Interview of Mareb Press with Sheikh Fahad Al-Quso

A commander in Qaedat Al-Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula

Between the first and this second interview that I conducted with the commander

in Al-Qaeda organization, Fahad Al-Quso, are big important developments, some

related to Al-Qaeda organization in Yemen in particular, and some relate to the

situation in Yemen in general.

How does Al-Qaeda organization look to the rearranging of the situation in Yemen

based on the fears of abroad, what are it options in the future, all that evoked me to

meet Al-Quso, which is considered the third wanted on the list of terrorism for the

United States of America.

Al-Quso discussed many issues, including the presidential elections, the outcome

of the Yemeni revolution, and also the situation in Radda, and other issues in the

context of this dialogue.

Mareb Press: How do you look to the consensual presidential elections?

Fahad Al-Quso: We look to it that it is a dirty political game where the people

being are manipulated and its revolution is stolen and its anger is absorbed with it,

or who is Abd Rabbuh Mansur the sole candidate which the people have to give

him the trust? Isn’t he another face for Ali Abdullah Saleh and he was from almost

one and a half decade an obedient slave and the executer for the policies of Ali

Saleh, wasn’t Abd Rabbuh Mansur brought only by the American ambassador the

true ruler of Yemen, and the Gulf states, and weren’t those always against the

interest of the country?!

And more comprehensive than the issue of the referendum, we are still saying that

the democratic game is rejected by us from the Sharia perspective because it is

based on the rule of the people to themselves or the rule of the majority, and this is

competing with Allah in His rule, and the rule should be only to Allah, also it has

been proven by reality that democracy legitimizes only for injustice, corruption,

oppression and tyranny especially in the Arab lands, we want that these sides and

parties, either they were in power or the opposition, from controlling the fate of

the helpless people so that they be ruled by the Islamic Sharia instead of the

options of the American tutelage.

M.P: Why you didn’t allow for it to be conducted in the regions of your control?

F.Q: We reject these absurd elections and we see that its falsehood and we don’t

accept for the Muslims in general to participate in this falsehood and we don’t

allow it in our regions.

M.P: But all the parties have participated considering that it is the only exit for

Yemen, why were you an exception, aren’t you concerned for the interests of the

country?

F.Q: Many of the youth of the revolution are against this formal election, and

several parties inside the country refused these elections, are all these parties

including the youth of the revolution aren’t concerned for the interests of the

country?

I have said that our position is from a realistic and Sharia vision, and the only exit

for Yemen is for those who are in the authority and opposition who were

exchanging roles with the deceptive democracy game to go.

M.P: What is your position from the new government?

F.Q: We don’t think that the new government that it will change it stances,

because it’s a copy of the former regime especially regarding its relationship with

the Americans and negligence in the sovereignty of Muslim country, and therefore

we won’t change our positions, because the reality didn’t change.

The displaced

M.P: Why did you allow the displaced to return and you know that the army won’t

stop shelling?

F.Q: This is their city and they have to return to it. And despite we committed

ourselves in not to fire at the army but the army showed brazenly that it will

continue in its tyranny and arrogance and it seeks to displace the Muslims and

destroy what remained of their city, and the army bears directly all what happened

to the people of Zinjibar from displacement and calamity.

M.P: What is the percentage of those who returned to the city Zinjibar?

F.Q: It’s a big percentage and they really wanted to return to their city and we

welcomed them and a bus demonstration came out from the city of Waqar to

receive them.

M.P: What can you give them after they became in a region which the

humanitarian organizations or others won’t enter it?

F.Q: This is not true. The charitable and humanitarian organizations deliver the aid

to them with arrangement with the competent authorities of Ansar Al-Sharia. We

from our side offer what we can from services, like water, we pumped it until it

covered all the city, also the electricity, we were ready to operate two thirds of the

city with our own generators, and our brothers from the people of Zinjibar didn’t

see any shortening from us, just because we see that this is an obligation in Sharia

and a moral obligation that we should do.

M.P: But your presence in the city means that they will be displaced once again,

because the confrontations didn’t end, why don’t you go out?

F.Q: Why isn’t the presence of the army is the reason? Let the army withdraw

from the outskirts of the city, which was agreed by the people that it is the basis of

destruction and ruin. People don’t want these brutal military forces, and they can’t

live with it, but we are from the fabric of Muslim society and we cannot be

separated from it.

