England is nurturing vipers in their midst

By Aussiegirl

Newsday has the chilling reasons England has been playing with terrorist fire by giving radical groups and individuals safe haven and political asylum -- even refusing to extradite known killers because of British sensibilities and precious delicacy over the death penalty.

This is completely schizophrenic -- and is akin to deliberately infecting yourself with deadly germs on a continuing basis while attempting to deal with them by taking hit and miss antibiotics. What's the point? This smacks so much of the British squeamishness over the need for espionage when they stated, "A gentleman doesn't read another gentleman's mail." Unfortunately, the terrorists do not fight by the Marquis of Queensbury rules, neither do they respect our laws, except so far as they can manipulate them for their own advantage.

When Islamic militants massacred 58 tourists in Egypt in 1997, the government issued a list of 14 most-wanted militants it accused of inspiring the attacks. Half were living in London, and none were arrested.

A year later, when suicide bombers attacked two U.S. embassies in East Africa, killing 224 people, three men with ties to Egyptian militant groups were arrested in London for circulating claims of responsibility. They are still fighting extradition to the United States.

For two decades, London has been a haven for Islamic militants fleeing crackdowns in the Middle East. Yesterday, for the first time, the city appeared to fall victim to Islamist violence.
"Britain could become a new front line in the conflict between Islamic militants and the West," said Mohammad Salah, an expert on militancy at the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. "It has become harder for militants to reach the United States. That makes Britain a more tempting target, especially because the militants have had a long time to establish networks there."

. . . Despite those moves, London is still home to dozens of militants from Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They were attracted to the city because it is a global financial center, an international travel hub and home to a vast immigrant population, including 2 million Muslims. Britain also has a tradition of taking in refugees and asylum-seekers.

"These militant networks kept growing for years, under the British government's nose," said a retired Egyptian security official who asked not to be named. "They were allowed to preach, to raise money and to send recruits to fight in militant causes all over the world."

The presence of Islamic extremists in London - and their pronouncements criticizing Middle East regimes and at times supporting Osama bin Laden - generated debate in the 1990s about asylum policies and the limits of free speech. The asylum issue has long strained relations between Egypt and Britain, which has been the favored destination of militants targeted by President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Since the early 1990s, Egypt has tried unsuccessfully to extradite nearly 20 militants from Britain. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, the British also had rebuffed extradition requests from Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. British courts have repeatedly ruled that militants should not be sent back to countries where there is a death penalty or where they cannot be assured fair trials.

Egyptian officials were especially angered by the granting of asylum to Yasser al-Sirri, a former leader of Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and waged a campaign aimed at toppling the government.

Al-Sirri, who has been sentenced to death in absentia by Egypt, fled to London in 1993. He established the Islamic Observation Center, which he says disseminates information about Islamic causes.

"In Britain, there is a system of law, which Tony Blair must obey," al-Sirri told Newsday in October 2001. "Hosni Mubarak does not obey any law."

Shortly after, al-Sirri was arrested. He has been in and out of British prisons and is fighting extradition to the United States.

British officials monitored al-Sirri for years because he had ties to Ayman al-Zawahri, the former leader of Islamic Jihad who is now bin Laden's top deputy. Investigators suspect that prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Zawahri kept in regular contact with militants in Britain.

Abu Hamza al-Masri is another Egyptian militant who won asylum in Britain. He was arrested last year at the request of U.S. officials, and he is fighting extradition. The Finsbury Park mosque where al-Masri usually delivered the Friday sermon was shut down in January 2003 after being raided by antiterrorism police. The mosque had been frequented by Sept. 11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui and shoe bomber Richard Reid.

Even after the shutdown, al-Masri continued to preach. "Seek the way of death; try to do actions that subject you to death," he told an audience of mostly young men in April 2004. "If you die to defend your religion, you are a martyr."