The names of more South Africans could be added to international lists of suspected terrorists, an unnamed United States senior official said on Monday.
The US has listed Junaid Dockrat, a Johannesburg dentist, and his cousin, Pretoria cleric Farhad Dockrat, as suspected terrorists with links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
It is ”unlikely” there are only two, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
”If we get sufficient evidence and intelligence we’ll do what’s necessary,” the official continued.
The Dockrats’ names were added to the US list of terror suspects on Friday.
The South African government asked the United Nations to hold back on putting them on its list of terror suspects.
However, the US official believed South Africa will eventually agree to the listing as the US is sharing its evidence and intelligence on the two.
It is ”not a crisis” for the US, the official said.
”We are working it out. We have been working with South Africa for a long time on this and other matters. It wasn’t a bombshell.”
On Friday, the US publicly accused the Dockrats of aiding the globally recognised al-Qaeda fundraiser, the al-Akhtar Trust, and another organisation by facilitating travel for people in al-Qaeda camps.
The US listing prohibited any transactions between them and US nationals and companies and froze any assets they might hold under US jurisdiction.
It is alleged that Farhad Dockrat gave the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan R400 000 in 2001 to forward to the al-Akhtar Trust, which is listed by both the US and UN as a terror organisation backing al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.
It is alleged that Junaid Dockrat contacted al-Qaeda operations chief Hamza Rabi’a in 2004 to coordinate the travel of South Africans to Pakistan to train with al-Qaeda.
The naming of individuals takes place only when there are thousands of pages of evidence against them the official explained, but said not all this information can be made public as it is ”intelligence heavy”.
It is a ”misconception” that names are never removed from the list. ”We ask: ‘Have they renounced terrorism and are they still a threat?’ And if they are not, we want them off the list.” — Sapa