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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria accuses two Britsh nationals of being involved with Al Qaeda |
| 2009-05-12 |
| Two British nationals arrested in Syria almost two months ago have been accused of involvement with terror network Al Qaeda, it emerged today. Mother-of-four Maryam Kallis and Yasser Ahmed were detained separately in the capital city of Damascus by the country’s feared secret police. According to the Syrian authorities, Mrs Kallis, 36, of west London has been raising funds for an organisation linked to the extremist group. The nature of 28-year-old Mr Ahmed’s involvement has yet to be explained. However both sets of families deny there has been any wrongdoing. Mr Ahmed's sister Saima Zahur, said: ‘We are a non-controversial British family.’ Fears have been growing for the safety of the pair since the arrests on 17 March. Until today there had been no explanation for the detention. Representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have made urgent demands for access to them. So far they have been seen just twice by consulate officials for less than an hour. During those brief meetings, Mrs Kallis was described as being ‘emotional and weak’ while Mr Ahmed was described as ‘under strain.’ ‘We have visited on two occasions and have requested a further visit,' said a spokesman for the FCO. ‘The Foreign Secretary raised this case on 8 May with his Syrian counterpart to underline our demand for full and proper access. We have repeatedly urged the Syrian authorities either to charge or release the two British nationals. We now look for this to happen as a matter of priority.’ Today the Syrian Embassy in London gave the first indication as to why the pair were arrested. A statement read: ‘The Syrian Authorities arrested Mrs Kallis and Mr Ahmed in Damascus on the 17 March 2009, and the interrogations indicated that both Ms Kallis and Mr Ahmed are working for a terrorist network related to the Al Qaeda organisation and other members of the network were also arrested by the Syrian Authorities. Mrs Kallis is involved in receiving funds from her husband Mr. Massoud Ahmad (who resides in the UK) and in conveying the funds to the above mentioned network. The investigation with the members of the network is still going on. ‘The Syrian Authorities allowed a representative of the British Embassy in Damascus to visit the detainees accordingly and a decision will be taken regarding the detainees as soon as the investigation is over.’ Suggestions that the British Secret Service were involved in the arrests have been strongly denied by the embassy’s spokesman Jihad Makdissi. It is unclear whether the pair were acquainted but both had been studying Arabic at the Abu Nour Islamic Foundation for several years. Pakistani born Mrs Kallis of West London first moved to the Syrian capital with her four children and husband Massoud in 2002 to study Arabic. The young family lived with Mrs Kallis’ sister while both she and her husband studied. Initially, they had planned to stay for just one year but lengthened their visit as they felt the warm climate was benefiting their disabled daughter. The couple came back to the UK in 2008 with one of their sons but Mrs Kallis returned to Damascus in March this year to collect her remaining children. It was during this visit she was arrested in the street by ten plain clothes policemen and marched to her apartment in handcuffs and took her travel documents including her passport. ‘Her sister opened the door and saw her handcuffed, with eight to ten men with them,' said her husband. ‘They were barging into her house, took the passports off the children, off Maryam, off her sister as well and took Maryam away by force in front of her children.' Meanwhile the family of Yasser Ahmed have told how he travelled to the country with his British wife and daughter to study Arabic in December 2006. Mr Ahmed, who previously worked with mentally ill children in Walthamstow, east London was in the second year of a degree course when he was arrested. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 #3: Only 2? Slow day, or what? Posted by: Barbara Skolaut|| Actually, Barbara, they forgot to get a license (and fork over 20% of what they raised). It's all about baksheesh. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-05-12 17:56 |
| #3 Only 2? Slow day, or what? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-05-12 14:36 |
| #2 where they raising money for the wrong terror group like not Hezbollah |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-05-12 11:59 |
| #1 Why would anyone live in Syria, particularly one of Pakistani birth, if they didn't need to? There are plenty of other places to study Arabic: Egypt, for instance, or Jordan, or Saudi Arabia -- where there are a great many Pakistanis -- or even Israel. I'm just surprised the Syrians suddenly decided to arrest them now. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-05-12 10:47 |