Bajram asllani Most wanted lives next door to UN in Kosovo untouched
Source: Indian Express
The US considers lumberjack Bajram Asllani one of its most wanted men but, because of Kosovo’s unusual international status, it is unable to extradite ands interrogate him. Unlike others on the most wanted list, Asllani is not hiding out in a distant desert or rugged mountain range.
The 30-year-old lives openly with his family in Kosovo, a pro-US Balkan country where about 800 US soldiers help preserve peace between majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs, formerly the rulers.
A friendly local policeman even pointed the way to his street when a journalist recently tried to find
Asllani's home in Mitrovica, one of the country's largest cities. Asllani's case is caught up in the legal system of Kosovo, whose own weak judicial system leaves European Union prosecutors to handle major terror cases. Kosovo, whose independence was recognised by all but a handful of countries three years ago, wants to join the EU but remains an international protectorate over a decade after its war forliberation.
The FBI Wanted poster on the internet has complicated life for Asllani, who lives on state unemployment benefits for his wife and three children of just 75 euros a month. "I lost my job and there are times when I don't have enough to feed my chil dren," he said. "No one is hiring me. They say: you are a terrorist, you have attacked Americans."
TheFBIwantedposter reads: Bajram Asllani is an alleged co-conspirator with a group of eight individuals in the US who were allegedly co-conspiring to engage in violent jihad, or holy war, and to raise money for mujihadeen.
Asllani, a Kosovar Albanian, was arrested in June but released after EU judges rejected a US request for his extradition. The EU judges found that the US had not provided sufficient grounds for believing that Asllani had committed the offences.
The man the FBI considers highly dangerous lives next door to a UN building. “I am a victim of secret services,” said Asllani, who is accused of providing material support to terrorism suspects. He is accused of having ties and soliciting money from men in North Carolina arrested last year for an alleged plot to attack a US Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, and alleged plans to hurt people overseas including in Kosovo, Jordan and the Gaza Strip. The complaint alleges Asllani was preparing to buy land in Kosovo to build a base for extremist Islam, including storage of weapons and training of fighters.
The US considers lumberjack Bajram Asllani one of its most wanted men but, because of Kosovo’s unusual international status, it is unable to extradite ands interrogate him. Unlike others on the most wanted list, Asllani is not hiding out in a distant desert or rugged mountain range.
The 30-year-old lives openly with his family in Kosovo, a pro-US Balkan country where about 800 US soldiers help preserve peace between majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs, formerly the rulers.
A friendly local policeman even pointed the way to his street when a journalist recently tried to find
Asllani's home in Mitrovica, one of the country's largest cities. Asllani's case is caught up in the legal system of Kosovo, whose own weak judicial system leaves European Union prosecutors to handle major terror cases. Kosovo, whose independence was recognised by all but a handful of countries three years ago, wants to join the EU but remains an international protectorate over a decade after its war forliberation.
The FBI Wanted poster on the internet has complicated life for Asllani, who lives on state unemployment benefits for his wife and three children of just 75 euros a month. "I lost my job and there are times when I don't have enough to feed my chil dren," he said. "No one is hiring me. They say: you are a terrorist, you have attacked Americans."
TheFBIwantedposter reads: Bajram Asllani is an alleged co-conspirator with a group of eight individuals in the US who were allegedly co-conspiring to engage in violent jihad, or holy war, and to raise money for mujihadeen.
Asllani, a Kosovar Albanian, was arrested in June but released after EU judges rejected a US request for his extradition. The EU judges found that the US had not provided sufficient grounds for believing that Asllani had committed the offences.
The man the FBI considers highly dangerous lives next door to a UN building. “I am a victim of secret services,” said Asllani, who is accused of providing material support to terrorism suspects. He is accused of having ties and soliciting money from men in North Carolina arrested last year for an alleged plot to attack a US Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, and alleged plans to hurt people overseas including in Kosovo, Jordan and the Gaza Strip. The complaint alleges Asllani was preparing to buy land in Kosovo to build a base for extremist Islam, including storage of weapons and training of fighters.
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