Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > UK seeking extradition from Zambia of bombing mastermind behind July 7th attacks
UK seeking extradition from Zambia of bombing mastermind behind July 7th attacks
Terrorist described as "nice family man"
August 3, 2005
Aswat's family say they have not seen him for 10 years.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/02/zambia.bombings/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1541754,00.html
Zambia to deport terror suspect
Staff and agencies
Wednesday August 3, 2005
A British terrorism suspect arrested in Zambia is to be deported to the UK, the Zambian president said today.
Scotland Yard detectives deny that Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, is connected to the July 7 bombings in London but say he is wanted for questioning linked to other investigations.
The US also want to question Mr Aswat over allegations he tried to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon in the 90s.
Mr Aswat was arrested in Lusaka, Zambia on July 20 and has been questioned by both British and US investigators.
The two teams of investigators reportedly spent days deciding where Mr Aswat should be sent.
The President of Zimbabwe, Levy Mwanawasa, said today: "I would like to confirm that we have arrested Aswat, who has been held on violating the immigration laws of Zambia. Once we were holding him we realised he was an alleged terrorist.
"It was agreed between the American and British governments that he should be deported to the United Kingdom."
No date has yet been set for deportation.
Mr Aswat's estranged family in West Yorkshire fear the US will now seek to extradite him from Britain and detain him in Guantánamo Bay.
Mr Aswat grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, the home of July 7 bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan, but left more than 10 years ago.
In Italy, the attempts to secure the extradition of a man suspected of being involved in the failed July 21 bombings has taken a slow step forward.
An Italian court received a formal request from Britain this morning for the extradition of Hussein Osman, but it could still be up to six months before he is handed over.
The suspected would-be suicide bomber, known in Italy as Hamdi Issac, was arrested in Rome last week. He faces charges of international terrorism and possession of false documents in Italy that could take precedence.
Britain is trying to have Osman extradited under a new European arrest warrant, agreed after the September 11 attacks to replace existing extradition procedures that often took years to conclude.
According to the rules, Italy may refuse extradition if Osman is prosecuted by Italian magistrates for the same act as the one for which he is wanted in Britain.
But if he is prosecuted in Italy for acts other than the one he is wanted for in Britain, the rules allow judges deciding on his extradition to defer the handover until he has been tried.
The EU warrant also gives them the possibility of handing over Osman temporarily to Britain under terms to be agreed by judicial authorities in Rome and London.
The court was expected to fix a date for an extradition hearing later today.
Special report
Terrorism threat to UK
Interactive guide
How Britain is tightening security
Full list of terror suspects
UK assets of suspected terrorist groups and individuals (pdf)
Anti-terror legislation
Download the full text of the crime and security bill (534k)
Summary of the crime and security bill (47k)
Useful links
Full text: the law lords' ruling on the detention of foreign terror suspects
Islamic Human Rights Commission
Metropolitan police
Home Office: emergency planning review
Ministry of Defence
UK resilience
Red Cross
Terrorism Act 2000
Crime and security bill (pdf)
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LONDON BOMBINGS: SUSPECT WAS 'NICE FAMILY MAN' IN SOUTH AFRICA
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.193017739&par=0
Johannesburg, 2 August (AKI) - The man believed to have co-ordinated the London bombings in which 56 people died - was known as "a nice family man" in Johannesburg, where he made a living selling Islamic CDs and DVDs at fleamarkets. Haroon Rashid Aswat who is in custody in Zambia and is due to be extradited to Britain, has a family in South Africa and is believed to have left the country about a month ago, the Johanneburg daily, The Star, reported on Tuesday.
A former business associate of Aswat in Johannesburg, Ahmed Al Arine, who says he was interrogated for three days by South African intelligence agents last week, told The Star that he was shocked by the allegations levelled against his former partner.
Al Arine, a refugee from Jordan seeking asylum in South Africa, described Aswat as "a nice person" and said he had never expressed any interest in radical Islam in the five months he had known the alleged bomber.
London police, however, are determined to question him, because the July 7 bombers allegedly made a total of about 20 calls to his cellphone shortly before the bombings.
US authorities also want to question him, accusing Aswat of trying to establish an al-Qaeda-style training camp in Bly, Oregon.
Zambian police confirmed they were holding Aswat, who was arrested on July 20 in Lusaka. He is due to be extradited to Britain after Zambia's interior minister signed a document on Monday, handing over custody of the suspect to Britain.
British newspapers reported at the weekend that Aswat had told his Zambian captors he was once a bodyguard for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Al Arine is in hiding after he claimed he was subjected to intense interrogation sessions at a police station in the South African capital, Pretoria.
He said he was arrested by police on July 24 without a warrant and was duped into giving them a blood sample for DNA purposes, the Star reported.
Al Arine's apartment in the northern Johannesburg suburb of Randburg was searched and CDs, DVDs, documents and his computer hard drive were taken, all without a warrant, he claimed. He had placed a complaint with the South African police's complaints department, he said.
Al Arine's ordeal has, the Star reports, allowed a "snapshot" of Aswat to emerge, which shows he has business dealings that require him to move across borders and in and out of Islamic communities with relative ease.
Aswat has a family in South Africa and is believed to have left the country about a month ago, ostensibly to make business contacts on the fleamarket circuit in neighbouring Botswana, the report said.
Al Arine told the Star that he was introduced to Aswat by his grandmother and had known him to be a soft-spoken man "of good habits", who was very private.
"He was a quiet person. He didn't like anyone to interfere in his life. He always was very secretive, but he was very nice and he was fair with everything that he did with me," Al Arine said.
Aswat was introduced to him as Yahya and he had called him by that name in the five months he had known him, he said.
"Sometimes I hear his family call him Haroon, and his granny said to me that this is because he looks like another Haroon in the family," Al Arine said.
Asked if Aswat had ever spoken to him about al-Qaeda or radical Islamic issues, Al Arine said: "Never. He didn't speak about these things. He was only concentrating on business - DVDs and CDs. It was for me to manage Joburg, and he had all the fetes and stalls outside Joburg and in Botswana," he said.
Aswat left for Botswana about four weeks ago and suddenly "disappeared". Al Arine started getting phone calls from Aswat's worried family, wanting to know if he had heard from his partner. All of Al Arine's calls to Aswat went unanswered.
Al Arine was arrested nine days ago as he, his wife and young daughter went to Johannesburg International Airport to pick up a friend.
He was taken back to his flat and the police seized documentation before taking them away.
Al Arine who was later interrogated and released said all his documentation - other than his computer hard drive and his car registration papers - have been handed back to him.
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