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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439
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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 Focus Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters No bail for London militants
By Jailan HalawiMagistrate Nicholas Evans remanded in custody the two Egyptian Islamists -- Ibrahim Hussein Abdel-Hadi Eidarous, 42, and Adel Abdel-Meguid Abdel-Bari, 39 -- until 16 August, saying he was concerned the pair might try to flee. "There are substantial grounds for saying that if either were granted bail, they would not attend [trial]," he said at the Monday hearing.
The United States wants the two men to face charges of conspiracy to murder over the bombings on 7 August 1998, which killed at least 215 people in Nairobi and 11 in Dar es Salaam.
The two have been in custody since their arrest on 11 July on US extradition warrants alleging they had conspired with Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden to murder US citizens.
Prosecutor Arvinder Sambei, representing the US government, said Eidarous and Abdel-Bari were members of a militant Islamist group called Jihad. She said the group was affiliated with Bin Laden, accused by the United States of masterminding the embassy attacks. Bin Laden, who has been living in Afghanistan under the protection of the ruling Taliban movement, denies any involvement. The Saudi millionaire remains a fugitive and was recently included on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, with a $5 million tag on his head.
The latest US move brings to 17 the total number of people who have been charged in the United States in connection with the near simultaneous bombings. Five of the suspects are in custody in New York, while another suspect, Khaled Al-Fawwaz, is also in British custody awaiting extradition. Al-Fawwaz, identified as Bin Laden's key assistant and head of the London office which seeks to oust the Saudi monarchy, is also wanted by the US government in connection with the bombings. He awaits a court hearing scheduled for 4 September.
Sambei said the two Egyptians' fingerprints were found on documents claiming responsibility for the bombings. She said Eidarous's were on a threatening letter issued before the attacks and Abdel-Bari's were on a property rental document next to that of Al-Fawwaz.
Abdel-Bari's lawyer summed up the US government's case as "a mixture of jargon and bald assertion wrapped in a smear of prejudice," saying the case lacked concrete evidence.
Eidarous's lawyer said her client "was intent on the court knowing he was entirely innocent."
In another development, human rights groups this week urged Egyptian authorities to release an ailing Islamist militant imprisoned for 18 years and allegedly tortured.
"The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) is calling on the authorities to release Nabil Mohamed El-Maghrabi for health reasons," said EOHR Director of Field Operations Mahmoud Qandil.
A London-based Islamist group said in a statement that El-Maghrabi, in jail since September 1981, had recently been shifted to a different prison, where he had been tortured.
"Our information is that El-Maghrabi has been moved from the Aqrab Prison to Abu Zaabal Prison where he is subject to torture," said the London-based International Commission on Human Rights, run by Egyptian Islamist Yasser El-Serri.
"The commission appeals to international organisations to intervene to stop his torture, if he is still alive, and demands that he be released on health grounds," it said.
Egyptian security officials, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, denied claims that El-Maghrabi is subject to torture.
El-Maghrabi was a leading member of the underground Jihad group whose members assassinated President Anwar El-Sadat in October 1981. Now in his late 40s, he was arrested in September 1981 and subsequently sentenced to life in prison for his role in Sadat's killing after one of the assassins proved to be his brother-in-law. In 1995, a military court handed him another life sentence in a separate case.
Qandil said El-Maghrabi's health had already been worsening when EOHR members were allowed to visit him in 1994. EOHR said in a report at the time that he was suffering from narrowing of the coronary arteries, stomach ulcers and rheumatism.
"He's been dying for the past five years," Qandil said, adding that El-Maghrabi had long been denied visits by relatives and lawyers.