M.P: Are they satisfied with you or you are forced on them?

F.Q: The people felt from us honesty in dealing, and are very relieved from the

implementation of the Sharia of Allah, since maintaining security and the

robberies diminished and the goodness spread, even I say to you that regions far

from Abyan wish to be ruled by the Sharia, and implementing the Sharia doesn’t

depend on us but rather it should be sought by every Muslim everyone according

to their power and capability. And a quick journalist tour to these regions will

clarify to you the degree of acceptance of the people to the situation. And we

invite the journalists and reporters to visit the regions where Ansar Al-Sharia are

present and transfer the impressions of people there with credibility and

professionalism.

Controlling Radda

M.P: You coordinated with the National Security (service) and controlled the city

of Radda, according to your opponents, but who did you coordinate with when

you went out from it, for example with the Political Security (service)?

F.Q: The opponents whom you mentioned in the question are those who publicly

sit and the people see them on TV coordinating with the Americans who

established the National Security and supervise on the work of the Political

Security, who is more worthy to be accused of that?! The situation of those who

were mentioned or who fights and combats these intelligence services? And the

opponents in their media acknowledge that who fights these organs are Al-Qaeda.

In any case, we don’t need to coordinate with anyone in entering a land or getting

out from it and we aren’t from those who sells his religion for his Dunya, and all

these is from the disinformation in the channels of lying and deception - You're

living in a glass house and throwing stones -, in general war is to attack and

retreat, and this is the policy and art of war.

M.P: Who is behind killing sheikh Tariq Al-Dahab?

F.Q: The direct accused is his half-brother Hazam, and he is considered loyal to

the regime of Sana’a, and everyone knows that, and the killing of sheikh Tariq is

bigger than a case of brothers or family dispute, since the sheikh rahimahullah was

a tribal figure who gave a realistic model in implementing the Islamic Sharia

between the tribes in these regions, and he is a source of pride to all ten tribe of

Qayfa, and many people from the sons of the tribes in those regions gathered with

him to support the religion and implement the Sharia, I believe that is the real

reason which pushed the murderer to kill him, and we expect him to be from the

martyrs of Islam.

M.P: What is the future of the presence of Ansar Al-Sharia in the city of Radda

and the province of Al-Bayda after the death of sheikh Tariq?

F.Q: Implementation of the Islamic Sharia isn’t linked to persons, and sheikh

Tariq Al-Dahab rahimahullah have raised with his deeds and stances generations

after him who have given Bayaa to support the religion and implementation of the

Sharia, and he have left to them a model to be emulatedand a path to be followed.

M.P: Who is Tariq Al-Dahab according to Ansar Al-Sharia?

F.Q: Sheikh Tariq Al-Dahab rahimahullah is from the Amirs of Ansar Al-Sharia,

and he is an undeniable well known figure, and he was a man of asceticism,

worship and religion, we expect him to be so and Allah is his reckoner.

And he was a pioneer in implementing the Sharia between the tribes in Radda.

And Allah kept the his acceptance and love in the hearts of the people who agree

and disagree with him, as well as he was a brother - in – law for the martyr Dayiah

sheikh Anwar Al-Awlaki rahimahullah.

Negotiations with the governments

M.P: Where did the negations with the new governments reach and what were it

about?

F.Q: They weren’t negotiations but it was only a dialogue to solve the tragedy of

the displaced who were displaced by the army in Zinjibar.

M.P: But why did you refuse the return of the former public security forces and

security leaderships who belong to this province?

F.Q: As for the former security leaderships they are involved in financial and

moral corruption cases, injustice and oppression against the people of Zinjibar and

the are rejected by the people before being rejected by the Ansar Al-Sharia.

Regarding the public security forces we have offered them to enter the city under

our conditions and authority after they declare their repentance and adhere to the

regulations of Ansar Al-Sharia, by performing the Islamic rituals and compliance

to the true Islamic morals.

And as usual the government refused the offer presented by Ansar Al-Sharia

despite it was realistic and it was an appropriate solution in the framework of the

Islamic Sharia.

M.P: But why did the negotiations succeeded in Radda and failed in Abyan?

F.Q: Actually the negotiations didn’t succeed in Radda so that we say that the

dialogue failed in Abyan. Since the main condition in Radda which have been

dealt in its light which is the formation of a council from the sons of the region to

rule it with the Islamic Sharia but the government as usual didn’t fulfill this

condition and didn’t let the people rule with the Sharia.

