AZERBAIJAN: 2006 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM

UNCLAS BAKU 001842

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC EFIN KCRM KPAO PTER KHLS AEMR AJ KAPO
SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN: 2006 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM

REF: STATE 175925


1. Summary: Cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United
States on counterterrorism predates the September 11, 2001
attacks and the waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support
Act in January 2002. Over the past five years, the GOAJ has
continued to step up its efforts to combat terrorist
financing, and has aggressively apprehended and tried members
of suspected terrorist groups. It has rendered numerous
terrorists and persons suspected of having ties to
terrorists. It has also closed Islamic organizations
operating in Azerbaijan, which were suspected of supporting
terrorist groups. In April 2006, Azerbaijan sentenced two
separate terrorist cells associated with militant Islam to
prison sentences. End Summary.


2. Proposed report for Azerbaijan in 2006 Patterns of Global
Terrorism Report to Congress.

Azerbaijan and the United States have a very good record of
cooperation on counterterrorism issues that predates the
September 11, 2001 attacks. Azerbaijan assisted in the
investigation of the 1998 East Africa Embassy bombings and
has cooperated with the U.S. Embassy in Baku to counter
terrorist threats against the mission. After the September
11 attacks, the Government of Azerbaijan expressed
unqualified support for the United States and offered
"whatever means necessary" to the U.S.-led counterterrorism
coalition. Azerbaijan has granted blanket overflight
clearance, engaged in information sharing and law-enforcement
cooperation, and has approved numerous landings and refueling
operations at its civilian airport in support of U.S.
military operations in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan has supported
peacekeeping operations in Iraq since August 2003 with an
infantry company of approximately 150 soldiers stationed at
the Haditha dam. A platoon of Azerbaijani soldiers has been
working with the Turkish peacekeeping contingent in
Afghanistan since November 2002, and President Aliyev
announced plans to double this number to between 40 and 44
soldiers. Another platoon has been working with the Turkish
peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo since 1999.

Azerbaijan has also provided strong political support to the
United States in the Global War on Terrorism. With the 2005
ratification of the International Convention for the
Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, Azerbaijan has
acceded to all 13 United Nations Conventions on Terrorism.
It has also joined 11 European conventions on combating
terrorism. In 2003, the GOAJ implemented UN Security Council
resolutions 1368, 1373 and 1377. In May 2005, the
GOAJ joined the Convention of the Council of Europe on
terrorism prevention. The government also approved changes
to the criminal code that increased the maximum penalty for
acts of terrorism from 15 years to life imprisonment and
added a provision making the financing of terrorist
activities a crime under Azerbaijani law.

While Azerbaijan has served as a route for international
mujahedin with ties to terrorist organizations seeking to
move people, money, and material throughout the Caucasus,
Azerbaijan has stepped up its efforts and has had some
success in reducing their presence and hampering their
activities. Azerbaijan has taken steps to combat terrorist
financing and identify possible terrorist-related funding by
distributing lists of suspected terrorist groups and
individuals to local banks. In May 2003, the GOAJ
established an inter-ministerial experts group responsible
for drafting anti-money laundering and counterterrorist
finance legislation. In December 2006, the experts group,
through the President's office, provided its most recent
draft to the U.S. Department of Justice and the COE for
comment. The draft law includes the establishment of a
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and expands the predicate
crimes for money laundering beyond narcotics trafficking.
The Embassy anticipates that comments in-line with
international standards will be provided in mid-January and
continued emphasis will be placed on adoption of the law.

In April 2006, the Azerbaijani Serious Crimes court sentenced
six men in a group called Al-Muvahhidun Jamaat to prison
terms ranging from 10-15 years. The group was convicted of
the following crimes: illegal purchasing of weapons, armed
robbery, illegal border crossing, fabricating documents and
resistance to law enforcement. According to the Azerbaijani
Ministry of National Security, the members of the group
planned to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey
for military training. The group was accused of planning
bomb attacks on the U.S., Israeli and Russian embassies, the
State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR)
building, and the National Bank of Azerbaijan, and "seeking
the physical elimination of the leaders of Azerbaijan's
government and security forces." The group was originally
arrested on July 13, 2005.
Also in April 2006, in a separate trial involving a separate
group, also called al-Qaida Caucasus (separate from a group
of the same name sentenced in 2005),16 group members were
sentenced to terms of up to life in prison. The group was
convicted of the illegal purchase and bearing of firearms and
also for the assassination in July 2005 of an officer of the
Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs. This group
consisted of citizens of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia and
Yemen. Most of them were activists of various radical
religious organizations and that had undergone training at a
camp in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge.

According to media reports, Azerbaijan also participated in
the international investigation regarding bombings at the
U.S. embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in June 2004. The
investigation led to the conviction and sentencing of
Kazakhstani citizen Zhakshibek Biymurzayev to 25 years in
prison on terrorism charges in Kazakhstan. Biymurzayev was
one of the main orchestrators of the Tashkent suicide bombing
and a high-level member of the Islamic Jihad Union.

Since the September 11 attacks, Azerbaijan has turned over
approximately 32 foreign citizens with suspected ties to
terrorists, including eight to Egypt and three to Saudi
Arabia. Overall, the State Border Guard Service reported
that it has extradited 39 international terrorists and
deported 152 people on suspicion of ties to terrorist
organizations. In 2006, Azerbaijan turned one terrorism
suspect over to Russia. The individual was accused of a
bombing in Dagestan in 2002. He was originally arrested in
Azerbaijan and sentenced by an Azerbaijani court in April
2006 to seven years in prison. He was then extradited to
Russia for investigation.

There is no evidence in 2006 that terrorists find safe haven
in Azerbaijan or that there is any terrorist group operating
in Azerbaijan which meets the guidelines as defined for this
report.

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ADDIONAL POC

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