CALLING FOR JIHAD IN BULGARIA
The publishers of two web sites preaching radical Islam in Bulgaria have been arrested in a special operation of the National Security Service and the anti-mafia unit of the Bulgarian police. According to the report of the Bulgarian news web site www.news.bg
51 year old Ali Haierdin is the leader and the main organizer of the illegal group. The man is a former senior mufti of Sofia and is known to have been connected with the Jordanian Ahmad Mussa, who was expelled from Bulgaria in the year 2000, after the authorities uncovered his plans to form a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Bulgaria.
The other person arrested is a female, also 51 year old, who is described in the report as the wife of Ali Haierdin. Her assignment was to gather information from Chechen web sites, to translate them into Bulgarian and publish them on the web site the couple operated. Among the arrested are also the two administrators of the web sites, 27 year old male M.A. and 37 year old female M.G. The latter has converted to Islam under the influence of the main leader, 51 year old A.H., later on publishing her own web site dedicated to spreading Wahhabi teachings. The Wahhabi style teachings provide the ideological foundation of radical terrorist groups like Al Qaeda.
THE SAUDI ARABIA CONNECTION
Bulgaria was accepted as a full fledged member state into the European Union on January 1 of 2007. Experts agree that more and more Islamic radical groups will seek to establish their presence in the country, seeing it as a doorway into Europe.
Most Bulgarians feel detached from the problems of the Middle East and follow the events reported by the international media with a neutral mindset. Today's sting operation comes as a wake up call for many ordinary people who have somehow believed that radical Islam will bypass the country. Inspite of the rise of nationalistic parties in recent years, most Bulgarians have not exhibited strong anti-Muslm feelings. Due to the internal political maneuvering of the representatives of Muslims on the political scene, Bulgaria managed to avoid religious conflicts typical of the Balkans in the 90's.
Some sources estimate over 12% of Bulgaria's 7,4 million population are Muslims. Until now the majority of the Muslim population has been considered of the moderate Sunni brand of Islam.
The secretary of the office of the Chief Mufti has denied any ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
However, in the last several years more and more evidence has surfaced of increased activity of Saudi Arabia radicals in Bulgaria.
The links of radicals to the chief mufti have been reported for years. One investigation, conducted in August 2004 by Yana Buhrer Tavanier, who is an editor with the Bulgarian weekly Kapital, uncovered a shadowy network that finances mosques and schools that promote the radical teachings of Wahhabi Islam and similar tendencies, and a network that has links to the chief mufti’s office.*
She tracked down some information that leaked through an Islamic web site, announcing the opening of new Islamic Schools in Bulgaria.
"One organization came up wherever we looked for radical Islam in Bulgaria: Al Waqf-Al Islami, a foundation that promotes Wahhabism in Europe.
The charity has built several mosques in Bulgaria ... and organized and financed a trip by Chief Mufti Fikri Sali to Saudi Arabia in July last year. While no Al Waqf involvement in terrorist activities has ever been proven, its Dutch branch--which invited Sali to Saudi Arabia--has come under suspicion after it was revealed that six of the 9/11 hijackers had attended a seminar it organized. (Al Waqf is among several organizations that are being sued by families of 9/11 victims.)
The Dutch intelligence service has recently compiled a report detailing the activities of
Al Waqf’s Dutch branch, based in the town of Eindhoven. The report described the Al
Waqf mosques there as a recruiting ground for a “holy war,” or jihad. Could something similar be happening in Bulgaria?
In our trip around Razgrad, in north-eastern Bulgaria, we found four mosques that had been built or financed by Al Waqf-Al Islami in 1993 and 1994, when the foundation was legally registered in Bulgaria. (Fikri Sali was also the chief mufti at that time.) The registration was revoked in the summer of 1994, and in 1999 its representative Abdulrahim Taha was expelled from the country.
But our report also indicates that Al Waqf never pulled out of Bulgaria. In fact, its
activities seem to be expanding. "
The report goes on to uncover more of the activities of Saudi Arabia sponsored radicals:
"...The Al Waqf foundation was registered in Bulgaria in 1993-1994, when the chief mufti was Fikri Sali. Among the founders was Abdullah al Huseini, brother of the Hamad al Huseini whose name showed up on a document discovered during a NATO raid in Bosnia detailing the “golden chain” of Saudi businessmen funding Al Qaeda.
There are at least four mosques in Bulgaria that have been built or supported by Al Waqf- Al Islami. All the mosques were built during the period when Fikri Sali was chief mufti and Mehmed Alya regional mufti of Razgrad--in 1993 and 1994. And Muafak was remembered as one of the benefactors in two of the villages with Al Waqf-Al Islami mosques.
Late 1993 was also the time when the chief mufti’s office concluded an agreement with
Al Waqf--a copy of which we obtained--for joint educational activities. The document
talks about “the opening of schools or training centers of a new kind” and support for
difficult, ill, or socially disadvantaged children.
The foundation promised to fund these educational institutions and, in return, received the right to control--“independently or jointly with the chief mufti’s office”--their operations and expenditure, and also the teachers’ work and the curricula.
In the summer of 1994, the Directorate on Denominations of the Council of Ministers
refused to re-register the foundation and, in 1999, its representative Abdulrahim Taha was expelled from Bulgaria..."
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* "Bulgaria: Mysterious Mosques and Schools"
report by Yana Buhrer Tavanier, 27 January 2005
