25 April - 1 May 2002
Issue No.583
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 April - 1 May 2002 Issue No.583 |
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From Cairo to London, and back
Fifty-four men, including four Britons, have been detained on charges of belonging to an outlawed militant Islamist group. Jailan Halawi reports
Prosecutors on Saturday charged 54 men, including four Britons, with belonging to the outlawed Islamic group Hizb-u-Tahrir or "Liberation Party." The men were remanded in custody for 15 days pending interrogation.
The suspects are accused of allegedly joining a secret, illegal group which aims to obstruct the legal system and undermine state institutions. According to prosecutors, members of the outlawed group studied means of overthrowing governments in various Islamic countries with the aim of reviving an Islamic Caliphate. In doing so, prosecutors said, they aimed at recruiting new members, especially political opposition figures.
The liberation party was founded in Egypt in 1974 by two Palestinians, Salem Rahhal and Saleh Serreya -- only to be crushed by Egyptian authorities in the same year after being blamed for an attempted coup d'état known as "the incident of the Technical Military Academy," in which armed militants attacked the Cairo- based academy.
Those charged are allegedly part of a larger group of more than 100 people who were arrested earlier this month in Cairo, Giza and Alexandria governorates. The indicted include four Britons, three of whom are believed to be of Pakistani origin. Reza Pankhurst and Ian Nisbett were detained earlier this month in Cairo, while Maged Nawaz and Hassan Rizfi were arrested in the coastal city of Alexandria. The party is believed to have branches in many Arab and European countries.
Imran Wahid, spokesman for the London branch of Hizb-u- Tahrir, reportedly said that three of the four Britons were members of the organisation. Wahid identified members of his group as businessman Pankhurst and students Nawaz and Nisbett, but said he did know anything about Rizfi.
According to Wahid, the three group members, who hail from different parts of the United Kingdom, were in Egypt for "various reasons." Nisbett, Wahid explained, was of English ethnic origin and had converted to Islam. He was studying at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
Wahid denied that his party were a terrorist group. He told reporters that Hizb-u-Tahrir was well-known throughout the world as a peaceful political party whose ideology is Islam. "The party considers violence or armed struggle against the regime a violation of the Islamic Shari'a (Islamic rulings). It never undertakes any military or terrorist action," he said.
The detained Britons were earlier suspected of having links to Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qa'eda network, which is blamed for the 11 September attacks on the United States. Officials later said that the detained had no ties with Al-Qa'eda but maintained that they had links with the group's offices in Austria, Britain, and Germany, from where they received financial support.
In London, a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said, "We are seeking further information from the Egyptian authorities about the charges that they might face. We have been in close touch with the Egyptians over the last few days."
In Cairo and London, British officials were quoted as saying they were in contact with the families of the detainees as well as the Egyptian authorities to determine their legal status and the trial process the detainees face. A spokesman at the British Embassy said that the families had notified British authorities about their arrest on 1 April.
Last Thursday, British Ambassador to Egypt John Sawyers met Interior Minister Habib El-Adli to find out about the legal process ahead. An embassy official visited the detained on 11 April, and the embassy has requested another visit.
No official details were made available about the conditions of the detained, although Wahid claimed that, "information received through the limited contact they have been allowed with their families suggests that to date they have been treated very harshly and have endured torture to make certain confessions."
A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office said consular staff had not been asked by the men or their families to investigate any claims of mistreatment, however.
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