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Peru Summit
Provides Opportunity to Ramp Up Fight against ISIS
by Joseph M. Humire
The Hill
November 17, 2016
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A
July 2016 pledge of allegiance from "Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil"
to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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When President Barack Obama visits Lima this week for a two-day Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the fight against Islamist
terrorism should be at the very top of his agenda. In the last year, ISIS
affiliates have appeared in Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, the
Caribbean, and Brazil, to name a few. A terrorist
plot by ISIS affiliate Ansar al-Khilafah targeting the 2016
Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was fortunately foiled.
The counterterrorism success in Brazil was a combined effort by local
and international authorities who acted quickly to thwart 12 Brazilian
jihadists planning to emulate the November 2015 Paris attacks by ISIS. The
catalyst enabling the Brazilian Federal Police to uncover this plot was the
country's first
antiterrorism legislation enacted this past March. This new law gave
Brazilian officials the legal authority to case, survey, arrest, and
convict Islamist terrorists before they act.
The key to convicting Islamic terrorists in Latin America is to
criminalize their membership in foreign terrorist organizations.
Latin American countries lack proper
designation lists for terrorist individuals and organizations.
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Unfortunately, Latin American countries lack the proper designation
lists to add Islamic terrorist individuals and organizations, limiting
their ability to prevent terrorist actions. More than half lack any form of
antiterrorism legislation. In many countries being a member of ISIS or
Hezbollah is not a criminal act in and of itself.
Left
unaddressed, this leaves Latin America with the same legal vacuum that
existed in the United States twenty years ago. Prior to 1996, the U.S.
lacked a proper legal framework to address the rise of terrorism, both
foreign and domestic. After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the
1995 Oklahoma City bombings, Congress passed the Antiterrorism
and Effective Death Penalty Act.
One of the most important provisions of this law allows the U.S.
government to designate foreign terrorist organizations and prohibit their
funding. In practice, this led to what is known as the Foreign Terrorist
Organization list managed by the State Department. The list, which is
updated every two years, allows U.S. authorities to more easily track and
prosecute members of jihadist organizations, helping to preempt future
terrorist attacks.
Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, recently wrote a letter
to President Obama urging his administration to be more proactive in
working with Latin American officials to curb the expansion of Islamic
extremists into "our own hemisphere." A good way to start would
be for President Obama to highlight the importance of Peru's case against
Muhammad Ghaleb Hamdar during his visit.
Hamdar, an alleged Hezbollah operative, was arrested
in October 2014 with hundreds of pictures of high value targets and
critical infrastructure in Peru, as well as residue and traces of
explosives on his person and apartment. The Hamdar case was prominently
mentioned in the U.S. State Department's 2015 Country
Reports on Terrorism. Moreover, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign
Assets and Control (OFAC) recently added Hamdar to a Specially
Designated Nationals (SDN) List effectively labeling him a terrorist
and restricting his access to U.S. funds and American companies. Hamdar's
wife, Carmen Carrion Vela, a U.S.-Peruvian dual citizen, has also been
arrested in Peru for potentially providing financial support to Hamdar
while residing in Florida.
If convicted, Hamdar faces a minimum 20-year sentence sending a strong
signal to jihadists around the world that Peru and Latin America are off
limits. A conviction could change the antiterrorism legal landscape in
Latin America at a time when worldwide jihadists are on the move. A guilty
verdict would mark the first time a member of an Islamic terrorist organization
has been convicted in Latin America for plotting a terrorist attack.
It would also constitute a de facto designation of Hezbollah as a foreign
terrorist organization in Peru, a legal precedent that may spur additional
designations throughout the region.
President Obama now has the perfect platform at APEC to broaden the
coalition against the global jihadist movement and add a potential new
partner in Peru to the U.S.-led coalition to counter ISIS. Let's hope he
takes up the opportunity.
Joseph M. Humire is the executive
director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS) and a fellow at the
Middle East Forum.
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