Polish MPs to probe Iraqi suspected of ties with Islamic radicals: report

The suspect, Ameer Alkhawlany, is being held at a closed facility for foreigners after he was detained in early October by Polish border guards. Accusations that he is a threat to national security may result in his deportation, private broadcaster TVN24 said.

The Internal Security Agency said Alkhawlany withheld information about being in contact “many times” with friends living in Western Europe, who the agency’s foreign counterparts believe to be Islamic radicals, TVN24 quoted an unnamed source as saying.

The source also said that while the agency has no evidence that the man was involved in terrorist activities, they do have proof that he withheld information about his contacts.

However, in an earlier phone interview published by Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza on October 26, Alkhawlany said that Internal Security Agency officers had tried to convince him to work as an informant and provide information about Iraqis and Kurds living in Poland.

He said that he refused to cooperate, Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

The Internal Security Agency’s chief Piotr Pogonowski is expected to show classified evidence in Alkhawlany’s case to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, TVN24 said.

The special services parliamentary committee is then expected to conduct its own probe.

Alkhawlany, a PhD student at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, in Poland’s south, had been living in Poland for two years and was about to apply for an extension of his permit when he was detained, TVN24 reported. (vb/pk)

Source: TVN24