|
Aswat sold CDs in Johannesburg
Haroon Rashid Aswat - the man believed to have co-ordinated the London bombings in which 56 people died - is known in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, as "a nice family man".Aswat made his living selling Islamic CDs and DVDs at fleamarkets around Joburg and in neighbouring countries, a business associate said yesterday. Ahmed Al Arine, who says he was interrogated for three days by South African intelligence agents last week, said he had helped Aswat sell CDs from a stall on Fordsburg Square and was shocked by the allegations levelled against him. Al Arine, a refugee from Jordan seeking asylum in South Africa, described Aswat as "a nice person" and said he had never expressed any interest in radical Islam in the five months he had known him. London police, however, are determined to question him because the July 7 bombers allegedly made about 20 calls to his cellphone shortly before the bombings. US authorities also want to question him about an al-Qaeda-style training camp they say he tried to establish in Bly, Oregon. Aswat has been described by US and British media as a senior al-Qaeda figure and the ringleader of the July 7 attacks. Quoting intelligence sources, the Times last week reported that, prior to the deadly bombings, Aswat visited the home towns of all four bombers as well as some of the London targets. He is also believed to have flown out from Heathrow hours before the four suicide bombers killed 52 rush-hour commuters on the transport system. Zambian police are holding Aswat, who was arrested on July 20 in Lusaka. He was due to be extradited to Britain after Zambia's interior minister yesterday signed a document handing over custody of the suspect to Britain. British newspapers reported at the weekend that Aswat had told his Zambian captors he was once a bodyguard for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Al Arine is in hiding after he claimed he was subjected to intense interrogation sessions at a police station in Pretoria. He said he was arrested on July 24 without a warrant and was duped into giving police a blood sample for DNA purposes. Al Arine's apartment in Randburg was searched and CDs, DVDs, documents and his computer hard drive were taken, all without a warrant, he claimed. He has laid a complaint with the police's Independent Complaints Directorate. His alleged ordeal has, however, allowed a snapshot of Aswat to emerge, which shows he has business dealings that require him to move across borders and in and out of Islamic communities with relative ease. Aswat has family in South Africa and is believed to have left the country about a month ago, ostensibly to make business contacts on the fleamarket circuit in Botswana. Al Arine said yesterday he had been introduced to Aswat by his grandmother and had known him to be a soft-spoken man "of good habits", who was very private. "He was a quiet person. He didn't like anyone to interfere in his life. He always was very secretive, but he was very nice and he was fair with everything that he did with me," Al Arine said. Aswat had been introduced to him as Yahya and he had called him by that name in the five months he had known him, he said. "Sometimes I heard his family call him Haroon, and his granny said to me that this is because he looks like another Haroon in the family," Al Arine said. Asked if Aswat had ever spoken to him about al-Qaeda or radical Islamic issues, Al Arine said: "Never. He didn't speak about these things. He was only concentrating on business: DVDs and CDs. It was for me to manage Joburg, and he had all the fetes and stalls outside Joburg and in Botswana," he said. Aswat left for Botswana about four weeks ago and suddenly "disappeared". Al Arine started getting phone calls from Aswat's worried family, wanting to know if he had heard from his partner. All of Al Arine's calls to Aswat went unanswered. Al Arine was arrested nine days ago as he, his wife and young daughter went to Joburg International Airport to pick up a friend. Five cars surrounded him and about 25 policemen from the Crime Intelligence Unit climbed out, pointing assault rifles at him. Al Arine was forced to the ground, and when he wanted to know what he had done wrong, the police told him the orders to arrest him had "come from the president". He was taken back to his flat and the police seized all kinds of documentation and carted them off. His wife was told that if she ever wanted to see her husband again, she must not tell anyone of the arrests, Al Arine added. While he was being interrogated, Al Arine was asked if he knew Ibrahim Abubaker Tantouche. The US has accused Tantouche of being Bin Laden's banker, which he denies. Tantouche manages a stall in Fordsburg Square next to Al Arine's stand, but they were only passing acquaintances. Al Arine at first denied knowing Tantouche, because he knew him only by one of his names, Ibrahim. But his interrogators were adamant, showing he had made a phone call to Tantouche. Al Arine realised who the police were talking about only when they showed him a photograph. Abeda Bhamjee, Al Arine's lawyer from the Wits Law Clinic, said she was concerned about the way the rights of Muslim and other foreign nationals were being infringed by police action. Safety and Security Department spokesperson Director Sally de Beer refused to comment yesterday. But Trevor Bloem, from the Ministry of Safety and Security, said no police action was above the law and he would be very concerned if human rights were being abused. Al Arine has since been released and says all his documentation - other than his computer hard drive and his car registration papers - have been returned. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-08-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=125784 |