Bin Laden Deputy To U.S.?
A magistrate on Wednesday ordered the extradition of a Saudi Arabian to the United States on suspicion of conspiring with Osama bin Laden's terror group to bomb two U.S. embassies in East Africa.
Magistrate Nicholas Evans said there was sufficient evidence for Khalid al Fawwaz to face charges in an American court.
The magistrate, however, agreed to immediately hear pleas by al Fawwaz's British lawyer to call witnesses to testify that al Fawwaz was shocked by violence. If that move fails and Evans upholds the extradition order, al Fawwaz will mount an appeal which could take several months.
Al Fawwaz, who lives in London, was arrested a month after the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people and wounded thousands.
He was identified by an informer as head of the British branch of Al Qaeda, bin Laden's terrorist network. The informer was identified only as Â"CS1Â" during the four-day extradition hearing as London's Bow Street magistrate court.
Giving judgment, the magistrate said there were Â"real grounds for fear of the consequencesÂ" if CS1 were identified.
Â"What I do know is that the cumulative effect of all the circumstantial evidence is such that CS1's evidence cannot be described as so inherently incredible that no jury properly directed could convict on it,Â" the magistrate said.
He added that it would be up to the American court to decide whether CS1 should be identified.
Al Khalid faces charges of conspiring with bin Laden between 1993 and 1998 to murder Americans.
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