Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt | Serri released

		23 -29 May 2002 Issue No.587 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Serri released
Although Britain dropped most of the charges against Yasser Serri, the Egyptian Islamist still faces the possibility of extradition to the US. Serri spoke to Khaled Dawoud minutes after his release

Yasser Serri, a well-known Egyptian Islamist militant who has been living in Britain since 1994, was released from a maximum-security prison after seven months' incarceration. Serri was accused of taking part in a plot to assassinate Ahmed Shah Massoud, a prominent Afghan leader known for his opposition to the former extremist rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban.
Just moments after Serri was cleared of that charge on 17 May, he was re-arrested pending the examination of an extradition request made by the US. However, the judge looking into the case decided to release Serri on bail. Meanwhile, the British are determining whether Serri should be sent to the US regarding allegations that he provided funds to Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qa'eda.
In a telephone interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Serri said he had "no doubts" that his arrest in London in October was "a conspiracy arranged with the Americans in order to silence my opposition to the American aggression against Afghanistan. President Bush personally said that he sought the help of 95 countries worldwide to arrest people he accuses of supporting Al-Qa'eda. Bush asked for the arrest of 1,200 to 1,500 suspects, and I think that I was one of them."
Serri is also on the Egyptian government's list of most wanted militants. Egypt repeatedly has asked Britain to hand over Serri since he was sentenced to death in absentia by a military court in 1994 for his alleged role in plotting a failed attempt to assassinate former Prime Minister Atef Sidqi. Britain, however, has rejected the requests on the basis that Serri would likely be executed if handed over to Cairo. Sentences issued by military courts cannot be appealed.
Serri sharply criticised British authorities for holding him in what he described as "inhumane prison conditions." He said that he was held along with a dozen Islamists awaiting extradition requests to the US, or charged with having links to terrorism. "We were held in solitary confinement and allowed only one hour a day out of our cells. We even used to argue over extending the time to perform Friday prayers from 10 to 15 minutes."
In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly in London a few days before his arrest last October, Serri said he would not be surprised if authorities decided to clamp down on all Islamists seeking refuge in Britain.
After moving to London in 1994 until his incarceration last year, Serri had operated the Islamic Observation Centre (IOC) from his home. The organisation, established by Serri, focused on disseminating statements to the media issued by radical Islamist groups known for carrying out acts of violence against the governments of several Arab countries. Serri admitted that he had provided financial support to families of suspected militants held in Egyptian prisons. However, he adamantly denies having any links to armed Islamist groups, including Egypt's Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya and Jihad organisations. "I am just an Islamist who is fighting against oppression," he told the Weekly.
After 11 September, the statements distributed by Serri's IOC were primarily devoted to defending Bin Laden and the Taliban. Once the US-led war in Afghanistan began on 7 October, the IOC effectively became a mouthpiece for Al-Qa'eda, circulating statements by the group and fatwas, or edicts, by leading Islamist scholars calling on their followers to take up jihad against the invading US troops.
Serri's arrest on 22 October was linked to a more serious charge -- he was accused of providing a letter of introduction to two men posing as journalists to gain access to Massoud who they killed using a bomb hidden in a camera just two days before the September attacks.
Before ordering Serri's release on bail, Judge Peter Beaumont at Old Bailey in London said that there was ample evidence to show that Massoud's assassins used letters of introduction written by Serri, but there was insufficient evidence, the judge said, to implicate him in the assassination plot. Beaumont said Serri's original letters had been used as models to forge the letters carried by the pair, "thus using the applicant [Serri] as an innocent fall guy."
The only charge that the judge did not dismiss was that of "stirring racial hatred." This charge was still applicable, said the justice, because Serri allegedly distributed a book written by Al-Gama'a Al- Islamiya militant Rifa'i Ahmed Taha. Taha is a former leader of Al-Gama'a who, Serri claims, was handed over recently to Egypt by Syria. The book the court referred to includes what its author claims are "religious justifications" for attacks against Israelis and tourists visiting Egypt.
Serri told the Weekly that while he is frustrated that he will have to face another trial over the US extradition request, "I am also confident I will win. The Americans have nothing against me, and the charges they are making would not convince a child."
Serri was one of four people charged in New York last month with allegedly helping jailed Egyptian Islamist cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman to send messages from the prison where he is serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up some New York city landmarks. As the spiritual leader of Egypt's Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, Abdel-Rahman is thought to have significant influence over the organisation's followers.
Detective Sergeant Gary Flood told London's Bow Street Magistrates Court that in May 2001 Serri arranged to send money to one of Abdel- Rahman's sons in Afghanistan, and to another member of the Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya.
Flood said Serri arranged with Ahmed Abdel- Sattar -- an aide to Abdel-Rahman who has also been indicted in New York -- to send the money, "knowing, or having reasonable cause to suspect, that the money would or may be used for the purpose of terrorism."
Serri's lawyer, Ben Emmerson, argued that it was very unlikely Al-Qa'eda was being funded with a few hundred pounds from an "Islamic centre being run on a shoestring in London."
Serri was also charged with circulating a fatwa issued by Abdel-Rahman in which the cleric called on Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya followers to renounce a cease-fire they had declared nearly three years ago. Serri denied the charge, saying he reprinted the fatwa from newspapers, and circulated it through his centre. "This fatwa was conveyed to the media by Sheikh Abdel-Rahman's lawyer in the United States, and I took it from the papers," Serri told the Weekly.
Judge Timothy Workman ordered Serri's release on 15,000 pounds sterling, on the condition that he not attempt to leave the country. The second session of the trial, which will look into the US extradition request, has been scheduled for 31 May.
Serri confirmed that he will "soon resume IOC's activities. They [the British authorities] took my computer and all the papers I had at home. Now I need to start again, and that will take a few days." He indicated that the first reports he planned to disseminate would be about the extradition of Arab militants to their home countries, "where they are likely to face the death penalty. Since 11 September," he said, "most of these militants have been handed over with the assistance of the United States."

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