Suspected bin Laden contact held by British intelligence

Times of India ^ | July 07 2002 | AFP

[knighthawk]

WASHINGTON: Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, suspected of being a pivotal figure in Osama bin Laden's network, is being held by British intelligence services, Time magazine reported Sunday.

According to the report, which cites senior European intelligence officials, Qatada and his family are in a safe house in the north of England.

Qatada dropped out of sight in mid-December after British authorities confiscated his passport and froze his assets, Time said in its issue due to hit newsstands on Monday.

The Palestinian refugee, also known as Omar Mohammed Othman and Omar Abu Omar, figured on the list of suspected terrorists issued by the United States after September 11.

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who is questioning al-Qaeda suspects in Madrid, has described him as the "spiritual head of the Mujahedin in Britain."

Garzon has said that Qatada was the most important British contact of Abu Dahdah, one of eight suspected al-Qaeda members charged with preparing and carrying out the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Qatada has denied knowing Dahdah, whose real name is Imad Eddin Barakat Yarbas. Qatada was arrested and detained in England after a raid on his house in February but was later released and not charged with any offence.

He had been granted asylum in Britain in 1994 after claiming he was fleeing persecution for his religious beliefs.

Courts in Jordan have convicted him of funding a bombing campaign there and gave him a life sentence in absentia.

[knighthawk]

The Palestinian refugee

And Europe still believes these people are 'freedom fighter' and not terrorists?

[knighthawk]

Ping

[facedown]

He had been granted asylum in Britain in 1994 after claiming he was fleeing persecution for his religious beliefs.

Courts in Jordan have convicted him of funding a bombing campaign there and gave him a life sentence in absentia.

Lovely - maybe he can be extradited. Prison in Jordan must be a real treat!

[Libertarianize the GOP]

.

[Shermy]

Extradited? The worst radicals were given asylum in all sorts of Euro countries, then not extradited for "humanitarian" and anti-death penalty reasons. Jordan, Egypt etc. have demanded extradition of some of these types.

[fire_eye]

Extradited? The worst radicals were given asylum in all sorts of Euro countries, then not extradited for "humanitarian" and anti-death penalty reasons. Jordan, Egypt etc. have demanded extradition of some of these types.

Hey... WE let that scumbag Abdul Rahman into the U.S. as a "Refugee" after he had Sadat assassinated (IF my memory serves me well...), and he proceeded to blow up the Trade Center.

Something really, *really* stinks here. There is some sort of treasonous complicity in this on the part of Government officials both here and overseas. Get a rope...