Hasan Čengić
Hasan Čengić (Bosnian pronunciation: [hǎsan t͡ʃěŋgit͡ɕ]; 30 August 1957 – 7 November 2021) was a Bosnian politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1][2][3]
Biography[edit]
Čengić was born in Foča, FPR Yugoslavia, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina on 30 August 1957. A Muslim cleric,[4] he was convicted together with future president Alija Izetbegović by the communist regime of Yugoslavia in 1983 and served five years of a ten-year sentence.
Čengić was a member of a powerful clan headed by his father Halid Čengić, the main logistics expert in the Bosnian Army and a senior official, with his sons, in Bosnia's Agencija za Informacije I Dokumentaciju (AID) intelligence agency. He travelled frequently to Tehran since 1983 and was deeply involved in Iranian arms shipments to Bosnia. During the Bosnian War, Čengić lived in Tehran and Istanbul. According to Austrian police, he was on the supervisory board of the Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), a Sudan-based, phoney humanitarian organization connected to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network. Čengić's involvement was confirmed by the TWRA's director, Elfatih Hassanein.
As Federal Minister of Displaced Persons and Refugees after the conflict, he was accused of intimidating Serb refugees returning to their homes, but never convicted.
The Slobodna Bosna newspaper argued that Čengić was the business partner of Russian mobster, arms dealer and former KGB officer Viktor Bout, nicknamed "the Merchant of Death".[5][6] In May 2006, when 200,000 AK-47 assault rifles went missing in transit from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Iraq, one of Bout's airlines was the carrier.[7]
Čengić died on 7 November 2021, at the age of 64.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ "Preminuo Hasan Čengić, jedan od osnivača SDA". balkans.aljazeera.net (in Bosnian). Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ "BiH: U 64. godini preminuo Hasan Čengić". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ Radiosarajevo.ba. "Preminuo Hasan Čengić". Radio Sarajevo. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ Clash of cultures in Bosnia. (US and Iranian presence in Bosnia-Hercegovina), The Economist, 23 November 1996, accessed 29 November 2007
- ^ NATO-SFOR (quoting Slobodna Bosna), Main News Summary, 11 June 2004, accessed 7 August 2013
- ^ Douglas Farah, While Lebanon Boils, Watch Bosnia, 19 July 2006, accessed 28 November 2007
- ^ 200,000 AK47S FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF IRAQ TERRORISTS? Daily Mirror, 10 May 2006, accessed 28 November 2007
- ^ G.M. (7 November 2021). "Preminuo Hasan Čengić, jedan od osnivača SDA" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
External links[edit]
- Hasan Cengic bio on Bosnian Parliament website
- John Pomfret, Bosnian Officials Involved in Arms Trade Tied to Radical States, The Washington Post, 22 September 1996
- John Pomfret, Bosnia's Muslims Dodged Embargo, The Washington Post, 22 September 1996; Page A01
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