Radical Islamic Web Site Apparently Hosted By Houston-Based ISP
By Jeremy Reynalds (08/16/04)
An Islamic Web site posted still pictures Friday that purportedly showed Iraqi militants beheading an Egyptian man who they claimed was spying for the U.S. military.
While the pictures have not been authenticated, the site (www.hostinganime.com/iraqnews1) is well known for showing both videos and still pictures of the recent spate of decapitations.
Hosting Anime is a free web site provider which hosts a number of apparently al Qaeda related web sites. In a company forum (http://forums.hostinganime.com/viewtopic.php?t=176&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=736fbbce00ca2002467c88245c61e411), an apparent Hosting Anime administrator said that "free speech" and inadequate resources to go through all the reports of abuse is the reason the company keeps operating the sites.
Free speech does appear to play a part in why the sites continue to remain on line, as while both the FBI and the Dept. of Justice are aware of Hosting Anime and its activities, the sites remain on line.
One FBI agent said as distasteful as the images portrayed on the sites are, they are still apparently legal.
A letter to a reporter from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) read in part, "We have considered carefully the information ... but the matter does not appear to be within the jurisdiction of our office."
However, the DOJ referred the issue to the Civil Rights Unit of the FBI, writing in part, "The issues raised may fall within the jurisdiction of your agency and therefore we are referring it to you for appropriate disposition."
An individual recently wrote to the Hosting Anime forum (http://forums.hostinganime.com/viewtopic.php?t=207) asking, "In the ‘terms of service' listed by Hosting Anime, it declares that any website written in any language besides ENGLISH will be removed. So why are all of these JIHADIST websites in ARABIC still being hosted?"
His response from the apparent system administrator was "Hello, honestly, you managed to find the TOS, but you were unable to find the link to report abuse. This is not the abuse department, and myself, the only staff member who participates on this forum, cannot remove accounts. No need for more of these threads."
The complainant listed a long list of sites that included:
www.hostinganime.com/meshawir
www.hostinganime.com/meshawir/aljhad.html
www.hostinganime.com/e3dad123/film.htm
www.hostinganime.com/meshawir/moga63h.html
www.hostinganime.com/gim/GIMfaroq.htm
www.hostinganime.com/seer/index.htm
www.hostinganime.com/iraqnews1/index.html
www.hostinganime.com/iraqnews2
www.hostinganime.com/iraqnews3
www.hostinganime.com/abu-hafs
www.hostinganime.com/neda5/sout/index.html
www.onefreehost.com/neda4/index.htm
www.hostinganime.com/neda4/index.htm
www.hostinganime.com/neda3/sout
www.hostinganime.com/neda3/sout/new.htm
www.hostinganime.com/neda2/sout/index.htm
www.hostinganime.com/neda2/page/new.htm
www.hostinganime.com/sout19/b15doc.zip
www.hostinganime.com/sout19/s20pdf.zip
www.hostinganime.com/qaedoon/index.htm
www.hostinganime.com/qaedoon/sout.htm
www.hostinganime.com/abuhagar/abuhager.htm
www.hostinganime.com/gim/GIMfaroq.htm
www.hostinganime.com/faroq/Osama2usa.htm
www.hostinganime.com/haramin/index.htm
While it has not been determined who is responsible for Hosting Anime, as site administrators have laid an extensive trail of false and confusing information, it appears that ultimate responsibility for Hosting Anime may lie with the Houston-based Everyone's Internet (www.ev1.net). Company officials have repeatedly failed to return phone calls or e-mails concerning their apparent involvement with Hosting Anime.
In a recent story concerning this latest beheading the Associated Press (AP) reported there was no record that the man, identified on the Web site as Mohammed Fawzi Abdaal Mutwalli, had been kidnaped. The date of the beheading was not given.
According to the AP, police officials said Mutwalli, 45, went to Iraq in 1986 to work as a car mechanic. He was single and from the village of Saqr in Dakahlia province in the Nile Delta, the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP.
There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials to the AP.
Reports of the beheading had first surfaced Wednesday, the AP reported, and Egyptian government officials could not confirm it. Friday's edition of the opposition newspaper Ahrar quoted the Egyptian Foreign Ministry as saying it had received no news of Mutwalli's kidnapping or killing.
The images show three masked men standing in front of a banner carrying the name and golden-sun logo of Tawhid and Jihad, the group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that has claimed responsibility for the beheading of other hostages in Iraq including American Nicholas Berg and the South Korean translator Kim Sun-il.
The pictures showed a man, with a mustache and an Arabic robe, sitting in front of the three masked men. Captions on the pictures of the hostage, the AP reported, read, "From the Arab Republic of Egypt. Mohammed Fawzi Abdaal Mutwalli. I was working as a spy with the Americans in Iraq."
A statement that appeared on the Web site alongside the pictures said, the AP reported, "This is the story of the Egyptian traitor spy. This criminal confessed that he was taking electronic devices from the Americans to throw them into the Mujahedeen's (holy warriors') locations so the Americans could identify the targets and raid them with planes and missiles."
Some sort of apparent electronic device is then shown in the next two pictures.
The pictures that follow then show the man lying on the ground. A militant decapitates him with a knife, holds the severed head and places it on the executed individual's back. The man's body is surrounded by a pool of blood.
The morality of killing Muslims who work for the U.S.- led multinational force in Iraq has long been debated on Islamic extremist Web sites, but generally it has been considered acceptable, the AP reported.
A Turkish hostage, Murat Yuce, was shot dead by Tawhid and Jihad militants in an Internet video that appeared on Aug. 2. The kidnappers claimed he supported "the occupier."
Opinions have differed on taking Muslims hostage and beheading them, the AP reported. Some have said that "fellow Muslims" should be spared while others have said they should be killed to deter Muslims from becoming "allied with the devil."
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