Ahmed Said Khadr
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Ahmed Said Khadr (1945-2003) (أحمد سعيد خضر) (sometimes called Ahmed Saeed Abdur Rehman Khadar) was an Egyptian-Canadian man living in Afghanistan, who was a supporter of al-Qaeda and an associate of Osama bin Laden.
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[edit] Khadr family
Khadr immigrated to Canada from Egypt in 1977. He and his wife Maha Elsamnah, a Palestinian-Canadian who he met after his arrival, had six children, among which are four sons, Abdullah, Abdurahman, Omar, and Abdul Karim; and two daughters, Zaynab and a younger daughter who is still a minor.
In 1980, inspired by the jihad declared by Muslim scholars against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Khadr travelled there, and met bin Laden. His young family joined him there shortly afterwards.
In 1985 Khadr started working in Peshawar as volunteer co-ordinator for the charity Human Concern International.[1]
In 1992 Khadr was injured by a land mine, and returned to Canada for over a year of recuperation.
Khadr's name became widely known in Canada in 1996, when he was arrested by the Pakistani government for an alleged role in a terrorist bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad. He launched a hunger strike and was interviewed in hospital, proclaiming he was innocent and that his work consisted solely of charitable work to provide food and schooling to Afghan orphans.
As Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien happened to then be visiting Pakistan, he mentioned the matter to Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and managed to secure Khadr's release.
Human Concerns International cut its ties to Khadr after his arrest by Pakistani Security officials. Khadr then founded his own "charity", Health and Education Project International.[1] Human Concern International has done its best to isolate its name from Khadr and to insist that he never subverted any of their resources. Khadr is widely believed to have subverted funds donated to Health and Education Project International to fund terrorist activities.
In 2001, Khadr and his family attended the wedding of bin Laden's son, Mohammed, a friendly gesture which bin Laden reciprocated when he later attended the wedding of Khadr's daughter Zaynab.
Khadr was killed in Afghanistan in 2003 during a shootout with Pakistani soldiers. His son Abdul Karim, then 14, was paralyzed in the same incident.
Another son, Abdurahman Khadr, was held at Guantanamo Bay and later released.[2] He revealed that he had actually been working for the American Central Intelligence Agency as a mole in the prison.[3]
Fifteen year old Omar Khadr was captured, during a skirmish, on July 27, 2002. Khadr is alleged to have mortally wounded Sergeant Christopher J. Speer. Sergeant Speer's widow Tabitha Speer, and Sergeant Layne Morris, a GI who lost an eye in that firefight launched a civil suit against Ahmed Khadr's estate. Normally one can't sue for damages that were the result of an act of war in US courts. They argued that Omar's resistance was not an act of war, it was an act of terrorism. Further, they argued, Omar was still a minor, so the responsibility for Omar's military training, and willingness to die, lay with his parents. A Utah court awarded Speer and Morris $11 million.
Omar was charged with Murder and attempted Murder on November 8, 2005.[4] If the US Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush does have the constitutional authority Khadr will be tried before a military commission in Guantanamo.
[edit] Khadr and the Mahdi Army
An article in the July 13, 2006 National Post reports that the SITE Institute identifies Khadr as the founder of an Afghan group called the Mahdi Army. [5] The SITE Institute claims they acquired this information by translating Arabic language video, and associated postings, from password protected al-Hesbah and al-Ekhlaas forums Islamic web-sites.
The National Post repeats a passage about the Mahdi Army that the SITE Institute asserts it translated from these sites:
- "Brother Abu Abdurahman Al Kanadi, may Allah have mercy on his soul, a.k.a. Ahmed Said Khadr, used to be in charge of it, but he was killed by the Pakistani army in October, 2003, in the area of southern Waziristan,"
The National Post acknowledges that it can't confirm the SITE Institute claims. But it reports that the claims are consistent with information it has acquired from Canadian security officials. It quotes an affidavit RCMP Sgt. Konrad Shourie wrote last year:
- "I believe that the entire [Khadr] family is affiliated with al-Qaeda and has participated in some form or another with these criminal extremist elements."
Without citing a source the National Post reported:
- "The RCMP says Khadr was 'tasked' by Osama bin Laden to form a militia in 2001, and in 2003 was ordered to organize 'attacks against U.S. and coalition forces' near the Afghan border."
[edit] Quotes about Khadr
- "We believe dying by the hand of your enemy because you believe in… you're doing it in the way of Allah, that it's the best way to die. My father had always wished that he would be killed… he would be killed for the sake of Allah. I remember when we were very young he would say, if you guys love me, pray for me that I get jihaded, which is killed." -- Khadr's daughter Zaynab, on her father[6]
[edit] See also
- Human Concern International
- Health and Education Project International
- Khadr family
[edit] References
- ^ a b National Post Apologizes to Human Concern International, South Asia Partnership Canada, April 26, 2004
- ^ Khadr thankful to be back in Canada, CBC, December 1, 2005
- ^ Son of al Qaeda, Frontline (PBS)
- ^ U.S. charges Omar Khadr with murder, National Post, November 8, 2005
- ^ Faction linked to Khadr claims attacks: Allegedly formed by Canadian, National Post, July 13, 2006
- ^ Son of al Qaeda: Intro, Frontline (PBS)
