Iraqi in Denmark recruited suicide bombers
Denmark unable to deport him on "humanitarian grounds"
(AFP)
COPENHAGEN - Danish intelligence agency PET suspects a 42-year-old Iraqi man living in Denmark of being the chief Northern European recruiter for suicide bombers for Iraq, Danish newspaper Politiken said Sunday.
PET has for more than a year tried to expel Amer Saeed from Denmark under special anti-terror legislation on the grounds that he poses a threat to the Scandinavian country’s national security, Politiken said.
However, his expulsion has not been carried out on humanitarian grounds and he continues to live in Denmark.
PET has never disclosed any details about why it wants him expelled, neither to Saeed nor his lawyers.
But Politiken said it had copies of German court documents that showed that Saeed had been in close contact with Moroccans who collaborated with the Al-Qaeda in Iraq terror network.
The documents “from several German terrorism trials show that PET believes that Amer Saeed has been the main organiser in Northern Europe for recruiting terrorists to Iraq,” Politiken said.
Politiken said the claim was corroborated by confidential interrogation reports from the Moroccan intelligence agency, of which the newspaper had copies.
“In the reports, captured members of a Moroccan terrorism cell explain that when they found a young man in Morocco who was willing to sacrifice himself as a suicide bomber in Iraq, they contacted Amer Saeed, who arranged for the young suicide bomber to be sent to Iraq,” Politiken wrote.
Saeed told the newspaper that he had been in contact with people who belonged to terror organisations, but denied that he recruited suicide bombers.
“I was only friends with them. We had completely different opinions on terrorism,” he said.
PET has also tried to expel one of Saeed’s friends in Denmark, another Iraqi identified as Mohamad Ezzedine Hamid, arguing that he too poses a threat to national security for helping to recruit suicide bombers, Politiken said.
Hamid told Politiken he had travelled to Syria seven or eight times and been in touch with representatives for terror organisations in Iraq, but insisted he was only trying to get help to find his brother missing in Iraq.
According to the Danish daily, a US State Department status report on terrorism last week said PET suspected two northern Iraqis living in Denmark of sending suicide bombers from the Middle East and Europe to Iraq.
PET has refused to comment on all of the reports.