VZCZCXRO8907
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHLZ RUEHPOD
DE RUEHMZ #0409/01 1920754
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 110754Z JUL 07
FM AMCONSUL MUNICH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4032
INFO RUEAWJB/DOJ WASHDC
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUNICH 000409 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DSERCC, DS/IP/EUR, DS/DSS/ITA, EUR/AGS, S/CT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC ETTC PGOV PREL KCRM KISL KVPR GM
 
SUBJECT: ANSAR AL-ISLAM MEMBERS CONVICTED BY BAVARIAN COURT 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
REF: Munich 218 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) The Bavarian Supreme Court sentenced Ansar al-Islam member 
Farhad Kanabi Ahmad to five years and six months in prison on July 9 
following the sentencing of Dieman Abdulkadir Izzat to three years 
and three months in prison on June 25.  Prosecutors had asked for 
sentences of six years for Ahmad, and four years and nine months for 
Izzat.  The presiding judge found the men guilty of membership in a 
foreign terrorist organization, violation of Germany's foreign trade 
law, and in the case of Izzat, fraud.  An official of the Bavarian 
Interior Ministry told ConGen Munich these cases demonstrated the 
need to closely monitor Islamic extremists.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
"TERRORISTS ALWAYS NEED MONEY FOR THEIR KILLING" 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2.  (U) Iraqi Farhad Kanabi Ahmad a.k.a. "Kawa Hamawadi" (from 
Munich) was sentenced to five years and six months in prison by the 
Bavarian Supreme Court on July 9.  Iraqi Dieman Abdulkadir Izzat 
(from Nuremberg) was sentenced to three years and three months in 
prison by the same judge in a parallel trial on June 25.  Presiding 
judge Bernd von Heintschel-Heinegg found both guilty of membership 
in the foreign terrorist organization "Ansar al-Islam" and violation 
of Germany's foreign trade law.  Federal prosecutors had asked for 
sentences of six years for Ahmad, and four years and nine months for 
Izzat [Note: the maximum sentence under German law for membership in 
a foreign terrorist organization is 10 years]. 
 
¶3.  (U) While the judge found both Ahmad and Izzat guilty of having 
collected money in Germany for Ansar al-Islam, he could not find 
evidence for all counts cited in the indictments.  Apart from 
supporting a foreign terrorist organization, the judge found that 
the transfer of money to Iraq also constituted a violation of the 
foreign trade law, as the EU embargo on Iraq at the time prohibited 
financial transfers.  Additionally, Izzat was found guilty of fraud, 
having received payments from the Nuremberg welfare office amounting 
to 45,000 Euros, which he also transferred to Iraq. 
 
¶4.  (U) The judge based his sentences on a number of intercepted 
telephone conversations and e-mails.  A fellow prisoner testified 
that Izzat had divided people into good and evil -- those who were 
followers of Islam and others who were "devils."  The police also 
found videos with killing scenes that the prosecutor characterized 
as "extremely cruel."  At the beginning of the trial, Izzat was also 
alleged to have preached hatred and called for suicide bombings, a 
charge that was later dropped due to lack of evidence. 
 
¶5.  (U) The trials fell under the August 2002 federal legislation 
criminalizing membership in a foreign terrorist organization, which 
was introduced following September 11, 2001.  In January 2006, a 
Bavarian court sentenced Lokman Amin Mohammed to seven years in 
prison -- the first conviction in Germany under the new law.  In 
sentencing Ahmad on July 9, the judge criticized the conduct of two 
separate but related Ansar al-Islam trials in Bavaria and Baden 
Wurttemberg (currently underway), as a waste of legal resources, 
when they could have potentially been combined.  The judge added 
that he would suggest the following headline for his verdicts: 
"Terrorists rarely ever kill for money, but they always need money 
for their killing." 
 
----------------- 
FREEDOM FIGHTERS? 
----------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) The lawyers of the two Iraqis had pleaded for their 
acquittal, defending them as "freedom fighters" against the U.S. 
occupation in Iraq, and questioning the credibility of witnesses and 
evidence -- mainly intercepted phone conversations, SMS' and 
e-mails.  They also rejected terror videos as "mere propaganda" that 
had nothing to do with the individual actions of the defendants. 
The judge, however, expressed the conviction that both men approved 
of terror acts.  He said his sentences were for clear criminal 
activity, not to punish "resistance fighters" or followers of a 
foreign religion.  It was absurd, he said, to make brutal 
decapitations, suicide attacks and the killing of innocent women and 
children a human rights issue. 
 
---------------- 
"A REAL BAD GUY" 
 
MUNICH 00000409  002 OF 002 
 
 
---------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) A Bavarian Interior Ministry contact told ConGen Munich 
that Izzat was a "real bad guy," and lamented that the court had not 
been able to pass a longer sentence.  He added that in Islamic 
circles in Nuremberg, Izzat had the reputation of being a key 
adviser on religious issues, which clearly demonstrated why it was 
so important for the Interior Ministry to closely monitor potential 
extremists.   It was difficult for the Office for the Protection of 
the Constitution (OPC) to penetrate religious services in DITIB 
(Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs) mosques, he said, 
adding that it was practically impossible to convince peaceful 
Muslims of the need to inform the police about suspicious action. 
Home-grown terrorism was becoming an increasingly worrisome problem 
in Germany, he added, as evidenced by the recent arrest of four 
Europe-bound men with German passports in Pakistan suspected of 
links with al-Qaeda. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) While these trials fell under the jurisdiction of federal 
prosecutors, the case against both defendants was built by Bavarian 
authorities using the tools they created to combat Islamic extremism 
(REFTEL).  The comments from the Bavarian Interior Ministry 
underscore Bavarian law enforcement's view that not only is their 
aggressive approach the right one, but if anything, needs enhancing. 
 With law-and-order Interior Minister Beckstein all but certain to 
ascend to the Bavarian Minister-Presidency this fall, we expect this 
view will carry the day. 
 
¶9.  (U) This report was coordinated with Embassy Berlin. 
 
¶10.  (U) Previous reporting from Munich is available on our SIPRNET 
website at www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/munich/ . 
 
NELSON