Yahoo Group Known as al Qaeda Mouthpiece Hosts Paul Johnson Beheading Pictures

June 19, 2004

Editor's Note: MND does not link to terror-related websites. We have replaced "." with the word "(DOT)" in the web address to defeat search spiders.

The American defense worker captured by dissidents in Saudi Arabia last week has been killed after a 72-hour deadline for the Saudi government to release al Qaida prisoners passed.

Paul Johnson was seized last weekend by Saudi dissidents who promised to kill him by Friday, press agencies reported, if the kingdom did not release its al Qaida prisoners.

On Friday a website showed photos of Johnson beheaded. A statement on the site said the Saudi government had failed to release the prisoners as the captors had demanded.

Johnson, who worked as an engineer on Apache attack helicopter systems for the Saudi government, was targeted, according to his kidnapers, for that reason. In a statement posted on the web site they wrote, "Let him taste something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and missiles ... the infidel got his fair treatment."

"They killed him in cold blood," Reuters reported President Bush said of the captors. "America will not be intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs."

Hours later press agencies reported, Saudi security forces announced that they had shot to death the leader of the group claiming responsibility for Johnson's abduction and murder.

The web site that featured the pictures is registered to Saad al-Fagih.

Contacted by telephone in London, al- Fagih said neither he or his organization, the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), were responsible for the images being posted on his site, which, he said, is a bulletin board available for public posting. The images were posted as a link to another site, al-Fagih said.

"We have a tough policy of removing these links quickly. It takes no more than a few minutes before they are removed," al-Fagih said. "We do not want our sites to be a platform for this. It is in the interest of the Saudi agencies to present us as if we were an (organization) for terrorism."

According to al-Fagih, "It is because of the policy of the West to support the secretive (Saudi) regime that this violence is increasing. We want to support peaceful reform and we are completely disassociated from terrorism or violence."

Al-Fagih is a Saudi Arabian dissident living in London. He heads MIRA. In a Sept. 2001 interview with Frontline, he described " the factors fueling anti-Americanism in Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations, and explained the Saudi government's dilemma if it allies itself with the U.S. in the war on terrorism."

Additional information about MIRA is available at www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Number=969845

A few hours later the same pictures appeared on a Yahoo Group Site – Global Islamic Media (GIM) – (http://finance(DOT)groups(DOT)yahoo(DOT)com/group/ilamislami/message/12), that has become known as being a mouthpiece for the al Qaida.

The pictures are apparently stored on the servers of www(DOT)q8ytop(DOT)com at www(DOT)q8ytop(DOT).com/pic/files/rewq-1087584602(DOT)gif

That site is registered to Abdulmohesn Mohhamad in Kuwait and appears to be predominantly commercial in nature with the exception of these images.

Up until a few weeks ago, GIM was known on line as Global Islamic Media. It changed to Global Islamic Media Centre, and then slightly altered its on line name to Global Islamic Media Center. After disappearing for a few weeks it has reemerged as "Ilamislami."

The group posts all of its messages over a distinctive brown parchment background (apparently stored on the servers of www.jihadunspun, a controversial pro Islamic web site). The posting featuring the images of the Johnson beheading appear over a partially obscured advertisement for Verizon Wireless.

Yahoo did not respond to a request for comment about its continued hosting of GIM.

Johnson was the latest westerner to be seized during an ongoing series of attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Three days after his capture, Johnson appeared on a video on the internet in which his captors identified themselves as an al Qaida group.

They threatened to kill him on Friday unless the Saudi government released all its al Qaida prisoners and all Westerners agreed to leave the Arabian peninsula.

The incident prompted a travel warning by the U.S. State Department.

A warning issued on June 17 read in part, "The U.S. Government continues to receive credible information indicating that extremists are planning further attacks against U.S. and Western interests. Terrorists have taken at least one American citizen hostage and have recently killed others in shooting attacks. Terrorists also attacked residential housing compounds using vehicle bombs in 2003 and 2004, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries, including to American citizens. Credible information indicates that terrorists continue to target residential compounds in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the Riyadh area, but also compounds throughout the country. Recent incidents indicate that American citizens residing in private residences are also being specifically targeted."

However, that warning, the Associated Press (AP) reported is being ignored by many. And U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell agrees with them, the AP reported, because of they leave, the terrorists have won. Saudi officials concur, and security consultants say companies need to step up the level of protection.

Jeremy Reynalds

He was honored with the prestigious Jefferson Award in 1994. Reynalds emigrated from England to the United States in 1978 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1999. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University, located in La Mirada, California, just outside Los Angeles.

He is also the author of two books and a contributor to a third, which deals with the media's images of the homeless. He may be reached by e-mail at reynalds@joyjunction.org.