Bosnian Muslim Charged with War Crimes

Bosnia-Herzegovina has charged a Bosnian Muslim of Arab descent with war crimes in the country's first ever case against Islamic fighters or so called Mujahedeens. By Sabrina Hodzic

Abduladhim Maktouf is accused of war crimes against civilians for his involvement in the detention and abuse of five Bosnians non-Muslim civilians by Mujahedeen in central Bosnia in 1993.

State prosecutors allege that Maktouf was a well known international criminal who had close links with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The five civilians were taken to a Mujahedeen camp where they were tortured and according to indictments by the state prosecutors one of the prisoners was beheaded.

Volunteers from Islamic countries

During the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, Maktouf had arrived in Bosnia with hundreds of volunteers from various Islamic countries to help Bosnian Muslims fight against the country's two other ethnic groups, the Bosnian Serbs and Croats.

After the war and due to his service in the Army, Maktouf received a Bosnian passport and had established himself in Travnik where he worked and specialised in the electrical trade.

In June, authorities in Sarajevo extradited him from Canada where he fled to at the end of the 1990s to avoid a government crackdown on tax evaders.

Muraif Husic, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs explains the role of foreign fighters in the Bosnian-Herzegovina Army.

An army unit consisting of foreigners from Asia and Africa

"It's difficult to say exactly how many Mujahadeens came into Bosnia and Herzegovina via Croatia. The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina had a unit whose members were all foreign citizens from Asia and Africa."

Mr Husic says investigations into the backgrounds of former Islamic fighters in Bosnia and Herzegovina are underway.

Antonia Rados is a German journalist who has researched the activities of the Mujahadeen during the Bosnian war.

She says that many of these Islamist fighters had fought in the Afghanistan war in 1979 to 1989 against the Soviets.

Volunteering to fight in the front lines

"It was quite difficult doing research," says Rados. "The unit was very conspiratorial and their numbers were very small. They called themselves the "Muslim Brigade" and they were based in Travnik and Zenica. Muslim fighters from Tunisia and Morocco were integrated in Bosnian army units. The local people had repeatedly told us that these fighters had volunteered to fight in the front lines. Many of these fighters had fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets and were trained in guerrilla war. Many of them have died during the Bosnian war."

Rados said the government in Sarajevo knew about the presence of Mujahadeen fighters and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina had authority over the Muslim Brigade.

Little or no control over army soldiers

However she doubts whether the Army had any real control over these fighters who were at the time opposed to the Izetbegovic government and its multi-cultural policies aimed at improving its reputation among the international community.

Antonia Rados claimed that the government tried to bury the fact that Islamic fighters were in the country.

The German Journalist stated that the aim of these fighters was to internationalise the Bosnia war by turning it into a war between the Islamist and Christian world.

She believed the Mujahadeen fighters had failed in that goal.

Sabrina Hodzic

(adapted by Anita Purcell)