- Munir Awad
-
Munir Awad 
Born 1981 (age 29–30) Arrested 2007
SomaliaReleased 2007 Citizenship Sweden Detained at black sites Charge(s) extrajudicial detention Status currently awaiting trial in Denmark Munir Awad (Arabic: منير عوض) is a Lebanon-born citizen of Sweden who has fallen under suspicion of an association with terrorism.[1][2][3] Munir Awad, and his fiancee, Safia Benaouda (daughter to Helena Benaouda, head of Muslim Council of Sweden), were captured when Kenya forces, with United States support, invaded Somalia.
The pair describe being held in extrajudicial detention following the invasion, together with a large number of foreigners. They were eventually released.[1][2] They told reporters that the soldiers who captured them were led by Americans and that Americans ran their interrogations.
According to an interview his fiancee gave to Raymond Bonner of the International Herald Tribune her interrogators kept asking her questions about a trip they said her boyfriend took to Denmark to recruit jihadists.[4] Benaouda told her interviewer that she told her interrogators that Awad had never been to Denmark, and that he did not convert to Islam until after 2004.
Benaouda said she and her boyfriend had traveled to Dubai, on vacation, but were disappointed at how commercialized facilities for tourists were.[4] So they traveled to Somalia to see a more traditional Muslim culture. They arrived in Somalia shortly before it was invaded by Kenya.
On August 20, 2009 the pair and their young child were apprehended in Pakistan, together with fellow Swede Mehdi Ghezali, and nine other non-Pakistanis.[3] Ghezali is reported to have told authorities that they were traveling to Lahore to participate in a Tablighi Jamaat conference. Mohammad Rizwan, the chief of police of Dera Ghazi Khan, who captured the individuals, has told the press that their luggage included a laptop computer, $10,000 USD and a suicide belt.
In November 2010, two Muslim organisations Cageprisoners and The Muslim Human Rights Committee (MMRK) published a report asserting Munir Awads innocence. [5] The paper was co-authoured by the spokesman for the MMRK, Kitimbwa Sabuni, who is related to Swedish Minister Nyamko Sabuni.
On December 29, 2010 he was once again arrested in Denmark, this time for the Copenhagen terror plot that was allegedly planning a "Mumbai-style" attack in revenge for the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.[6][7][8] In addition to Awad the suspects include 30-year-old Swede Omar Abdalla Aboelazm, 44-year-old Tunisian national Mounir Dhahri, and 37-year-old Swede of Tunisian descent, Sahbi Zalouti.[9]
References
- ^ a b "Ethiopia shows eight terror detainees on TV". CTV News. 2007-04-11. Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ctv.ca%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2Fscfcn%2FCTVNews%2F20070411%2Fethiopia_detainees_070411%2FWorld%2F&date=2009-09-16.
- ^ a b "Swedish teen says US led detention". Press TV. 2007-04-14. Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.presstv.ir%2Fdetail.aspx%3Fid%3D5900%26sectionid%3D3510205&date=2009-09-16.
- ^ a b "Terror suspect Swedes still detained: Pakistan". The Local. 2009-09-16. Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelocal.se%2F22118%2F20090916%2F&date=2009-09-16.
- ^ a b Raymond Bonner (2007-04-15). "Lark to Africa descends into Somali nightmare". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2007%2F04%2F15%2Fworld%2Fafrica%2F15iht-sweden.4.5297577.html&date=2009-09-16.
- ^ NOWHERE TO GO - Sweden’s complicity in the world-wide detention of Monir Awad, Cageprisoners & MMRK, November 2010
- ^ Josefine Elfström (2010-12-30). "Munir Awad en av de häktade Munir Awad en av de häktade - tidigare misstänkt som terrorist (In Swedish)". Expressen. http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/1.2272602/munir-awad-en-av-de-haktade-tidigare-misstankt-som-terrorist.
- ^ Alexandra Sandels (2010-12-30). "Denmark terrorism suspects plead not guilty". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-denmark-terror-20101231,0,7570120.story.
- ^ "Chilling details emerge in Danish terrorist attack plot probe". The Vancouver Sun. 2010-12-31. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Chilling+details+emerge+Danish+terrorist+attack+plot+probe/4045480/story.html.
- ^ "Fourth terror suspect remanded in Stockholm", The Local, 30 Dec 2010.
Categories:- Lebanese people
- Swedish people of Lebanese descent
- Swedish Islamists
- Swedish people imprisoned abroad
- Swedish extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
- 1981 births
- Living people
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