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Racial Profiling Part of Growing Probes in Germany
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Authorities in Germany on Monday began profiling people who fit the "profile of suspected terrorists", in reaction to allegations that the men suspected of conducting the September 11th terror attacks in the U.S. once lived and studied in Germany, newspapers reported.
A sketchy summary of what the "terrorist profile" might look like, released by German federal and state law enforcement authorities, paints a picture of young Arab males, currently or formerly students, who speak German and may have studied engineering or related subjects, the
Boston Globe reported Monday.
The paper quoted a spokesman for Germany's federal criminal police as saying, "We are trying to locate possible targets."
Further investigation past profiling would include matching with data received from police, phone, electricity and flight records and health services, the
Globe reported.
Muslims in Hamburg - a city with nearly 70,000 out of Germany's three million Muslims - expressed their concerns and fears after the attacks, as it was revealed that some of the alleged hijacking suspects prayed at one of their mosques, the
Globe said.
''Let's see: I'm Arab, married with a family, a student speaking German,'' a Palestinian man who preferred to remain anonymous told the
Globe. ''It's crazy. We could all, by this definition, be terrorists.''
Worshippers at the Al Quds mosque in Hamburg were just as shocked to learn that Mohammed Atta, who was seen at their mosque, may have been the one to pilot the first plane into the World Trade Center on September 11th.
They ask, "How did it happen?" the Globe said, underlining their conviction that the religion of Islam has no room for such brutal, civilian-targeted violence.
Atta and two others, Ziad Samir Jarrah and Marwan Al-Shehhi, are all suspects in last month's attacks, and all three lived in Hamburg and were registered as students there, the Globe said.
Police are still searching for two more men, Said Bahaji and Ramzi Bin al-Shib, who are thought to have associated with the three, and investigators are examining communications between the five men, including emails and phone calls.
German police, however, have extended that communications search to a nationwide sweep, beginning Monday, of computer databases in a search for suspected terrorists, regional interior ministers said in news agency reports.
Press reports said police were hoping to snare so-called "sleepers", suspected terrorists who live as ordinary citizens, as Atta and the others apparently did, while waiting for their time to attack. Foreigners who reside in Germany are required to register with police, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Nadeem Elyas, a German Muslim leader, warned against the database sweep saying it would effectively lead to discrimination against Muslims.
"Even if this is done for the better good of society... we fear discrimination and prejudice against Muslims," he said in a speech announcing an open-door policy for visits to mosques in Germany on Wednesday.
He said the "profiling" expected to be used in the sweep, which checks records for racial and national origin, would lead to Muslims being targeted.
"We have already received the first complaints from Arab students, [even] before the sweep began," Elyas said.
Germany is becoming more aggressive in watching "suspected groups" in the wake of the terror attacks in the United States, AFP said.
It is considering lifting some restrictions protecting the privacy of personal data, in what would be a move away from strict safeguards imposed to avoid the horrors of the Nazi and East German communist eras.
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