McNabb in the News (7-22-06) 2

Senior Principal Douglas McNabb has been quoted in a Houston Chronicle article about the NatWest Three.

"I think the court is being particularly hard on them," said Douglas McNabb, … previously hired by the men as an expert witness for a London court hearing. "I respectfully disagree with the financial requirements imposed on them."^[1]

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[1] Tom Fowler, Judge Limits Travel of British Enron Bankers, Houston Chronicle, Jul. 22, 2006.

McNabb in the News (7-22-06)

Senior Principal Douglas McNabb was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle article about the criminal charges filed against Brocade Communications, Inc.

Douglas McNabb, a white-collar defense attorney … said that [the lack of financial gain] appears to be a theme the defense will harp on. "This isn't a matter of greed, as in many financial fraud or securities cases," he said, outlining a potential defense strategy. "This was a situation in which they were trying to attract the best and the brightest to work for them."^[1]

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[1] Carolyn Said, Backdating Issue Moves to Forefront, San Francisco Chronicle, Jul. 22, 2006.

Terrorism—Switzerland

Switzerland has remained steadfastly neutral for centuries, which has “insulate[d] it from the wars, invasions, and revolutions that have raged outside its borders.”^[1] That neutrality, however, has done little to insulate it from “Islamic radicals” who have made “inroads in Switzerland.”^[2] Last month, Swiss authorities arrested a dozen individuals on charges they conspired to “shoot down an Israeli airliner flying from Geneva to Tel Aviv,” and in a related case, a North African individual was charged with plotting to blow up the Spanish supreme court in Madrid.^[3]

The Swiss Federal Police have cautioned the country that “previous assessments that the domestic risk of terrorism was nearly nonexistent” needed to be reversed and that “Switzerland had become ‘a jihadi field of operation.’”^[4]

Sweden, too, is facing terrorism issues, and that country recently “convened a top-secret closed trial of three terrorism suspects…. Authorities have not identified the suspects or disclosed any evidence” in the prosecution, which was allegedly begun at the behest of the British.^[5]

This revelation has sparked ripples of concern in India, which has recently arrested three individuals for the Mumbai bombings.^[6] This is because the Alps have become “a cherished destination of Bollywood producers for film shoots.”^[7] The industry originally moved there in the 1980s due to militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, and more than 75,000 Indian visitors visit Switzerland yearly.^[8]

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[1] Craig Whitlock, In Neutral Switzerland, A Rising Radicalism, Wash. Post, Jul. 20, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Krittivas Mukherjee, Indian Police Make First Arrests in Mumbai Blasts, Reuters, Jul. 21, 2006.
[7] Bollywood’s “Dream” Destination—Switzerland Under Terror Threat, ANI (via Yahoo!), Jul. 21, 2006.
[8] Id.

Syed Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee—Superseding Indictment

After months of publicly accusing Syed Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee of activities which were not formally alleged in their April criminal charges, the two men have been charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to provide material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and attempting to provide material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.^[1]

According to the indictment, the first conspiracy charge involved cultivating contacts with those who support “violent jihad,” which is defined in the indictment as “planning, facilitating, preparing for, and engaging in acts of physical violence, including murder, kidnapping, maiming, assault, and damage to and destruction of property, against civilian and government targets, in purported defense of Muslims or retaliation for acts committed against Muslims, in the United States and in foreign nations.”^[2] Part of this cultivation of contacts allegedly involved preparing in “rudimentary paramilitary training” and traveling to Toronto, Washington, DC, and Pakistan.^[3] While in Pakistan, they allegedly desired to join Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, or the Army of the Righteous, which is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.^[4]

The “rudimentary paramilitary training” alleged in the indictment “includ[es] activities with paintball guns.”^[5]

Count Two of the indictment, which alleges that Mr. Ahmed and Mr. Sadequee actually provided material support and resources to terrorists arises out of the same behavior that led to the conspiracy charges.^[6] Those same allegations also lead to the charges of conspiring to provide material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and attempting to provide material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.^[7]

The train bombings in Mumbai last week have been characterized as being similar in method to attacks carried out by the Army of the Righteous in the past, according to US officials.^[8]

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[1] Terror Suspects Accused of Plotting Attack, AP (via USA Today), Jul. 19, 2006. See also, United States v. Ahmed, No. 1:06-CR-147, Indictment (N.D. Ga. 2006).
[2] Indictment, supra note 1, at 2.
[3] Id. at 3.
[4] Id.
[5] Id. at 5.
[6] Id. at 10.
[7] Id. at 11.
[8] AP, supra note 1.

Terrorist Groups—United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has “added four organizations to its list of terrorist groups on Monday.”^[1] The inclusions are the first conducted “under new legislation which makes it illegal to glorify acts of terrorism.”^[2] To this point, the home secretary could only ban groups if the groups were “directly involved in terrorism.”^[3]

Two of the groups are UK-based—Al Ghurabaa and the The Saved Sect—which are believed to be “splinter groups” of Al-Muhajiroun.^[4] Al-Muhajiroun was dissolved in October 2004 and its leader, Omar Bakri Mouhammad, left the United Kingdom and moved to Lebanon; he is barred from returning.^[5] Al Ghurabaa and the The Saved Sect came to prominence “when they were named as organizers of the protest marches outside the Danish embassy in February over publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.”^[6]

In addition to the two UK-based groups, “the government also outlawed TAK, which stands for Teyrebazen Azadiya Kurdistan,” better know as the Kurdistan Liberation Hawks.^[7] TAK has “claimed responsibility for a string of bomb attacks” in Turkey over the last year, and it is believed that the group has associations with Kurdish guerrillas.^[8]

The fourth group which has been added to the list is the Baluchistan Liberation Army, which takes its name from “the poorest and most thinly populated of Pakistan’s four provinces.”^[9] The group is fighting for an “independent nation encompassing areas in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran dominated by the Baluch ethnic group.”^[10]

The Terrorism Act of 2006 amends section 3 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 by inserting a new subsection 5A immediately after subsection 5.^[11] Under this amendment, an organization will be found to have promoted or encouraged terrorism if it has glorified the commission or preparation of acts or terrorism.^[12] Glorification includes “any form of praise or celebration.”^[13] Section 3 is amended further by inserting a subsection 6, which makes it clear that an organization cannot get around the proscription, simply by changing its name.^[14]

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[1] Katherine Baldwin, Four Groups Banned Under Anti-Terrorism Law, Reuters, Jul. 17, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Alan Travis, Reid Uses New Laws to Ban Two Islamist Groups for “Glorifying Terrorism,” The Guardian, Jul. 18, 2006.
[4] Baldwin, supra note 1.
[5] Id.
[6] Travis, supra note 3.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] See Terrorism Act 2006 (c.11) s. 21 (UK).
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.