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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Where next for Canada militant?
By Jailan HalawiMahmoud Sayed Gaballah, an Egyptian militant Islamist suspect confined in a Toronto prison, spurned a Canadian court offer, made last Thursday, to be handed over to a third country, fearing this could lead to his extradition to Egypt.
The court was considering a request by the Canadian government for Gaballah's deportation on the grounds that he posed a great danger to "national security".
Gaballah, who left Egypt in 1991, had been charged twice, in 1981 and 1987, with belonging to the underground Jihad group, but was found innocent.
Gaballah had been arrested and released several times before leaving Egypt with his wife and children. After spending three months in an unnamed Arab country, Gaballah headed to Pakistan where he spent four years working in a school affiliated to an Arab relief agency. His wife worked as a teacher at another school.
Gaballah left Pakistan for Canada after Islamabad authorities started deporting all suspect Arab militants living there, at the request of Egyptian authorities. He arrived in Toronto on 11 May 1996 and applied for political asylum, which was not granted. He and his family obtained a residence permit, to be renewed annually.
In a telephone interview from his prison, Gaballah told the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat that the judge refused in three hearing sessions to listen to his defence attorney and interrogated him instead. He said that the accusations against him were based on a false report submitted by a Canadian intelligence officer who had visited his house several times and threatened him with deportation if he refused to cooperate by providing information on Egyptian Islamists residing in Britain.
Gaballah said that the judge had asked him whether he had connections with Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, accused by the United States of masterminding the bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last August. He was also asked whether he had connections with the Jihad group, led by Ayman El-Zawahri, who was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military court in April.
The judge also questioned Gaballah about the reasons which made him leave Egypt, his activities in the different countries he visited, as well as his connection to the London-based International Office for Defending the Egyptian People (IODEP).
Gaballah denied having had links with any of the Egyptian militant groups or of having taken part in any of their activities. Further, he told the judge that he left Egypt because police forces arrested him several times, without levelling charges, although the judiciary declared him innocent twice.
Gaballah denied entering Afghanistan during his stay in Pakistan or meeting Bin Laden or El-Zawahri.
As for the IODEP, Gaballah said he dealt with it as a human rights organisation that gave him a certificate proving he was persecuted in Egypt.
The suspect also denied visiting Albania, residing there or having ties with any of the Islamists put on trial before an Egyptian military court in April in the case dubbed by the press as the "returnees from Albania" case.
He said that the confessions made by militants in this case did not mention his name or link him in any way to Jihad or Bin Laden's Al-Qa'eda (the base) group.
Furthermore, Gaballah said that instead of coming up with evidence, the prosecution based its accusations on the report submitted by the Canadian intelligence officer.
The court has decided to postpone hearings until August.
