Egypt's most-wanted pressed

Following the 11 September attacks, some European countries have begun to re-inspect suspected terrorists living on their soil. Jailan Halawi reports
After years of harbouring terrorist suspects under political asylum laws, several European countries are re-tuning their security tactics in response to the 11 September attacks against New York and Washington. Some countries have even amended their law.
These developments may encourage the Egyptian authorities. Egypt has long urged foreign countries to extradite those convicted by Egyptian courts of committing acts of terrorism in Egypt. Most requests have been refused on human rights grounds.
One suspect Egypt particularly wants is Yasser El-Serri. He left Egypt on 22 August 1989 and travelled to Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, at last reaching London, in 1994. El-Serri was fleeing a death sentence passed by an Egyptian military court for his alleged involvement in a 1993 assassination attempt on then-Prime Minister Atef Sedqi. El-Serri has repeatedly denied his guilt.
Under section 40 of the Terrorism Act passed, by the British parliament in 2000, El-Serri was arrested in a dawn raid on his home in west London on 23 October. The act makes it a crime to assist, support or participate in an act of terrorism "in Britain or abroad." Section 40 deals with individuals suspected of preparing, instigating or committing acts of terrorism.
On Tuesday, Scotland Yard said that 38-year-old El-Serri was due to appear at a top security court in southeast London after being charged in relation with terrorist offences. But according to British news reports the date for his appearance in court has been postponed. "This court session is a hearing for the preparation of charges, after which El-Serri will either be released or further detained pending trial," Gareth Bayley, a spokesman for the British Embassy in Cairo, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Under the new terrorist law a suspect can be held for up to seven days for questioning by police without being charged.
El-Serri has been arrested by the British authorities before. Two years ago he and two other Egyptians were held and questioned about terrorism in London. The three were released on a court order after the judge granted them the right to remain silent in accordance with the European Treaty for Human Rights.
According to a British press report, during his latest arrest El-Serri was questioned in connection with claims that he helped assassinate Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, two days before the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington. Massoud died from wounds he suffered in a suicide bomb attack at his office carried out by two Arabs posing as journalists. Detectives are not believed to have linked El-Serri directly to the atrocities in the US.
Since coming to London, El-Serri has run the pressure group the Islamic Observation Centre which, Egyptian police say, he uses to establish Internet sites ensuring constant direct contact between Osama Bin Laden and his associates around the world.
British police sources said that El-Serri set up several Internet sites used by members of Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qa'ida organisation to contact their leaders. The sources went on to allege that Bin Laden, leading suspect for the attacks on the US, his right-hand man Ayman El-Zawahri and the leaders of Al-Qa'ida used the sites to put their terror network on a global footing. The conspirators allegedly relied on the difficulty of tracing contacts run over the Internet and camouflaged using secret codes, police sources continued. El-Serri further used an Internet site "to call for demonstrations against the Egyptian government," the sources added.
In addition to his death sentence, El-Serri has been convicted by the Egyptian authorities of a number of other charges. He was condemned to 15 years in jail for setting up and financing an organisation called the "Vanguards of the New Conquest," a body the authorities described as terrorist. He was also given a life-term in 1999 in the trial dubbed "the Returnees from Albania" case by the Egyptian press.
El-Serri, on the other hand, claims his Islamic Observation Centre defends the rights of Islamists the world over. Two weeks ago, the centre circulated a statement by Mohamed Atef, third-in-command of Al-Qa'ida network. During his interrogation by British police, El-Serri declined to reveal how he had obtained that statement.
Since 11 September, London police have arrested five people under the Terrorism Act 2000. Of the five, two have been released.
Egypt has long been displeased with Britain's refusal to extradite El-Serri. The issue was recently raised with British Prime Minister Tony Blair during his latest Middle East tour. Blair was in the region to canvass support for the US-led coalition against terrorism.
But despite Egypt's complaints, it is unlikely that El-Serri will be extradited to Egypt; British law forbids the extradition of anyone facing a death sentence back home.
In another development, an Egyptian was arrested two weeks ago in the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro. He is suspected of links with terrorists because he carried sophisticated communications equipment, Italian police said. Rizk Farid, 43, allegedly had with him a portable computer, three mobile telephones including one with a satellite link, and a Thai Airways identity pass giving him access to airports and credit at various banks. He was discovered hiding in a container at the port.
The explanations Farid gave to Italian anti-terrorist police for his possession of these items turned out to be false. He claimed that he worked for the Greek airline Olympic Airways before joining Thai Airways between 1992 and 1995. Both companies refuted his claims.
There are also anomalies on Farid's identity pass. The recorded height of the holder is 1.65 metres; Farid is actually 1.80 metres tall. Farid also had a Canadian passport and a return ticket from Rome to Montreal via Toronto. Investigators are trying to establish whether he had an accomplice in Gioia Tauro.
Addresses of parents in Canada supplied by Farid also proved false after checks with Interpol in Ottawa. He claimed that the last call he made on his satellite phone was to his mother in Canada, but the number in question does not exist in that country.
Farid is the first person to be held as a terrorist suspect under a new article of the Italian Penal Code introduced in response to the 11 September attacks. The 19 October legislation gives police wider powers and adds a new category to the Penal Code, making "association with the aims of international terrorism" a crime.
There is a long list of suspected terrorists living abroad who are wanted by Egypt. It has been widely reported, for example, that Egypt has for years requested the extradition of Mahmoud Gaballah and Mohamed Mahgoub from Canada, and Said Mukhlis from Uruguay.
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