A group of Wahhabis in Brcko, yesterday attacked several journalists from BH media houses, including a journalist of Nezavisne novine (Independent newspapers), Jasmina Sarac, who was also physically assaulted and whose camera Wahhabis intentionally broke.
After completed action “Svjetlost”, which was set out in Gornja Maoca, BH press team wanted to visit the village. However, Wahhabi inhabitants banned entry into ‘’their territory’’. At that time there were not any police patrols, although the journalists were working on the field.
– Journalist attacked, camera broken
One Wahhabi approached to the journalist of Nezavisne, who was standing beside her car and he tried to push her in the car by force, shouting that all journalists have to leave the village. Since he did not succeed to push her into the vehicle, he pulled out her camera from the car and threw it on the ground. The camera hit the ground and broke, and journalists started trying to calm the situation, which turned out to be in vain.
“Wahhabi was very violent and I could not manage to talk to him, but he went behind my back to the car, took the camera and broke it,” said Jasmina Sarac.
“Go away from our property, you are unwanted here. Why did you come ?,” shouted Wahhabis, threatening with new attack to the journalist who tried to take the broken camera from the ground.
“I went to take Jasmina’s camera, but one of the Wahhabis grabbed my jacket and with threatening voice told me to come back. After that he went to the place where the camera fell, and struck it several times more,” said Miren Aljic, journalist Tuzlanski list (Tuzla newspaper).
Photo-reporter Darko Zubus does not conceal that he was afraid that Wahhabi will damage all jornalists’ properties, and handed over to his colleagues from Brcko, who first started leaving the village, a backpack with a valuable camera.
“I saw on the other side, a van with Wahhabis that crossed our road, they were requesting from us to delete all images from the camera, and I really thought they would not let us go until we do it. I do not know how a colleague Amel Emric managed to calm them down to release us, and give the camera back”, says Zabus.
Journalists who yesterday found themselves in an unenviable situation, where there was no phone signal in case of emergency, said that they expected the presence of at least one police patrol. Truth is that they were warned by the Brcko police officers, who were at the checkpoint seven miles away from the village, that it is perhaps not that safe to go to the village.
“The police knew what Wahhabis are able to do and I think there should’ve been at least one patrol vehicle, while we were trying to listen and present the other side of the story as well, and that is Wahhabis’ side,” says journalist Aljic.
Journalists who were attacked, were also followed by the car full of Wahhabis for seven kilometers away from the village of Gornja Maoca, thus marking “their territory’’, where no nobody, except them, is not desirable.
– Operation “Svjetlost” the biggest police action since 1995
This action is the largest joint police action in the post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina, conducted by officials of the Intelligence-Security Agency of B&H, police officers of the Border Police, Service for Foreigners Affairs, State Investigation and Protection Agency, MoI of Republika Srpska, Brcko District Police, Federal Police, Police Offices of the Cantonal Ministries of Interior of FB&H, as well as by representatives of the EUPM mission in B&H.
The action is coordinated and managed by the Joint Staff of Police Agencies in the framework of the “Svjetlost” action, seated in Brcko and headed by the Director of the Federal Police, Chief Prosecutor of the B&H Prosecution Office and prosecutors of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Commercial Crime and Corruption of the Prosecution Office of B&H.
The village of Gornja Maoca has been well known as the biggest base of wahhabis in B&H, and their informal leader is Nusret Imamovic.
Maoca is a closed wahhabi community observing the Sheriat law and with a school with the Jordan Education Curriculum, which operates independently from legal local education institutions. This is why the afore-mentioned Imamovic has already been the subject of the Cantonal Prosecution Office of Tuzla, but he was acquitted in mid 2008 due to lack of evidence.
The village managed to build a mosque with the money from Saudi Arabia and Jordan; it is not under control of the Islamic community of B&H.
