Western Resistance

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July 13, 2006

UK: Islamists May Be Extradited To US

The man at left, who will never win any beauty contests, is Haroon Rashid Aswat, who has been in custody for nearly a year. After the 7/7 bombings, Aswat fled Britain, and was arrested as he tried to slip into Zambia from Zimbabwe. British security officials wanted then to interrogate Aswat for suspected involvement with the events of 7/7.

As was reported by Forbes last August, Aswat had received about 20 calls from the 7/7 bombers on his mobile phone. The US authorities were also interested in Aswat, as he was suspected of involvement with setting up an Al Qaeda training camp at Dog Cry Ranch, a 158 acre sheep ranch in Bly, Oregon, 50 miles east from Klamath Falls.

It was here in 1999 that Aswat had arrived to survey the land. Accompanying him was a Lebanese-born Swede, Oussama Kassir. The location was apparently chosen as it bore similarities to the terrain in Afghanistan, where jihadists might be expected to fight. Another man involved in the plot was US citizen James Ujaama.

On July 23, before it became known that Aswat had been arrested in Lusaka, Zambia, three days previously, Ujaama was questioned by US federal law enforcement officers about his knowledge of Aswat.

Ujaama (pictured right), a native of Seattle, Washington State, pleaded guilty to conspiring to support the Taliban in April 2003. He had been charged with giving material support for terrorism, in relation to the Dog Cry Ranch. As we reported on December 13, the other individual, "conspirator no 2" Oussama Kassir was officially indicted for his involvement to set up the terror training camp in Oregon.

Kassir at that time was in custody in the Czech Republic. He had been arrested in Prague on Sunday 11 December. His wife Zeinab had attempted to stop him being extradited to the US by saying that he was "mentally ill", as we reported on December 17. 40-year old Oussama Kassir is still in Pankrac prison, Prague, but a report from June 7 from The Local states that the Czech State Attorney has recommended that he be extradited to the US.

Kassir had apparently disapproved of the Dog Cry Ranch, saying that it was "too small". Abu Hamza is also being sought for extradition, following an indictment made against him in 2004. Since that time, Hamza was given a seven year jail sentence on February 8 for soliciting to murder and other offenses.

On January 5, a British judge, Timothy Workman at Bow Street magistrates court, ruled that Aswat could be extradited to the US. The court heard from US officials that Aswat would not be tried as an "enemy combatant", and that he would face a federal, rather than a military court.

At that time, the Home Secretary was Charles Clarke, and he had two months in which to decide to extradite Aswat, but his department was notoriously slow in making extradition orders. On May 4 Clarke was fired, and replaced by John Reid.

A decision has still not been made on the extradition of Haroon Rashid Aswat.

US officials claim that as well as planning to set up a terror training camp, Aswat is also a member of Al Qaeda, and has used websites to incite murder, and to raise money for Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

In his earlier court appearances, Aswat has said that he fears being placed in solitary confinement, or sent to Guantanamo.

31-year old Aswat, who once worked at London's prestigious Imperial College, came from an Indian family from Gujarat, and grew up in Dewsbury. He was a friend of Mohammed Sidique Khan, the leader of the cell of four suicide bombers who killed 52 people in London on 7/7 last year.

He has become disassociated from his parents, who he has not seen in ten years. He is also believed to have been intimately involved with the setting up of the Al-Muhajiroun organisation, the Islamic group which was disbanded in 2004.

Today, Sky News reports that Aswat will be told if he will be extradited to the US. At the time of writing, no news on this has been forthcoming.

Aswat's case has been in the hands of the High Court, in the Royal Courts of Justice, awaiting the judgement of Mr Justice Laws and Mr Justice Walker, states the Times from Tuesday. Edward Fitzgibbon, Queens Counsel, is arguing on Aswat's behalf that his human rights would be abused despite diplomatic assurances from the US Government made in January.

Fitzgibbon also said that Aswat and another man, Babar Ahmad (pictured left), would run the risk of "extraordinary rendition" - being shipped off to another country for interrogation. He also argued that they could be held as "enemy combatants", despite US denials, and if this was to happen, it would be a "flagrant denial of justice."

We wrote of the case of Babar Ahmad on November 16, when Charles Clarke had ruled that the computer specialist from Tooting could be extradited to the US. Ahmad, ran several jihadist websites, especially one called Azzam.com, which was allegedly used to recruit jihadists to fight for Chechen Taliban and Al-Qaeda operations.

It appears that at the time of writing, Fitzgibbon has managed to cause another "flagrant denial of justice" of his own making, by delaying the case beyond its expected three day duration.

Neither Babar Ahmad nor Haroon Rashid Aswat have been sitting in court. Instead, they are linked in to proceedings via video connected to Woodhill category A prison near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, where they are being detained.

As soon as a decision has been made, we will give you all the details.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 13, 2006 2:15 PM

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Posted by: GaryK at July 13, 2006 7:45 PM

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