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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 November 1999 Issue No. 455 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 November 1999 Issue No. 455
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Books Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Courting extremism
By Jailan HalawiSeven months ago Mahmoud Sayed Gaballah was arrested by Canadian police on charges that, if proven true, would have led to his immediate deportation. Last Friday, though, a Canadian court not only cleared Gaballah of the charges but recommended he be granted political asylum on the grounds that he faces political persecution in his home country. A Canadian immigration court is expected to rule next week on the request for political asylum made by Gaballah shortly after his release.
Gaballah was arrested on 31 March on evidence provided by the Canadian intelligence agency, which described him as "a great danger" to national security and requested his immediate deportation. Following his arrest, the Egyptian government submitted a request for his extradition.
Gaballah has been linked with the Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden, head of Al-Qae'da (the base) group and accused by the US of masterminding the August 1998 bombings of two embassies in Africa. He is also thought to have connections with the underground Egyptian Jihad group, led by Ayman El-Zawahri, who was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military court in April.
The US has officially accused El-Zawahri of involvement in the bombings of its embassies. The New York public prosecutor stated in a report that the Jihad group merged with Al-Qae'da in February 1998 and that the two groups were behind an international conspiracy aimed at killing of US military personnel in Saudi Arabia and Somalia as well as Tanzania.
Yet, although Egypt and the US submitted different extradition requests, Gaballah was acquitted. The judge found the man innocent and turned down Egyptian and American requests, describing the evidence provided as "insufficient" to prove him guilty.
Gaballah, who left Egypt in 1991, has twice faced charges connected with the Jihad group. The first was in 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat, but he was found innocent. The second time was in 1987 when he stood accused of reviving Jihad activities. He was again found innocent.
After a series of arrests and releases, Gaballah finally decided to leave Egypt in 1991, together with his wife and children. After spending three months in Saudi Arabia he moved to Pakistan where he spent four years working in a school connected to an Arab relief agency.
In 1995, when the Pakistani authorities began to acquiesce to Egyptian demands that wanted nationals to be deported, Gaballah left Pakistan using a forged Saudi passport, moving to Yemen, then Sudan and Azerbaijan.
According to a security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, during Gaballah's visits to Yemen and Sudan he met with leading Jihad figures, including El-Zawahri and Tharwat Shehata. Gaballah, though, denies entering Afghanistan during his stay in Pakistan or meeting Bin Laden or El-Zawahri.
Gaballah then returned to Pakistan, using the same forged passport, and took his family to Canada in 1996, applying for political asylum, which was not forthcoming. Yet he and his family were granted a residence permit to be renewed each year.
"The verdict came as a blow to the Canadian intelligence service, which had accused me of posing a threat to their national security," Gaballah said.
Following his release, Gaballah praised the Canadian judiciary for providing him with "a fair trial".
"Although I was charged on the basis of the so-called secret evidence that neither my lawyer nor myself had access to, yet I was acquitted because here it is justice that rules," he said.
Gaballah added 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 to have him deported if he refused to cooperate by providing information on Egyptian fundamentalists residing in Britain. "Under pressure from the judge, the officer confessed that he tried to recruit me, and this helped me a lot," he added.
During the hearings, the judge asked Gaballah for the reasons he left Egypt, his activities in the countries he visited as well as his connections with the London-based International Office for Defending the Egyptian People. Gaballah denied having links to any of the Egyptian fundamentalist groups or to have taken part in any of their activities. "I told the judge I simply left Egypt because the police arrested me several times, though I was found innocent. I had to leave in search for a more stable and secure life for my family," he said.
Further, Gaballah affirmed that his relation with the International Office was limited to its being a human rights organisation that had granted him a certificate testifying to his persecution in Egypt.
Gaballah claimed his arrest in Canada was part of the fierce campaign launched by the US against Arab fundamentalists, especially Egyptians, and denied having links with any Jihad members residing in Britain.
He seemed optimistic following the verdict and expressed the hope it would help him with his request for political asylum scheduled to be decided by another court next week.
