BRITISH INTELLIGENCE shared information with their Libyan counterparts on a Libyan-born naturalised Irish citizen they alleged was part of a network which recruited young Muslims, including Irish-born converts, to fight in Iraq, according to a classified document obtained by The Irish Times.
The file on Ibrahim Buisir, who has lived in Ireland since the early 1980s, was among secret papers found abandoned at the British embassy in Tripoli last week. It was discovered in a dossier compiled by British intelligence which contained profiles of 12 Libyans living overseas.
The file is marked “UK/Libya eyes only” and references indicate that it dates from 2004. It states that Mr Buisir was then “the subject of a British Security Service investigation”.
He is described as a “leading Islamist figure” at a Dublin mosque and it alleges he is a self-professed member of an Islamist group, Jama’at Islamiya. It also states he is heavily involved in Islamic charities and NGOs, including the Islamic Relief Organisation, which it notes has a branch in Dublin.
“In this regard, he is believed to have collected funds in support of a variety of extremist Islamist activities around the world, including the network of international mujahidiin (sic) leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” the document alleges.
Al-Zarqawi was the head of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq until he was killed in a US raid in 2006.
The file alleges Mr Buisir had also “featured as central to an Islamist extremist recruitment, facilitation and fundraising network, based in the ROI (Republic of Ireland) and Northern Ireland, which attempts to convey individuals to fight coalition forces in Iraq. This network is believed to recruit young Muslims and Muslim converts (often native to ROI) to the extremist cause, provide them with training, and then send them into battle in Iraq.” This network, it noted, was also believed to facilitate the travel of veteran fighters within Europe, as well as to and from areas of conflict, typically through the provision of counterfeit documentation.
Mr Buisir, whose name is also spelt Boyasseer or Bouisir, is one of two individuals resident in the Republic whose names appear on a list drawn up by the United Nations’ al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee. His name was added to the list in 2009, under the category of individuals associated with al-Qaeda.
According to the UN committee document detailing the reasons for his listing, Mr Buisir is alleged to have “directed a European al-Qaeda cell that provided support for operations in Europe by arranging travel and accommodation”. It claims he received military training in al-Qaeda and Libyan Islamic Fighting Group camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s, and provided funding and assistance to both groups during that period.
In 2004 the US treasury designated Mr Buisir, who acted as a representative in Ireland for the Islamic African Relief Agency, and four other agency officials, as financiers of terrorism because of the charity’s alleged links to Osama bin Laden.
In 2008, on foot of a Libyan arrest warrant, Interpol issued a “red notice” on Mr Buisir. His name has also been referred to during terror-related court cases outside Ireland.
Attempts to contact Mr Buisir yesterday were unsuccessful. But The Irish Times has spoken to him on several occasions in relation to his inclusion on the UN list. He has always declined to give an interview on the record. He did, however, deny any involvement in terrorist activity.
After the 9/11 attacks, he was questioned by the Garda. His movements are monitored by the security services and his address has been searched several times.