Scotland Yard terrorism ‘adviser’, Mohamed Ali Harrath, is wanted on terrorism charges. Woah! Read about it below.
Mohamed Ali Harrath
Mohamed Ali Harrath has been under investigation by Interpol for connection to terrorist organizations since 1992. Yet, he has been working for Scotland Yard as a terrorism adviser. I suppose, if the allegations against him are true, then he certainly would be an expert on terrorism.
Harrath is from Tunisia and co-founded the Tunisian Islamic Front (FIT), an organization dedicated to overthrowing the Tunisian government.
Tunisia has accused Mr Harrath, the chief executive officer of the Islam Channel in Britain and an adviser to the Scotland Yard Muslim Contact Unit, of seeking help from Osama bin Laden. It says that the FIT wants to establish “an Islamic state by means of armed revolutionary violence”.
Mr Harrath has been convicted in absentia of numerous criminal and terrorism-related offences by Tunisian courts and sentenced to 56 years in prison. Tunisia is an ally of the West in the fight against terrorism but is regarded by critics as a police or one-party state. Its secular Government regards those who advocate an Islamic state as a threat to its stability.
In 2003, the FIT was accused of terrorist activities in France. Harrath denies that and claims that his organization was wrongly accused in this case. No evidence has ever been presented linking him to terrorist activities in France. He admits to his involvement with FIT, but claims it is not what it is being presented as being.
Mr Harrath admitted setting up the FIT but said that it was a “nonviolent political party founded in 1986 to oppose the one-party state in Tunisia”. He stated unequivocally: “We are not extremists and we are not terrorists and we [sic] never been involved in any such activities”. However, he added that “revolution is not [necessarily] a dirty word” and “there is nothing wrong or criminal in trying to establish an Islamic state”.
All the same, he is on Interpol’s highest level of alert for terrorist activities. He is also working for Scotland Yard in the Muslim Contact Unit on preventing extremism and terrorism.
Does all this make you feel safer? I certainly don’t want to convict this guy without evidence. On the other hand, muslim extremist have not been our friends and waiting till we are attacked hasn’t worked so well. I worry about how seriously the world takes the Global War on Terrorism.