VZCZCXRO0283
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHVI #1589/01 3521225
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181225Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3908
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 VIENNA 001589 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/CT (SHORE) AND NCTC 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC KCRM KHLS EFIN KHLS KPAO AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM 
 
REF:  STATE 109980 
 
VIENNA 00001589  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. Per reftel, Post is submitting the 2009 Country Report on 
Terrorism for Austria.  Embassy POC for this report is Political 
Unit Chief Phil Kaplan, office phone: 43-1-31339-2114; email: 
kaplanpw@state.gov. 
 
Introduction and General Assessment 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. According to Austria's counterterrorism agency, the Bureau for 
the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT), there 
is a growing number of radicalized individuals among second- and 
third-generation Muslim immigrants and among converts to Islam in 
the country. 
 
¶3. Austria has a fairly comprehensive anti-terrorism and 
anti-monitoring legislative framework in place.  The government in 
December 2009 introduced a bill that will make it a crime to attend 
terrorist training camps abroad or to receive terrorism training on 
the internet. 
 
Terrorism Cases 
--------------- 
 
¶4. Austria's Supreme Court in August 2009 upheld a prison sentence 
for a young Muslim couple jailed for terrorist threats conveyed 
through the internet in late 2007.  In a related development, a 
Canadian court ruled in October 2009 that a Moroccan national, who 
had maintained close contact with the Austrian Muslim couple, was 
guilty of having planned bomb attacks against OPEC, UN sites and 
German facilities in Austria and Germany in 2007. 
 
¶5. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) 
criticized Austria in 2009 for failing to provide adequate security 
for Chechen asylum applicant Umar Israilov, who was murdered in 
Vienna in January 2009 by what were believed to be hit men in the 
pay of Chechen leader Ramsan Kadyrov.  Israilov had been the key 
witness supporting a lawsuit by the ECCHR against Kadyrov.  Austrian 
authorities believe the main assassin fled to Russia and have 
requested his extradition. 
 
¶6. A visiting Sikh cleric was killed and scores injured in May 2009 
when members of a Sikh sect attacked a rival sect at a Vienna 
temple.  The attack triggered violent riots in India. Four of the 
six attackers were asylum applicants - a fact that led to domestic 
debate about Austrian asylum policy.  In reaction, the Austrian 
interior ministry set up a special task force to monitor internal 
conflicts within Austria's ethnic communities, including the 
3,000-member Indian community. 
 
¶7. Of the 130,000 Turks in Austria, some 4,000 are believed to be 
sympathizers of the PKK.  Some Turks in Austria support Turkish 
jihadist Metin Kaplan.  In past years, Austria regularly witnessed 
minor, violent conflicts between Turkish and Kurdish groups, but 
there were no major confrontations during 2009.  In a separate 
development, a Turkish national of Kurdish origin was placed under 
pre-deportation custody in Wels, Upper Austria in 2009 under an 
international warrant accusing him of membership in a terrorist 
organization.  The 31-year old had lived under asylum status in 
Switzerland and Germany before being arrested in Austria. 
 
Terrorism Financing 
------------------- 
 
¶8. Austria closely follows EU policies to fight terrorist financing. 
 The GOA actively participates in the EU Clearinghouse mechanism, 
which designates terrorist financiers under UNSCR 1373.  During 
2009, Austria fulfilled its obligations to freeze assets, pursuant 
to UNSC resolutions and EU Clearinghouse designations, but did not 
initiate any freezing actions independently.  In 2009, Parliament 
passed two new relevant laws.  The Administrative Assistance 
Implementing Act provides a new basis for handling foreign 
authorities' assistance requests for exchange of tax information. 
Austrian authorities will provide information in tax proceedings, 
including data formerly blocked by bank secrecy regulations.  The 
Law on Payment Services integrates European Council Directive 
2007/64/EC on payment services into domestic law and establishes a 
license requirement for money transmitters, which so far was 
regulated under the Banking Act for relevant businesses.  With 
regard to diligence and STR obligations, the new law refers to the 
Banking Act.  The FATF's 2009 Mutual Evaluation Report, which 
includes FATF assessment of Austria's anti-money laundering and 
counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regime, acknowledges that 
Austria has established a comprehensive AML/CFT system, but raises 
questions about its effective implementation. In reaction, the 
Austrian government announced additional legal changes to bring its 
AML/CFT standards fully in compliance with the FATF's 40+9 
recommendations. 
 
¶9. A 2008 Vienna court ruling ordering the GOA to unfreeze about USD 
 
VIENNA 00001589  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
8 million from a bank account belonging to the Abu Nidal terrorist 
group was still under review in 2009.  The court had determined 
there was insufficient evidence that the money was connected to 
terrorism or would be used to support terrorism. 
 
Terrorist Groups 
---------------- 
 
¶10. The BVT continues to monitor a handful of mosques in Vienna 
suspected of preaching radicalism.  Likewise, it continued to follow 
the activities of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad movement, certain 
radicalized converts to Islam, and suspected Afghan and Chechen 
extremists entering Austria as asylum seekers. 
 