M.P: You speak in the name of the sons of the province like right holders but you

decide on their behalf, why?

F.Q: This isn’t true. The leadership of the mujahidin are from the sons of this

region, and we meet the elders of the people and we have consultations and

deliberations with them in the framework of the Islamic Sharia, for example when

the displaced met with Amir Abu Hamza Jalal Baleidi and he spoke to them and

the outcome of the meeting was satisfying, since the people are convinced that the

army is the one who impedes any solution for the issue of the displaced.

M.P: What are the alternative options after the failure of the negotiations?

F.Q: The options regarding the opponents are various, but they always choose the

option that satisfies the Americans which is combating the Sharia and fighting the

mujahidin - Ansar Al-Sharia -.

M.P: Will hand over what is under your hands to the new government if the

situation became restored to it?

F.Q: The reality of the new government isn’t different from its predecessors by

making concessions to the Americans and neglecting the sovereignty of the

country, and total treachery to it. And the reality of the new government isn’t

different in not ruling with the Sharia of Allah and ruling with democracy that

contradicts with Islam. As for us our demand is ruling with the Sharia regardless if

it the ruler was us or others.

M.P: What if the regions under your control were punished by cutting some

services because of your presence in it as a type of pressure on you?

F.Q: The regions of Yemen in general have suffered and are still suffering from

deterioration of services or it originally isn’t present and people are accustomed to

provide services by themselves, so according to the people the presence of the

government services in both cases is equal.

In that situation the treat of cutting the services has no effect, and in case the

enemy used this paper it knows well we have many options to confront these

threats.

The American inference

M.P: Whenever you increase your presence, the American presence becomes

bigger, why don’t you leave so that this interference stops?

F.Q: The American inference is present from before, and Ali Abdullah Saleh is

only a vice from the vices of that interference, and the Americans are running the

country from 30 years, and the Americans using the Yemeni ports for the siege

and war on Iraq isn’t a secret, and this regime was caught red handed with the

crime of supplying the U.S.S. Cole in the port of Aden on its way to Iraq, and

today under the government of national accord it has become clear that the

American ambassador is the de facto ruler of Yemen.

As for who must leave? Is it we who must leave, we the people of the right,

religion and land, and America the Kaffir from far away enters our land and

control our affairs and matters, this is ridiculous, the land is our land, and the

country is our country, and our project is jihad for the sake of Allah to implement

the Sharia of Allah and liberate the lands of the Muslims from the direct and

indirect crusade occupation, the one who must leave are America and its agents.

The fate of the American interference in the Muslim lands is utter failure, and the

scenario of defeats that America received in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia will be

repeated in the Arabian Peninsula Insha’Allah.

M.P: Video clips have showed forces from the American marines present in Aden,

and also other American forces training Yemeni forces. Despite that there is a

revolution and a new government that previously used to accuse Saleh regime of

neglecting the Yemeni sovereignty?

F.Q: Regarding us we know and are certain from a long time about the extent and

size of the American interference in Yemen, and the Americans have participated

as officers and trainers in the battles of Dofas in Abyan, and these pictures that

appeared in the media is only documenting for the public opinion, and we say that

the increase of the American interference in Yemen in this timing indicates that

the authority and opposition are involved and in collusion with the American

project in Yemen, and the Americans are trying to benefit from the race of

concessions offered by the authority and opposition to gain the satisfaction of the

Americans and the West.

And the statement of Abdurrahman Bafadil head of Al-Islah parliamentary bloc

gives an indication that the leaders of the opposition that moved to the chairs of

the authority is the most willing to give the Americans more privileges that they

didn’t get in the time of Ali Saleh.

M.P: The American ambassador says that the journalist Shaye isn’t a prisoner of

opinion, he was imprisoned for cooperating with Al-Qaeda, how true is that, and

why the decision of releasing this journalist is linked to the Americans despite that

he is in a Yemeni prison?

F.Q: The American ambassador is speaking like he is the actual head of Yemen, so

he orders, forbids, permits and practices the roles of the president in Sana’a, and

the journalist Abdul-Elah Shaye is imprisoned and exposed to affliction because

he said a word of truth that doesn’t please America and uncovered the crimes and

massacres of America against the Muslims in Al-Majala and Shabwa in December

2009.

