Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Egypt has finally got what it wanted - almost. For years, the government has been calling on Britain to hand over Egyptian nationals wanted for terrorism-related activities. Now it appears that two London-based Egyptian fundamentalists may be extradited, but to the U.S. rather than Egypt.

The prosecution said Aidarous and Abdel Magid were associates of Fawaz and had links to Bin Laden through him. Bin Laden, regarded by the U.S. as its most-wanted suspected terrorist, has been living in Afghanistan as a guest of the Taliban regime.

"This is ridiculous," said Islamist lawyer Montasser Al-Zayat, previously Aidarous’ and Abdel Magid’s attorney in Egypt, in an interview with the Cairo Times. "Why was not the evidence presented before? Why did they wait for 10 months to present the evidence, and how were the fingerprints taken?" he asked.

The hearings are expected to take 60 days, the London-based Al-Hayat reported on 13 July.

"They (the Americans) are trying to distort the fundamentalist movements in light of threats which they claim exist... and they want to detain them as long as they can," Zayat said. "Adel (Abdel Magid) appeared on (the Qatar-based) Al-Jazira TV six months ago, attacking American policies publicly after the (US military) strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan," he noted. Following the 20 August air strikes, the U.S. claimed it had launched attacks on what it called "terrorist-related sites" in Sudan and Afghanistan in retaliation for the bombing of its embassies earlier the same month.

Abdel Magid is on the run from a death sentence, handed down by an Egyptian court in 1996, on the charge of plotting to kill Israeli tourists in Khan Al-Khalili. He was also accused in the Sadat assassination case, but was acquitted. Aidarous was acquitted in 1987 after being accused of attempting to revive Jihad, the Islamist militant organization behind the 1981 killing of President Sadat.

Abdel Magid, who heads the International Office for the Defense of the Egyptian People, said in an earlier interview that his office has no connection with militant groups. He said the London-based organization was established in 1996 to "monitor Egyptian suffering from the oppression of the existing regime."