "the significance of the pro-violent groups and individuals who were among the intended beneficiaries of Care International’s (Care) fraudulent solicitation and expenditure of tax-exempt funds." The document includes information on Maktab al Khidamat (MAK)/Services Office/Al-Kifah Refugee Center, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar/Hizb e Islami, Global Relief Foundation, Benevolence International Foundation, Holy Land Foundation...(read more)

DHS Inspector General Declassifies Report on Maher Arar
[6/12/08]: On September 26, 2002, Maher Arar -- who held joint Canadian and Syrian citizenship -- flew into JFK Airport in Queens, New York from Tunisia (via Zurich). After being "identified as a special interest alience who was suspected of affiliations with a terrorist organization," he was removed from the U.S...(read more)

Supreme Court Rules on GITMO Detainees
[6/12/08]: The Supreme Court ruled that those held at Guantanamo Bay can challenge their detention in the federal courts. The Court wrote, "the laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinarytimes. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in oursystem they are reconciled within the framework of the law. The Framers decided that...(read more)

Crown Prosecution Service Press Release on 7/21 Convictions
[6/11/08]: A jury convicted the wife, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law of failed 7/21 bomber Hussain Osman for "assisting an offender and failing to give information to the police." According to the Crown Prosecution Servce, "the jury at the Old Bailey heard that Yeshiemebet Girma and her accomplices assisted her husband...(read more)

Senate Intelligence Committee Releases Two Iraq Reports
[6/11/08]: The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) released two reports addressing prewar intelligence on Iraq. As the SSCI explains, "the first report details Administration prewar statements that, on numerous occasions, misrepresented the intelligence and the threat from Iraq. The second report details inappropriate, sensitive intelligence activities conducted by the DoD’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department." (read more)

AQIM Promises Revenge for Attack on Muslim Woman in Morocco
[6/10/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a statement dated June 4 from Shaykh Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud, the top commander of Al-Qaida’s Committee in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), titled, “Here We Come, O’ Sister!” In his statement, Wadoud swore revenge on the governments of North Africa...(read more)

Taliban Defends Peace Accord with Pakistani Government
[6/9/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new communiqué from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban movement) defending the recent peace accord negotiated between the Pakistani government and local Taliban forces. According to the statement, “We consider the...(read more)

New Zawahiri Recording: "Lift the Siege of Gaza"
[6/7/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a copy of an audio recording of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri released by Al-Qaida’s official As-Sahab Media Wing on June 4, titled “On the Anniversary of the Disaster – A Call to Help Our People in Gaza.” During the recording, al-Zawahiri once again...(read more)

Sawt al-Jihad #30: "Interview with the Martyr Karim al-Mejjati"
[6/7/08]: In light of recent court proceedings in New York involving Mourad El-Hamyani, the NEFA Foundation is releasing a 2007 Sawt al-Jihad ("Voice of Jihad") interview with Karim el-Mejjatti. As the U.S. government explains, Mejjati "was an Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist who was killed in a gun battle with Saudi Arabian security forces in April 2005. Mejjati is the suspected mastermind...(read more)

Exclusive: NEFA Dossier on Al-Qaida's Shaykh Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid
[6/6/08]: The NEFA Foundation has released a new dossier written by NEFA Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann examining the role of Shaykh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (a.k.a. “Shaykh Saeed”), appointed in May 2007 as “the overall head of al-Qaida Organization in Afghanistan.” According to Al-Qaida’s official...(read more)

Al-Qaida's Abu al-Yazid Claims Denmark Embassy Bombing
[6/5/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained a copy of a communiqué issued by senior Al-Qaida commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid claiming responsibility for the June 2 suicide bombing attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. According to al-Yazid, “one of the courageous heroes from...(read more)

Iraq Insurgents Quarrel Over Recognizing International Law
[6/4/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated two new statements from an emerging Sunni insurgent faction calling itself “the Iraqi Martyrs Brigades.” In its initial statement of purpose, the IMB indicated that its fighters were being guided both by Muslim Shariah law and “contemporary laws… Our clerics..." (read more)

Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) Interview with German "Eric B."
[6/2/08]: The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new interview published by the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) with “Abdul Gaffar al-Almani”—better known as “Eric B.”, a 20-year old German convert to Islam from Neuenkirchen in Saarland who traveled to Pakistan in 2007 and joined the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU). According...(read more)