In the eyes of the American democracy all who don’t agree with America is

against it and thus Abdul-Elah Shaye – may Allah ease him – is considered with

his stance that opposes the American interference isn’t a prisoner of opinion.

M.P: Is it true that the aerial American raids have reduced recently, and does that

have a relation with the ending of Saleh era?

F.Q: The American raids are still going on and the latest is the raid that targeted

the commander Abdel Moneim Al-Fatahani rahimahullah with three mujahidin in

Abyan on 30 January, and the American interference is still escalating under the

assumption of the vice president the presidential duties, and the Americans don’t

care the person of the president as they are concerned with what they are allowed

from military interference and direct bombardment and killing in Yemen.

And this is fully consistent with the pragmatic American philosophy that doesn’t

look to the thing in itself but rather to what it achieves from interest on the ground.

M.P: How do you read the future of the American interference in the Yemeni

internal affairs in light of the current developments?

F.Q: The Americans want to benefit from the wide margin which the leadership of

the opposition is granting them as a price for accepting it in the political game, and

the Americans in general only work through an internal political party, and also a

human element that directs the bombardment and identifies the targets, and

America will only gain failure from its policy, the more the bombardment

increases the acceptance of the people and their joining the mujahidin increases ,

and this is proven and a reality in the past two years, because in the eyes of the

Muslims America will only be an evil, injustice and falsehood, and in its battle

with Al-Qaeda is fighting goodness, justice and right.

The execution of spies

M.P: On what basis did you execute those whom you accused of spying, and were

they really spies?

F.Q: Certainly they were spies according to their confessions and the evidence

proves that on them, and the Judicial Committee studied the details of the case

from all sides, and based on that it issued the Sharia sentence against them.

M.P: Didn’t they have the right of appealing and appointing lawyers since you

have Sharia courts?

F.Q: What you have mentioned in the question are manmade procedures in the

courts that have no relation to the Islamic Sharia and these procedures aren’t

known in the history of the Islamic judiciary. As for the Islamic judiciary the

procedural aspect is simple and isn’t complicated and is consistent with the

lenience of the Islamic Sharia also the judiciary in Islam is independent from the

authority.

And the Sharia court ensures for the accused all his rights, such as defending

himself and the judge listening to both sides the plaintiff and the defendant, and

after the evidence were proved against them the accused acknowledged the

charges against them before the Judicial Committee and whereby the Sharia

sentence was issued.

M.P: Bin Qammad said that they confessed under the threat of death, and that they

weren’t informers?

F.Q: What we will benefit when we get false confessions? And why Maeed bin

Qammad among all the people?, we worship Allah by being honest, and the court

according to its issued statement have requested several persons to appear before

the court, so why don’t Maeed come and acquits himself.

M.P: How did you question them, and do you use torture to get confessions?

F.Q: The security service practices its work according to Sharia regulations and

deals with those who no evidence were proven against them that they are just

suspects until proven otherwise.

M.P: Why does the Saudi government intelligence is active against you more than

its activity against the Houthis who are near them?

F.Q: I prefer that this question be directed to the Saudi government so that we

know the reason. The Saudi mentality is similar to the American mentality so the

priorities of the American policy are the priorities of the Saudi policy, since your

question is a good question, why doesn’t it seriously go to fight the Houthis who

are expanding in every direction and are practicing the most heinous methods in

fighting Ahli Sunnah, and Dammaj is only an example for their hidden hatred?

The operations

M.P: What is your relation to the operation that targeted the German doctors years

before in the province of Sada’a?

F.Q: The Yemeni government has formally accused the Houthis of that, and that

accusation was the reason for the outbreak of the 6th war against the Houthis.

M.P: Some parties in the Saleh regime have accused you of standing behind the

operation that targeted president Saleh, do you have a relation with it?

F.Q: The government of Ali Saleh has accused several parties which indicate its

confusion, and we say that the regime knows for sure who targeted him.

M.P: Do you really target the officials who belong to the Political Security and

turn a blind eye on their counterparts in the National Security, why?

F.Q: This is not true, we fight them all as all of them fight us, and we through the

process of the security war with the Yemeni regime and the prisons that we were

exposed to we got to know greatly the Political Security Service and its personnel

and officers and the way its work and its institutional structure which made it easy

for us the task of targeting them, and with the grace of Allah some of the spies

belonging to the National Security were captured and they were planting chips on

the cars of the mujahidin, and a judicial ruling was issued against them and it was

conducted, and what we mean is that we are in a continuous war with these

intelligence services which cannot be ignored except for the quibble that is

practiced by some parties.

