Accused Muslim kept under arrest

DURRES, Oct 25 – An Albanian Muslim, who was arrested on charges of inciting terrorist acts, has been kept under arrest.
Artan Kristo, known as Muhamed Abudullah, was arrested last week in the port city of Durres. The court decided to keep him under arrest, a move which caused him to accuse authorities of setting him up by taking his words out of context.
“The prosecutor does not understand those words,” he said in the court last week. “I am innocent and do not deserve to remain behind bars because the words were taken out of context from a 60 minute speech.”
Kristo also said he needed to be out of jail due to his health problems.
The Durres District Court decided to deny bail.
Prosecutors had started the investigation into Kristo’s activities two months ago securing enough evidence to charge him with inciting terrorist acts and arresting him.
Kristo is accused of, “ưublicly inciting and propagating terrorist actsŢ and calling for jihad at an internet online forum.
Meanwhile in another move in the Muslim Community, its deputy chief was fired from the post, leading him to accuse the leader of abusing the post.
There have been internal conflicts between the community leaders and young personalities, who mostly studied in the Middle East after the collapse of communism, on efforts to keep control of the Muslim Community, the country’s leading Islamic organization.
Kristo had formerly worked in 2002 as a representative of the El-Haramain Foundation, an Islamic charity with alleged ties to Al-Qaida. The El-Haramain offices in Albania were closed in 2004 and the charity banned after its inclusion on the US State Department’s terrorist watch list.