Prague, 19 Dec. (AKI) - A US extradition request for a Swedish man who is accused of financially supporting Islamic terrorism and of trying to set up a training camp for militants has been complicated by restrictions contained in a US-Czech extradition treaty. Police acting on an international warrant blocked Ousama Kassir - a Swede of Lebanese origin - when his Stockholm-Beirut flight made a stop-over in Prague last week. | Didn't figure his name was Swen |
"Besides the Czech-U.S. extradition treaty of 1995 that is outdated, there exists the possibility of proceeding according to the international convention on suppression of terrorist bomb attacks of 1997," Czech deputy state attorney Jaroslav Fenyk told Czech radio on Monday.
He said that the 1997 treaty is binding on both the United States and the Czech Republic. But he said matters were complicated by the fact that this treaty relates to bomb attacks while the Americans accuse Kassir of a conspiracy aimed at financing terrorists. The United States also alleges that Kassir and his accomplices wanted to build a training camp for the Jihad holy war, at an estate in Oregon, United States. The trained militants were consequently to move to Afghanistan.
Kassir claims that the charges against him have been trumped up and that the United States wants to embarrass the Swedish and Czech governments. He claims that he had visited the United States as a tourist and that he had a valid visa. Kassir says he has never been to Oregon. He also said he has already been heard on the charges in Sweden and the Swedish police have released him. Kassir's Czech lawyer said he wants to contact his client's lawyer in Sweden as soon as possible to get acquainted with the verdict of the court that examined Kassir' s stay in the USA.
Kassir has accused Czech authorities of mistreating him during his detention by seizing his watch thus preventing him from following the prescribe Islamic prayer schedule and of deliberately trying to disorientate him in his prison cell so that he would not be able to face the Muslin holy city of Mecca when praying. | Sounds like abuse to me, better refer him to the UN |
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