¶11. Austria has about 23,000 Chechen refugees.  According to 
counterterrorism experts, a small Vienna-based Chechen group serves 
as the European arm of the Chechen separatist movement headed by 
Dokku Umarov.  The Vienna-based group is suspected of extorting 
money from the Chechen expat community in Austria. 
 
¶12. According to the BVT, there are a few immigrant Muslims who 
sympathize with groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood (Al-Ikhwan al 
Muslimin), the Al-Gama'a al-islamiya, and the Global Revolution 
group (Hizb ut-tahrir al-islamiyya).  Media sites monitored by the 
BVT include the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) and the as-Sahab 
Foundation for Islamic Media Publications.  There are also some 
sympathizers of the Iranian People's Modjahedin 
(Modjahedin-e-Khalq).  Among Palestinians in Austria, there are 
supporters of Hamas, as well as of the Salafiyya Jihadiyya. 
 
¶13. On November 12, 2009, BVT agents, working in concert with law 
enforcement authorities from other countries, arrested two Algerian 
terrorism suspects in Vienna and Lower Austria.  The two men are 
believed to be part of an international group included in the UN's 
list of terrorist organizations. 
 
¶14. Austrian newspapers in spring 2009 reported about ongoing 
investigations by the Vienna public prosecutor aimed at the 
suspected head of a rumored Al-Qaida cell in Austria, Abdulrahman 
H., and 4 additional suspects.  Reportedly, Abdulrahman H. and three 
other suspects had attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan in 
¶2005. 
 
¶15. In late 2008, domestic and international media reported a 
possible link between Austria and the terrorists responsible for the 
November 2008 attacks in Mumbai.  As reported by the Indian 
newspaper "Indian Express" in 2008, one of the SIM cards used by one 
of the terrorists had been issued by a Vienna-based 
telecommunications company.  An Austrian newspaper subsequently 
claimed the terrorists had communicated via a Voice-Over-Internet 
Server (VoIP) in Vienna. 
 
Foreign Government Cooperation 
------------------------------ 
 
¶16. Austria traditionally maintains good bilateral relations with 
Syria and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Vienna in April 
¶2009.  Chancellor Faymann visited Syria in December 2009 as part of 
his call on Austrian peacekeeping troops on the Golan Heights. 
 
¶17. As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Austria in 
2009 chaired the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee 1267. In 
this capacity, Austria sought "to place particular focus on 
observance of rule of law and human rights with terrorism suspects." 
(See briefing by Austrian committee chairman Thomas Mayr-Harting to 
UN Security Council November 13. 
(http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/latest. shtml). 
 
¶18. The GOA in November 2009 submitted draft legislation to 
implement a 2007 EU directive obliging member states to store data 
from telephone conversations and internet communication.  The EU 
sees such storage policies as a tool in the fight against terrorism. 
 The EU in 2008 sued Austria over its failure to implement the 
directive, which remains highly controversial in Austria; polls show 
76 percent of Austrians reject the idea that data collection and 
public surveillance technology help protect the public against 
terrorism.  Under the draft, Austria would opt for the minimum 
allowed data storage period of 6 months.  Austria in November 2009 
abstained from a vote by EU Interior and Justice Ministers to 
approve a temporary agreement with the U.S. allowing sharing of 
banking data (collected by the Belgium-based SWIFT agency).  Austria 
submitted an addendum to the agreement highlighting shortcomings and 
urging additional amendments. 
 
¶19. Vienna is the seat of the United Nations Office for Drugs and 
Crime (UNODC), and of the related Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB). 
 Austria contributed 550,000 EUR (825,000 USD) to the UNODC in 2009. 
 Together with a handful of other nations, Austria in October 2009 
convoked a two-day counterterrorism networking workshop in Vienna 
gathering representatives from 100 nations and 40 international 
organizations and UN units.  In Afghanistan, Austria supported 
 
VIENNA 00001589  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
criminal law and criminal justice capacity building programs. 
Austria has been working with the UNODC and the EU to establish more 
effective border control checkpoints along the Afghan-Iranian 
border.  Austria traditionally relies on the network of Austrian 
liaison personnel stationed in critical countries abroad. 
 
¶20. Austria continued its participation in the Salzburg Forum, a 
regular meeting platform of interior ministers from Austria, the 
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Romania and 
Bulgaria designed to fight terrorism and organized crime in the 
region.  Similarly, the GOA worked throughout 2009 to promote and 
expand the Pruem Treaty, under which the seven EU signatory states 
share information from their police databases.  The Treaty, which 
involves the exchange of DNA, fingerprint, and vehicle data, is 
designed in part to identify terrorism suspects. 
 
¶21. In 2009, Austria played an active among EU countries within the 
Central Asian Border Security Initiative (CABSI).  Austria 
participated in the eighth meeting in Tashkent October 1-3, 2009, 
during which members discussed border security and cross-border 
cooperation in the region.