Special Dispatch - Reform Project
November 8, 2004
No. 812

Arab Liberals Petition the U.N. to Establish an International Tribunal for
the Prosecution of Terrorists

On October 24, 2004, the liberal Arab websites www.elaph.com and
www.metransparent.com published a manifesto written by Arab liberals, in
which they petition the U.N. to establish an international tribunal which
would prosecute terrorists, as well as people and institutions, primarily
religious clerics, that incite terrorism.(1)

The idea to petition the U.N. with this request was raised by the Jordanian
writer and researcher Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi in early September 2004, in
response to the fatwa issued by Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi - one of the
leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and one of the most important
religious authorities in Islamist circles - which called for the abduction
and killing of U.S. citizens in Iraq.(2) The idea was developed and written
up by Al-Nabulsi, Tunisian intellectual Al-'Afif Al-Akhdhar, and former
Iraqi Minister of Planning Dr. Jawad Hashem.

During the first 24 hours since the manifesto was published on the Internet,
it was signed by approximately 2,000 people worldwide, including
intellectuals, authors, poets, and journalists. The authors of the manifesto
hope that within a week the number of signatures will reach 10,000, at which
point it will be presented to the U.N.(3) The following are excerpts from
the original English translation of the manifesto, as published by the
authors:

Fatwas Are a Primary Cause of Terrorism

"Their Excellencies President and members of the UN-Security Council - His
Excellency, The Secretary-General of the U.N.:

"On October 8, 2004, the UNSC unanimously adopted Resolution 1566 (2004)
condemning all terrorist acts 'as one of the most serious threats to peace
and international stability.' In reaffirming its Resolutions 1267 of October
15, 1999; and 1373 of September 28, 2001; as well as its other resolutions
concerning threats to international peace and security caused by terrorism;
and in recalling its Resolution 1540 (2004) of April 28, 2004; Resolution
1566 decides:

"...To establish a working group consisted of all members of the Security
Council to consider and submit recommendations to the Council on practical
measures to be imposed upon individuals, groups, or entities involved in or
associated with terrorist activities ... including more effective procedures
considered to be appropriate for bringing them to justice through
prosecution or extradition, freezing of their financial assets, preventing
their movement through the territories of Member States, preventing supply
to them of all types of arms and related material, and on the procedures for
implementing these measures.

"As you are deliberating to recommend practical measures to be imposed on
individuals, groups, or entities involved in or associated with terrorist
activities pursuant to Resolution 1566, we, the signatories of this letter,
a group of Arab and Muslim liberals, would like to draw your attention to an
extremely dangerous source of terrorism. This source is the purported
religious pronouncements fatwas issued by some psychotic members of dogmatic
Muslims encouraging the commission of terrorist acts in the name of and
under the banner of Islam.

"It is not enough for the Security Council to adopt resolutions 'condemning'
terrorism. What will be more effective is the establishment of an
International Tribunal affiliated to the UN organization for the prosecution
of individuals, groups, or entities involved, directly or indirectly, with
terrorist activities including, but not limited to, fatwas issued by
religious clerics in the name of Islam calling upon Muslims to commit
terrorist acts.

"By these fatwas all terrorists have died, or will die, fully convinced that
they will immediately enter Paradise. Of course, we are not excluding other
causes for committing terrorist acts, such as the ticking-bomb of population
explosion with its resultant illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, backwardness
in education systems, reactionary religious teaching, and, above all, living
under dictatorial systems of governments in almost all Arab countries. But
despite the above causes, certain religious fatwas remain the pivotal cause
of terrorist acts - fatwas which clothe such terrorist acts with legitimacy
as being one of the sacred tenets of Muslim faith."

Examples of Fatwas

"We can provide you with an exhaustive lists of fatwas which incite
terrorist acts, but the following few may suffice:

* "When the presiding judge of the Egyptian Court asked Sheikh Mohamed
Al-Ghazali (a leader in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement) to opine
about the murder of Faraj Foda (an Egyptian secular intellectual) in 1992,
Sheikh Al-Ghazali's opinion was, 'The killing of Faraj Foda was in fact the
implementation of the punishment against an apostate which the imam (the
state) has failed to implement (undertake).' When the defendant heard
Al-Ghazali's opinion he shouted, 'Now I will die with a clear conscience
(for murdering Mr. Foda).'

* "On February 13, 2002, the London-based Al-Hayat newspapers published a
fatwa issued by the Saudi Sheikh Ali Bin Khodair Al-Khodhari approving and
condoning Al-Qa'ida's 9/11 terrorist acts in New York and Washington. In his
fatwa, the Sheikh said, 'It is astonishing to mourn the [American] victims
as being innocents. Those victims may be classified as infidel Americans
which do not deserve being mourned, because each American, as to his
relation to American government, is a warrior, or supporter, in money or
opinion. It is legitimate to kill all of them as combatant; or
non-combatant, such as the old, the blind, or non-Muslims...'

* "On February 13, 2002, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper also published
another fatwa issued by the Saudi Sheikh Safar Bin Abdulrahman Al-Hawali in
which he described the 9/11 attacks as an equivalent given in return for
President Clinton missile attack on Al-Qa'ida's training camps after the
terrorists attach on the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. He went on to
condone the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon describing
them as centers for money laundering, devil's nest, spying cell, and a mafia
retreat.

* "The fatwa issued by Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi permitting the killing of
'fetuses' (unborn) Jews, because (according to him) when Jews are born and
grown-up they will join the Israeli army. Furthermore, on September 3, 2004,
(at the Egyptian Journalist Union) Al-Qardhawi issued a fatwa to kill all
American civilians working in Iraq.

* "And on July 3, 2004, he issued another fatwa (published in Al-Ahram
Al-Arabi) permitting the killing of Muslim intellectuals as being apostates,
claiming that Islam justify the killing of such apostates. The fatwa issued
by Rashid Al-Ghannoushi (Tunisian) according to which he permits killing all
civilians in Israel, because (according to his fatwa) 'these are no
civilians in Israel. The population - males, females, and children - is the
army reserve soldiers, thus could be killed."

'Fatwas Issued by the Extremist Muslims Clerics Encourage the Commission of
Terrorist Acts'

"As it is difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute these extremists in
their native Arab or Islamic countries, they continue to issue and publish
their fatwas inciting acts of terror under the false umbrella of Islam. As
the fatwas issued by the extremist Muslims clerics encourage the commission
of terrorist acts to provoke a state of terror, and, due to the importance
of combating terrorism as a matter of urgency, we, the signatories of this
letter, respectfully submit to your excellencies and to the Working Group
Constituted pursuant to Article-9 of Resolution 1566 to create an
International Tribunal to prosecute all terrorists, whether individuals,
groups, or entities, including individuals who incite terrorism through the
issuance of fatwas in the name of religion."

Endnotes:
(1) http://www.elaph.com/elaphweb/Politics/2004/10/17789.htm , October 24,
2004.

http://www.metransparent.com/texts/arab_liberals_appeal_to_un_for_int_court_against_terror_fatwas.htm ,
October 24, 2004.
(2) See MEMRI Special Dispatch No.794, October 6, 2004, "Reactions to Sheikh
Al-Qaradhawi's Fatwa Calling for the Abduction and Killing of American
Civilians in Iraq,"
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=jihad&ID=SP79404 .
(3)http://www.elaph.com/elaphweb/ElaphWriter/2004/10/18190.htm , October 24,
2004.

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