Ike,
It never ceases to amaze me, the speculation/lies that are
printed/spoken in the media and then quietly retracted later
when the damage has been done. I guess they will just
have to wait to see the results of Bush/Musharraf team to finally
know the truth.
On another matter .... The round up is continuing.
Cheers,
Pam
(10-30) 06:06 PST LONDON (AP) --
An Egyptian man arrested in London last week has
been charged with conspiring in the murder of the
leader of Afghanistan's northern alliance, according
to court papers made public Tuesday.
Yasser al-Sirri, 38, was charged in the death of
Ahmed Shah Massood, the charismatic military
leader of the coalition of forces battling
Afghanistan's Taliban. Massood was mortally
wounded in a suicide bombing two days before the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
"On or before Sept. 9, 2001, (al-Sirri) conspired
with others unknown to murder" Massood, the
court papers charged.
Al-Sirri was also accused of soliciting support for a
banned organization -- the Egyptian radical group
al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya -- raising funds for terrorism,
stirring up racial hatred and making available
property for the purposes of terrorism.
Al-Sirri had been scheduled to appear at Belmarsh
Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, but the hearing was
delayed because he was ill. His lawyer, Gareth
Pierce, told district judge Timothy Workman that
al-Sirri was suffering from "migraine and sickness."
It was unclear when the hearing would be held.
Massood, a veteran guerrilla commander often
called the "Lion of the Panjshir" because of his
military prowess against the former Soviet Union,
had become the symbol of opposition to
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, which is now targeted
by a U.S.-led bombing campaign for harboring
terror suspect Osama bin Laden.
Massood, 48, died of his wounds on Sept. 15.
He was defense minister in the government of
Burhanuddin Rabbani until they were both thrown
out of Kabul in 1996 by invading Taliban troops.
He moved quickly to rally warring factions against
the Taliban, forming an alliance which has fought for
five years to prevent the Taliban from gaining full
control of Afghanistan.
Al-Sirri's arrest under the Terrorism Act was not
directly linked to the Sept. 11 attacks, police said.
Prosecutors charged him with publishing
"threatening and abusive material ... intended to stir
up racial hatred" and having "invited persons
unknown to provide money intending it should be
used or having reasonable cause to suspect it would
be used for the purposes of terrorism."
Prosecutors also alleged he was involved in an
arrangement that may have resulted in an unknown
amount of money being used for terrorism.
Al-Sirri has lived in Britain since 1984 and runs a
center that acts as a public relations contact for
Islamic fundamentalist groups. It recently circulated
a statement by Mohammed Atef, third-ranking
leader of bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
Al-Sirri has declined to say how he obtained the
statement.
He has been sentenced to death in Egypt, where
security officials allege he was a top official in the
military wing of Islamic Jihad, the terrorist group
blamed for the 1981 assassination of President
Anwar Sadat and a series of assassination attempts
in the 1990s. |
