The Allmendinger Chronicles

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — From within Libya’s most secure jail a new challenge to al Qaeda is emerging.

Leaders of one of the world’s most effective jihadist organizations, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), have written a new “code” for jihad. The LIFG says it now views the armed struggle it waged against Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime for two decades as illegal under Islamic law.

The new code, a 417-page religious document entitled “Corrective Studies” is the result of more than two years of intense and secret talks between the leaders of the LIFG and Libyan security officials.

The code’s most direct challenge to al Qaeda is this: “Jihad has ethics and morals because it is for God. That means it is forbidden to kill women, children, elderly people, priests, messengers, traders and the like. Betrayal is prohibited and it is vital to keep promises and treat prisoners of war in a good way. Standing by those ethics is what distinguishes Muslims’ jihad from the wars of other nations.”

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Al-Qaeda’s recent attempt on the life of a Saudi royal suggests a change in tactics for an organization which has suffered substantial losses in the past few years. 23-year-old Abdullah Hassan Tali Asiri, a would-be suicide bomber listed on Saudi security’s list of most-wanted jihadis, called his target, Prince Muhammad bin Nayif, beforehand to say he wanted to return from Yemen to surrender (Saudi Press Agency, August 31). Bin Nayif is the Deputy Minister of the Interior for Security Affairs and has been in charge of the Saudi counterterrorism campaign since clashes between authorities and Saudi jihadis began in 2003.

Asiri called the prince to say that he and some of his colleagues wanted to turn themselves in, as the prince is well-known for his support of efforts to rehabilitate former jihadis. Bin Nayif has previously coordinated with influential Saudi shaykhs, such as Safar al-Hawali, who helped arrange the surrender of a number of wanted Saudi jihadis.

Asiri is believed to have been recruited to al-Qaeda by his brother Ibrahim, who is known by the alias “Abu Saleh” and also appears on the most wanted list (Saudi Gazette, August 31). In the evening of August 27, Asiri detonated his explosives moments after he reached the prince’s residence, where the prince was receiving guests at the end of the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (a Saudi custom). Asiri was killed by the bomb but bin Nayef, sitting just a meter away, suffered only superficial injury. Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack (al-Fajr Media Center, August 29). Saudi and other Arab media questioned how the assassin, who was supposedly searched four times before the detonation, managed to carry out the attack. Bin Nayif, who is known to have welcomed penitent militants into his home before, reportedly said afterwards that he had ordered his men not to search his would-be assassin in the belief that humaneness and magnanimity were key in reforming ex-terrorists (Al-Quds al-Arabi, September 2; Al-Sharq al-Awsat, August 31).

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PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire, September 9 /PRNewswire/ --

The producers of The Third Jihad (http://www.thethirdjihad.com) are making the full
feature-length documentary available to the public for online viewing, free
of charge, on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The film (regularly priced at $19.95) is available for free streaming in
its entirety from Wednesday, September 9 through Tuesday, September 15 on the
film's official website: http://www.TheThirdJihad.com.
    Individuals are encouraged to watch The Third Jihad and share the film
with others. The free stream can also be embedded on any website, blog,
Facebook page or social media platform.

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

AP

Ehsanul Islam Sadequee poses in front of the U.S. Capitol in a video recorded by his friend, a convicted terrorist, during their 2005 trip to Washington.

A jury found a 23-year-old man guilty Wednesday of aiding terrorist groups and sending tapes of U.S. landmarks abroad.

Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, who represented himself during his trial on charges of supporting overseas terrorists by using a video camera to scout national landmarks for terror attacks told jurors Tuesday that he never helped terrorists and said comments he made in jihadist online forums were harmless chatter.

Sadequee said during closing arguments that video shot during a trip with a friend to Washington was “amateurish and useless.”

“We were immature young guys who had imaginations running wild,” said Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, who faces up to 60 years in prison. “But I was not then, and am not now, a terrorist.”

After listening to six days of testimony, the jury of nine men and three women spent three hours deliberating Tuesday afternoon but did not reach a verdict.

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