Mubarak’s Going to Saudi Arabia, CIA-Backed Forecasters Say (Updated)By Noah Shachtman
January 31, 2011
Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule of Egypt is probably coming to an end, and that means he’ll likely leave Egypt right after he leaves power. (Dictators don’t usually stick around the countries they dictated.) So where would Mubarak flee? One data mining company, backed by the investment arms of Google and the CIA, has an educated guess.
Recorded Future scours tens of thousands of websites, blogs, and Twitter accounts to find the so-called “invisible links” between people, actions, and events. In this case, the company turned its tools on Mubarak’s travel patterns to find clues to his next moves. The guy isn’t exactly posting his post-regime plans on his Facebook wall. But, by looking at public documents about where Mubarak has been and who he hangs with, some likely destinations for his exile emerge.
“If you want to know where he’s going next,” says Recorded Future CEO Christopher Ahlberg, “you’ve got to know what he’s done in the past.”
The reasons why he travels matter, too. Mubarak flew both to Germany and France last year: once for cancer treatment, and a second time for suspected health reasons. It suggests that the 82 year-old leader would rather land in a country first class medical facilities (at least for former strongmen). Some of Mubarak’s other destinations this year — like Libya, Sudan, and Algeria — don’t really fit that bill.
On the other hand, European countries — especially ones with large Arab minorities — might be a little skittish about taking such an unpopular figure. So Germany or France might not be the best choice for Mubarak’s retirement home.
Saudi Arabia is another frequent Mubarak destination. He was there in January, 2009, huddling with King Abdullah, and again in July, 2010, talking about the Lebanese political crisis. Mubarak and King Abdullah were supposed to meet again in November — although Abdullah called off the trip at the last minute, because of health issues.
A few days ago, the Saudi ruler blamed
“intruders” for allegedly “tampering with Egypt’s security and stability… in the name of freedom of expression.”
And earlier in the month, Saudi Arabia took in ousted Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. No wonder, then, that one chant in Egypt goes: “Hosni Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak, the plane is waiting, the plane is waiting. Saudi Arabia is not far!”Recorded Future’s analysts believe that Saudi Arabia is Mubarak’s next destination, too.
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February 1, 2011
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Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia granted asylum to Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after he was toppled in what has been dubbed "The Jasmine Revolution".
Saudi foreign ministry spokesman Osama Nogali said the decision to give shelter to Ben Ali was so as to try to "help defuse the crisis and prevent the bloodshed of the Tunisian people".
Saudi Arabia has kept a total blackout on Ben Ali's activities since he landed in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah early on January 15 with six members of his family.
The kingdom has sheltered other exiled leaders in the past, including former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Tunisia seeks international arrest warrant of ousted president and his family membersJanuary 26, 2011
MONTREAL — Tunisia has asked the international police organization Interpol to help arrest ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and members of his family who fled the country amid a popular uprising — including a brother-in-law who is reportedly staying in Montreal with his wife, four children and a nanny.
Tunisian Justice Minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said Wednesday the North African nation wants to try Ben Ali and his clan for "possession of (expropriated) property and transferring foreign currency abroad."
He named seven members of Ben Ali's family in Tunisian custody but said that Imed Trabelsi, a nephew of Ben Ali's wife Leila Trabelsi, and Sakher al-Materi, Ben Ali's son-in-law, had fled the country.
The name of Ben Ali's brother-in-law, Belhassen Trabelsi, had also been presented to Interpol. Trabelsi and his family arrived in Montreal Thursday on a private jet and were staying in a hotel in the west end, according to several media reports. Trabelsi controlled Tunisia's banking, communications and transport sectors. He was seen as the leader of the business interests of the ruling family's clan, and is accused of siphoning billions of dollars out of the country.
The lavish spending of Ben Ali's in-laws are among the main roots of the citizen unrest, which, coupled with anger over high unemployment rates and authoritarian rule, erupted into a popular revolution which on Jan. 14. forced Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia after 23 years as president.
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, the RCMP noted that Interpol's call to locate members of the family does not constitute an arrest warrant under Canadian law.
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http://www.vancouversun.com/news/4174213.binThe Chateau Vaudreuil Suites Hotel, where it is believed the Trabelsi is staying, is pictured on January 26, 2011 outside Montreal city in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada. The billionaire brother-in-law of ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was being sought by Interpol after reportedly fleeing to Canada with his family. Belhassen Trabelsi, the eldest brother of Ben Ali's wife Leila Trabelsi, arrived in Montreal with his wife, four children and a nanny aboard a private jet last week, the Globe and Mail and La Presse newspapers said.
Photograph by: Rogerio Barbosa, AFP/Getty Images
Got them on the run.
And there is nowhere to hide.
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