LONDON, 26 October — Radical activist Omar Mahmoud Omar Othman, also known as Abu Qatada, has denied having struck a deal with the British security forces. In the first-ever interview with the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat since his disappearance more than a year ago, Abu Qatada said the charge of treason is one of the easiest and dirtiest for an enemy to make.
Special British anti-terror units swooped on a house in south London on Wednesday and arrested Abu Qatada. He is wanted by seven European countries in addition to Jordan, which wants to try him on charges of funding terrorism. Spanish investigators accuse him of being Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man. Abu Qatada, who received political asylum in London, declared great admiration for Ayman Al-Zawahiri, an ally of Bin Laden. He denounced the leaders of the Jama’a Islamiya of Egypt for their call to end violence. He said their admission that the terrorist attacks they unleashed were motivated by revenge and not as part of a jihad shocked him beyond words. Describing the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington last year as acts of jihad, he said, "What occurred in America has its positive elements...this outweighs its viciousness." He said he felt it an honor to be considered an enemy of America.
