Al-Qa'eda suspect wins British court apology

Daily Telegraph:

A judge apologised yesterday to a British al-Qa'eda suspect wanted on terror charges in America after he was forced to return to court on Eid al-Fitr, one of the most important days in the Muslim calendar.

Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, who is accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in the United States, attended the formal opening of his extradition hearing at Bow Street magistrates' court, central London.

Dressed in a long white gown, he told Senior District Judge Timothy Workman: "It is the most important day of my religion today - Eid.

"For me it is not a problem, I can understand it is about technical difficulties but for these people doing these bombings in [Britain], they are very simple minded, they take it as an insult.

"The people who do bombings, this is the reason, they have not been shown respect in their religion."

Eid al-Fitr marks the final day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.

Judge Workman told Aswat: "I am very sorry, if I had known we would have picked a different day."

It is alleged that Aswat was involved in setting up a terrorist camp in Oregon that aimed to provide training for American and British men before they were sent to fight US forces in Afghanistan.

Aswat, who grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorks, was originally arrested under Zambian immigration laws last month.

Clair Dobbin, representing the US government, alleged that Aswat was involved in establishing the "jihad training camp" between October 1999 and early 2000.

Following the brief hearing, Aswat was remanded in custody until Nov 24 when there is expected to be a day of legal argument before the case proceeds.

Amazing! The judge actually apologized to someone who is accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp!

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