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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Living Features Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Jihad implicated in US Embassy bombings
By Jailan HalawiShortly after Ali Abul-Saoud Mustafa, a fugitive Egyptian Islamist, was arrested in the United States last month, he was accused by American prosecution authorities of cooperating with Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden in a worldwide anti-American conspiracy.
Mustafa will be put on trial in the US on charges of working with bin Laden and providing members of his Al-Qaeida (the base) group with military training.
The Egyptian government had requested the extradition of Mustafa, a member of the underground Jihad group, after he was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military tribunal last month in a case known as "the returnees from Albania."
The indictment accuses Mustafa of providing military training in 1990 to a man who was involved in the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi last August.
An Egyptian security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were staged by Jihad on Bin Laden's behalf. This was the first time that Jihad was accused of involvement in the attacks.
The source said that there has been close cooperation between Egyptian and US security authorities in gathering evidence on those involved in planning, executing and financing the attacks. At the top of the list are bin Laden and his main aide, Sobhi Abu Senna, known as Abu Hefs El-Masri.
The US is offering a $5 million reward for anyone who provides information leading to El-Masri's arrest.
An Islamist source was sceptical about the chances of Mustafa getting a fair trial after he refused to cooperate with US authorities by providing information about Bin Laden in return for being included in a witness protection programme.
The source said the indictment bill accuses Mustafa of acts for which he was not responsible, such as helping Bin Laden move from Afghanistan to Sudan in 1991 and involvement in preparing the plan for bombing the US Embassy in Nairobi.
The source said that the charges levelled against Mustafa were based mainly on confessions by a fellow Jihad member, Khaled Abul-Dahab, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by an Egyptian military court.
Abul-Dahab is an Egyptian who became an American citizen after he travelled to the United States with Mustafa's help.
In his confession, Abul-Dahab said that in 1987-88 Mustafa established close relations with Mustafa Shalabi, a member of the Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya who, in turn, was bound by close ties to Arab-Afghans.
Shalabi was killed in the US in 1991 by followers of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Gama'a's spiritual leader, in a dispute over a $2 million fund to finance the activities of the Arab-Afghans.
Abul-Dahab also confessed that Mustafa paid a three-month visit to Sudan in 1992 where he met Bin Laden.
Mustafa was also accused of assisting Jihad leader Ayman El-Zawahri's entry to the US in 1995 to raise funds from mosques in North Carolina.
The security source said that Mustafa, after being asked by Bin Laden to "gather information about US embassies in Africa," visited Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Somalia in 1995-96.
Mustafa resigned from the Egyptian army in 1985 and moved to the US. From there, he paid several visits to Afghanistan.
"Because of his army experience, he played an important role in providing Jihad members with military training at their Afghanistan camps," the source said.
Mustafa is also accused of involvement, along with members of Al-Qaeda, in fighting American forces in Somalia in 1993.
In another development, The New York Times reported on Saturday that American authorities had arrested another Islamist suspected of having connections with Bin Laden. The arrest of Ihab Mohamed Ali, an American residing in Florida raised to six the number of suspects detained by US authorities for alleged connections with Bin Laden. Eight others, including Bin Laden himself, are still at large.
