Egypt arrests al-Qaida official; Islamic activists dispute claim (media coordinator Abdel Maqsoud)

Jerusalem Post ^ | 15 December 2002 | AP

[Stultis]

Egypt arrests al-Qaida official; Islamic activists dispute claim

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The Associated Press

Dec. 15, 2002

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Egypt has an al-Qaida official in custody, Egyptian security officials said Saturday, but the claim was promptly disputed by Islamic activists.

The officials identified the man as Mohammed Nagah Abdel Maqsoud, saying he was the media coordinator of the terror group responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

He has been in custody since January when Pakistani authorities extradited him to Egypt, a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

His capture was revealed only Saturday when Egyptian prosecutors renewed his detention order for 45 days.

Islamist activists and experts on militants denied Saturday that Abdel Maqsoud had any connection to al-Qaida.

"This is nonsense. He did not like any (Islamic) group. He was very sharp and critical of these groups," said Hani el-Sibaie, a former leader of the outlawed Egyptian group Islamic Jihad, who now lives in London where he runs a research center.

Mohammed Salah, an Egyptian journalist who writes on Islamic militants for the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat, told The Associated Press that Abdel Maqsoud was not a member of al-Qaida, although he had fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

"He was well-known among (the Arabs who fought in Afghanistan), and nothing more than that," Salah said in Cairo.

The Egyptian security official said Abdel Maqsoud, who is nicknamed "Reuters," was responsible for briefing the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, on media coverage of Islamic groups and how various governments were pursuing militants.

But el-Sibaie said Abdel Maqsoud got the name Reuters because he provided a news bulletin to Arab fighters during the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

It is known that Abdel Maqsoud lost an eye and a leg in the war.

Yassir el-Sirri, another Egyptian exile in London, said that Abdel Maqsoud wrote a book that argued that bin Laden used un-Islamic methods.

El-Sirri, who heads the Islamic Observatory Center, said Abdel Maqsoud was detained in Peshawar, Pakistan, last year.

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[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Here's more of that "nothing" that little Tommy Douchle was talking about in regard to the terrorism war.

[dennisw]

It is known that Abdel Maqsoud lost an eye and a leg in the war.

UK will take him in for sure and send him to the Finsbury Park mosque to hook up with this one eyed mad dog mullah.

[sheik yerbouty]

Tic toc, tic toc....

[Stultis]

This is really gonna piss you off:

Report: second suspect in Tunisian synagogue attack has left Germany

[Larry381]

Let me get this straight-they caught Bin Laden's Press Agent?

[Angelus Errare]

Not exactly.

This guy was one of the people in the media committee charge of keeping up to date with al-Qaeda propoganda, releasing communiques that would hit all of the right chords, and probably had at least some role in analyzing Western media and then reporting back to the al-Qaeda leadership which accusations they should hurl at the West whenever the time came to talk, either through video or audio recording or through website statements.

The recent letter attributed to bin Laden currently being circulated by Azzam Publications that basically lays out his case against the US likely owes a great deal to Abdel Maqsoud's handiwork, citing everything from the Palestinians to Chechnya to Algeria to Kashmir to the southern Philippines while simultaneously including all the traditional left-wings claims about the United States to appeal to the peace activists.

While this guy wasn't a front-line soldier for the cause, he provided a great deal of ideological direction to those who were. Having him taken out of circulation is a very good thing.

[Cindy]

GOOGLE Search Term: "Abdel Maqsoud"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Abdel+Maqsoud%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0

[Lion's Cub]

He's surely being defended by some mighty big names; and someone who thinks bin Laden is unIslamic would hardly be hanging out in Peshawar.

If that's where he was taken, I'm betting BL was there around the same time if he actually survived the bombings.

[Defender2]

And Here is the Democrats Dirty Little Secret:
59 members of Our U.S. Congress(Nancy Pelosi included) belonging to the "Progressive Caucas" of the "Democratic
Socialists of Amerika"
http://www.dsausa.org/
is their website. they have been trying to take over this country for several years now!!!!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[said Hani el-Sibaie, a former leader of the outlawed Egyptian group Islamic Jihad, who now lives in London where he runs a research center.]
<P.
And why isn't THIS POS dead or in prison?

[Stultis]

See Also post #5. Although we should certainly expect more of England than Aleman, home of socialism and fascism (pardon the redundancy).