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Yemen extradites âal-Qaida memberâ to Egypt

Yemen has extradited to Egypt the former leader of a group linked to Osama bin Ladinâs al-Qaida network, a London-based Islamist has said. Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, a former leader of the secretive Jihad group, and five other Egyptians were held in Yemen for more than two years before Sanaa handed them to Cairo in return for Yemeni opposition figures, Yasir al-Sirri said.
Deal was clinched when Egypt included a second round draft choice and a jihadi to be named later.
"The extraditions were made last month as part of a security settlement between the two countries," Sirri told Reuters by telephone from London, where he runs the Islamic Observation Centre rights watchdog. He said he obtained his information from other Islamists and relatives of those extradited in Yemen and Egypt.
Who are of course totally unbiased.

I notice Mubarak got invited to the ranch, though...

Sharif is a former leader of the Jihad group which bin Ladinâs right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahri once headed. Jihad, under Zawahri, joined ranks with bin Ladin in 1998 in an alliance which they said would strike US and Jewish interests. A Yemeni official said on Friday that Sanaa had handed over to Egypt six alleged Jihad members in the past two days. But it was not clear if the six were the same mentioned by Sirri. Egyptian and Yemeni officials were not immediately available for comment.
"Iâm sorry, no one is available to take your call. Please leave a message at the beep, your call is important to us."
An official Yemeni website reported on Thursday that Yemen had captured a top Egyptian fighter, believed to be Sharif, in a security sweep last week. But the website later quoted a security source as saying there were no foreigners among those detained in the sweep.
"Well, he looked yemeni, it was a easy mistake."
Egyptian Islamists said the group handed over to Egypt by Yemen also included Othman al-Samman, who was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military court for belonging to al-Jamaâa al-Islamiya.
Have a painful death, Othman. Say hi to Himmler.
Sirry said the six Egyptians were arrested in Yemen shortly after the 11 September, 2001, attacks on the United States. Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh said in Cairo last month that "the security file" between Yemen and Egypt had been settled. He did not elaborate.
Now we know what he meant, the swap was approved. Fred can now update Thugburg with their current address.
Posted by: Steve 2004-03-05

http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=27512