« UK: Muslim Council - After Homophobia, The Anti-Semitism |
| Norway: Boycott Of Israel Causes Rift in Government »
January 5, 2006
UK: Suspected Al Qaeda Islamist Can Be Extradited to US
We described the case of Haroon Rashid Aswat, the 31 year old former resident of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, who was arrested in Lusaka, Zambia, on July 20, 2005. He is currently in detention in Britain. He is suspected of having connection with the bombings against London Transport on 7 July 2005, in which 52 people died. Aswat was an associate of Mohammed Siddique Khan, the leader of the four-man cell who carried out the 7/7 attack. Aswat is also believed to have been one of the founders of the UK extremist group al-Muhajiroun, which has been officially disbanded for more than a year.
In August we related claims made by John Loftus on Fox News that Aswat had been a double agent, employed by UK intelligence to spy on Al Qaeda-related radicals, with whom his true allegiances belonged.
AT the time of Haroon Rashid Aswat's arrest in Zambia, US officials wished to bring him back to the US. He challenged this extradition order in August 8 saying he did not give voluntary consent to go to the US, and claiming to be "baffled" by the claim made in the extradition request, that he ran a militant training camp in the US.
The 158-acre sheep ranch called Dog Cry lies near the small town of Bly, Oregon, 50 miles east from Klamath Falls. It was here, at the end of 1999 that Haroon Rashid Aswat and Abu Hamza arrived to survey the land for its potential as a terror training camp. WIth them on that visit was Lebanese-born Swede, Oussama Kassir, who was arrested on December 11 in the Czech republic.
Another man involved in the Bly case, James Ujaama, pleaded guilty to conspiring to support the Taliban in April 2003. He served two years. Ujaama worshipped at the Dar-us-Salaam mosque in Seattle. It is claimed that others from this mosque, which has since closed, were involved in the conspiracy to establish a terror camp. The authorities in Oregon claim that no more than a dozen people were at the camp, taking target practice.
Abu Hamza al-Mazri is also under an extradition request from the US, under his real name of Mustafa Kamel Mustafa. He is pictured above, with Aswat. The two met frequently at Finsbury Park Mosque, where Hamza preached. Hamza is currently in Belmarsh Prison, awaiting attempts to have him deported to Egypt, his home country.
The Guardian announces that earlier today (5 Jan) a court in London has ruled that Haroon Rashid Aswat can be extradited to the US, to face charges connected with the setting up of a jihadist camp.
The ruling was made by Judge Timothy Workman at Bow Street magistrates court. The court heard reassurances from US representatives that Aswat would not be tried as an "enemy combatant" and that he would face a federal court, rather than a military tribunal.
Charles Clarke, the UK Home Secretary, now has two months in which to rule whether or not to send Aswat to the US. His department's slow handling of one extradition case to Italy meant that a deadline expired in Milan, where Farj Hassan Faraj was wanted to stand trial on bomb charges. Held in custody in the UK for three years, his case in Italy passed a 3 year deadline at the end of October 2005, and the trial of Faraj could not go ahead. Since this public embarrassment, the Home Office has handled subsequent extradition requests with more commitment.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 5, 2006 8:03 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)