AUCKLAND: (Pacific Media Watch): The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for Kurdish terrorist Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, better known under the name of Mullah Krekar, to be deported to Australia.
The Australian affiliate of IFJ, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), has already made this demand, 10 years after the killing of cameraman Paul Moran of the Australian public network ABC in the Iraqi village of Sayed Sadiq on 22 March 2003.
A freelance reporter, Moran was the first foreign journalist killed in Iraq, three days after the American-led invasion began.
Krekar was at the time leader of the terrorist group Ansar Al-Islam, fighting for an Islamic state in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq, and reportedly ordered the attack that killed the 39-year-old cameraman.
According to IFJ, Moran was in the final stages of filming Kurdish “peshmerga” guerrilla fighters when a car drove up next to the group, stopped and exploded. Moran died instantly.
Christopher Warren, federal secretary of the MEAA, said: “The murder of Paul Moran is an important reminder of the dangers journalists confront. But increasingly, the murder of journalists is being met with impunity as authorities fail to pursue these dreadful attacks with proper investigation and due judicial process to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"The most important signal any government can send about press freedom is that it will pursue with vigour and proper resources not just the people who pull the trigger but also those who ordered the killing. To fail to do so means that the killers are literally getting away with murder.”
The MEAA said it would continue to call on the Australian authorities to bring Mullah Krekar to justice in Australia.
Jailed in Norway
Mullah Krekar, 56, went to Norway in 1991 as a political refugee. From 1991 to 2002, Krekar travelled frequently from Norway to the Kurdish region of Iraq.
In 2001 the terror group Ansar Al-Islam was founded with Krekar as the leader. The group carried out a number of attacks between 2001 and 2003. In 2006 the U.S. Department of Treasury designated Krekar as one of five individuals providing financial support to terrorist organisations.
Krekar has in several interviews praised al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden saying that the deceased al-Qaida leader is “the jewel in Islam’s crown” and a “good Muslim”. He has also encouraged the creation of an Islamic caliphate – a “super-state” which would cover much of the Islamic world – led by Osama bin Laden and various other radical Islamists.
In August 2002, while Krekar was in Iraq his refugee status was revoked by the Norwegian government. Krekar was apprehended at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam in September 2002, and deported to Norway in January 2003.
In February 2003, the Norwegian government ordered Krekar to be deported to Iraq.
The decision to extradite Krekar was brought to a trial by Krekar’s lawyers and went all the way to the Supreme Court, where the extradition was upheld in November 2007. The Supreme Court also ruled that Krekar is a threat to national security.
However, Krekar still lives in Norway as the Norwegian government refuses deporting him to a country which enforces the death penalty.
Krekar's threats
In 2010, Krekar stated that if he was forced to leave Norway and subsequently killed in Iraq, the person(s) responsible for that decision would also die.
"If I die, it will be the beginning of the killings," he said.
The former Interior Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, filed terrorism charges against Krekar the following year. In March 2012 he was sentenced to five years prison for death threats against Solberg and three Kurds living in Norway.
The sentence was reduced to two years and ten months in the Court of Appeals in December 2012. Krekar’s lawyers have appealed this sentence to the Supreme Court, which is yet to process this case.
In March 2013, Norwegian newspaper VG reported that Norwegian officials had met with Iraqi officials in Bagdad over a possible deportation of Krekar. As Iraqi officials still could not guarantee that he would not be sentenced to death penalty, the Norwegian government reiterated its position to not deport any individuals who might face the death penalty in the country they are deported to.
Currently Krekar is living in the town of Kongsvinger, 92 km north east of the capital Oslo, where he is imprisoned.
Australian reluctance
Last year, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) revealed the Australian government has made no attempt to have Mullah Krekar deported to Australia to face charges for the murder of cameraman Paul Moran.
According to documents leaked to WikiLeaks there were “no obstacles” to such an extradition request being approved.
In an interview with ABC in 2007, Krekar did not make any apologies for killing Moran, but stated that “he was also our enemy”.
Krekar has challenged the Australian government to come and get him, but the government has instead, according to ABC, adopted a "do nothing approach".
International war crimes prosecutor Graham Blewitt has suggested Australia simply does not want him, and that it would be "very expensive".
Norwegians aware of demand
In December 2010, it was reported that American authorities in at least 17 documents in the period 2002-2009 have pushed for Krekar to be extradited to Australia. That is according to WikiLeaks documents accessed by VG.
According to U.S. authorities, Norway has not been able to keep Krekar under control, and an extradition to Australia is therefore desirable from the American point of view. American officials have been unhappy Krekar's treatment in Norwegian courts with the previous U.S. ambassador to the country, Benson Whitney, in a confidential 2006 letter stating:
"There are no reasons to believe that Krekar will be extradited in the near future. Particularly when considering how Krekar's lawyers are playing with the Norwegian judicial system - to Krekar's advantage." The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told VG in 2010 that there have been no requests from Australian authorities to have Mullah Krekar extradited.
The Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security informs the Pacific Media Watch that it has "noticed that different groups have asked Australian authorities to take necessary steps to have Najmuddin Faraj Ahmed, Mullah Krekar, extradited to Australia. The Ministry cannot comment specific cases. On a general note, we can inform that if the Ministry receives an official request for extradition of an individual, this will be processed in accordance with the rules in the Extradition Act following normal procedures."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Daniel Drageset
