TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS REPORTEDLY OPERATING IN BOSNIA UNDER NEW NAMES
BBC Monitoring International Reports - June 26, 2008, Thursday

Text of report by Bosnian Serb privately-owned centrist newspaper Nezavisne novine, on 26 June

[Report by Mirza Cubro: "Al-Qa'idah Supporters Still Active in B-H"]

Sarajevo - Humanitarian organizations from the United Nations list of Al-Qa'idah's supporters, whose work was banned in Bosnia-Hercegovina earlier, are most probably operating here today under a different name, Vjekoslav Vukovic, assistant security minister for anti-terrorist activities, has told Nezavisne Novine.

"We are in the possession of certain data and circumstantial evidence, which suggest that some of these organizations are still active in Bosnia-Hercegovina, but under a different name. People who worked in the organizations that were banned are currently managers in some other organizations, and this suggests that they are still active in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Our security and police agencies have certain information about the organizations and individuals who are on the United Nations list of terrorism supporters, and our agencies are carrying out the appropriate activities," Vukovic said.

The United Nations periodically publishes a list of organizations and people who belong to the Al-Qa'idah terrorist organization, or are helping this organization. The list, which was updated last time several months ago, include: Al-Furkan [Dzemijjetul Furqan], Al-Haramain & Al-Masjed Al-Aqsa Charity Foundation, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation [Al-Haramayn Foundation], the Bosnian Ideal Future, the Global Relief Foundation, and the Taibah International-Bosnia Offices. According to the United Nations' information, all these organizations had offices in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

"We know that the United Nations list of terrorism supporters included several humanitarian organizations that had been earlier registered in Bosnia-Hercegovina. However, their work was banned, and they no longer operate in Bosnia-Hercegovina under these names. We cannot completely rule out the possibility that they have transformed into some other organizations and got registered under a different name, but we do not have any such information," Dragan Lukac, assistant director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), has said.

The senior officials of the Security Ministry and SIPA recalled that these organizations operated all over the world, and this was why they were still on the United Nations list of terrorism supporters or members of the Al-Qa'idah terrorist organization.

"Even though we banned their work in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the United Nations still keeps them on the list of terrorism supporters, because it is certain that they still operate in other countries, such as Afghanistan. We have looked into the work of these organizations, and the leaders of some of them have been arrested and convicted in the past years," Lukac said.

[Box] Individuals Processed

Enam Arnaut, the founder of the Benevolence International Foundation that operated in Bosnia-Hercegovina, was convicted in the United States several years ago for helping terrorism. Munib Zahiragic, former director of the Bosnian Ideal Future, which practically inherited the Benevolence International Foundation, was convicted in Sarajevo in July 2003; he was sentenced to two years for spying. Zahiragic was convicted because he was taking the confidential documents and information from the AID, the intelligence service of the former Republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina; these were the intelligence documents about the operations of the Islamic radical organizations and individuals in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Source: Nezavisne novine, Banja Luka, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 26 Jun 08
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