Security activity irks Muslims in Greece

ATHENS, Greece -- As the opening of the Olympic Games draws closer, the Greek police and foreign intelligence agencies have increased their activities in a predominately Muslim area of Athens, Greek officials say.

Residents of the district say they are incensed that they are being treated as terrorism suspects.

Greek, American and British intelligence agencies have all tried to infiltrate the Muslim and Arab communities here, Greek officials said. The Greeks also have had assistance from counterterrorism teams and intelligence operatives from Jordan, Egypt and Israel, the officials said.

About 100,000 people of Arab or Muslim background live in Athens, and they have generally not been militant, Greek officials said. But the officials' fear is that al-Qaida or some affiliated terrorist organization has planted a sleeper cell in this part of the city.

"If one were looking for a sleeper cell, this is where it would be," Alex Rondos, a former ambassador at large and coordinator for Olympic activities, said of the area, near Omonia Square in central Athens. Rondos, who left office in March when the Socialist government was unseated, said the possibility of a sleeper cell, however remote, is something that Greek officials were slow to grapple with, he said.

"There was a dangerous attitude of complacency," he said.

Mehmet Imam, president of the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Supporting the Muslims in Greece, the country's largest Muslim organization, has called on all Islamic countries to boycott the games because of the fighting in the West Bank and Gaza, Afghanistan and Iraq. "He is an enemy," Imam said in an interview, about anyone who attends the games. But he disavowed any link to al-Qaida or any sympathy for Osama bin Laden.

He said the Greek police were using the Olympic Games as a pretext to oppress Muslims.

Terrorism investigators in Europe have found cells in many countries, including France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain. But they have not found any ties leading to Greece, Greek and other European officials say.

Copyright C 2004 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.