M.P: Why did you stop exporting operations to outside, is it because you devoted

all your efforts for your internal project?

F.Q: The war didn’t end between us and our enemies, and wait for what is coming.

The dissenting other

M.P: Some fear you because you only know killing and don’t accept anyone who

dissent with you?

F.Q: The real fear is from the existing parties that fight in the streets of Sana’a and

leave the bodies to rot to be eaten by the dogs, and the real fear is from the Houthi

expansion and its practices against the people of Sada’a, Amran, Hajjah and Al-

Jawf which left thousands of dead and disabled.

Who fears us can visit our regions which we are present to know the truth which is

contrary to this talk, and in general is part of the campaign of distorting the

mujahidin in an attempt to isolate them from the society, and this won’t succeed

Insha’Allah and is breaking on the stone of blending and consolidation between

the mujahidin and the society.

M.P: What is your stance from the other Mazhabs and the freedom of religion, and

how do you deal with the people with other ideas and beliefs in the regions which

you control?

F.Q: We have the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the prophet peace and

blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, which regulate our dealings with

all people, and the Sharia has a way to deal with every dissident according to how

far or close is he to it.

And we don’t have absolute freedom, the boundaries of the freedoms are set by

the Islamic Sharia.

M.P: What is also your stance from the parties and partisan work?

F.Q: We say that Moslems should leave any way of dispersion and partisanship,

we only gained from this partisanship more dispersion, dispute and dispersal, as

for the liberal, secular, socialist and others our position towards them is clear and

we cannot accept it according to the Sharia position, since they are parties that

contradict with Islam.

The Arab spring

M.P: Did Al-Qaeda come out a loser from the revolutions of the Arab spring,

especially under the role which America is playing inside the revolutions, and

what are the gains that you see that Al-Qaeda have come out from it?

F.Q: Who really lost is America when it lost its agents and lost its balance on the

rhythm of the Moslem peoples revolutions, if the only gain is that the peoples have

reached to what we were previously calling it to do to revolt against the rulers and

rebel against corruption and denying the injustice of the kings and liberation from

subordination and break the barrier of fear and hesitation it would have been a

gain to the Ummah, and we are part of the Islamic Ummah and every gain for the

Ummah return with good on all of us.

M.P: But it looks like that the Moslem Brotherhood group of the holder of the

biggest share of gains, and the results of the elections that followed the revolution

in Tunisia and Egypt are a proof?

F.Q: Reaching to the seat of power isn’t the final gain, but rather it is changing the

reality of the Moslem peoples on all aspects and implementing the Islamic Sharia,

spreading justice, extending Shura (consultation), independence of the country

from subordination and not trading with the causes of the Ummah.

And this didn’t happen even after reaching the leadership of the Ekhwan to the

legislative and executive authority, for example in Egypt the crucial causes of the

Ummah are held under political trading like the recent position of the Ekhwan

about the peace treaty with the Jews ‘Camp David’, if the Americans reduced the

financial support to Egypt the terms of the treaty will be reviewed and if the

Americans increased the financial support to Egypt they will keep the terms of the

treaty as they are and they won’t be reviewed.

Look to what the ‘moderate’ Islam – according to them – which is ruling Turkey

did, it is the first to conduct military normalization with ‘Israel’, and the land and

water of Turkey became a field for the joint Turkish – ‘Israeli’ maneuvers, that

same case is with the NATO which Turkey is a participating member, which is

bombing the Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan from Turkish lands, are these the

gains that Muslim peoples are seeking?!

M.P: But what is behind the welcoming of the United States of America for the

coming of Islamist groups like the Moslem Brotherhood group, to power after the

revolutions of the Arab spring?

F.Q: The Americans certainly don’t have good intensions and they want to benefit

from these groups in fixation of the American project which shook after the

revolutions.

This imperialist capitalist expansionist American project in the region must have

tools to move and achieve its interests, and the reality of the Ekhwan leadership

today is the best to do this role in this current historical stage.

M.P: Should we wait for a coming war between you and the Ekhwan group if the

group reached to power and responded to the American demands in the field of

war on terrorism?

F.Q: If they entered in the American alliance to fight the mujahidin, what prevents

from fighting them?

Interviewed by: Abdulrazaq Al-Jamal

Source: Mareb Press