CAIRO, 10 August 2005 — An Egyptian biochemist released yesterday after being questioned over July bombings in London said he knew two of the bombers and allowed one to stay at his British flat, but said he was wrongly suspected of involvement. An Egyptian security source earlier yesterday said Magdy El-Nashar had been released after investigations proved he was not linked to the July 7 bombings.
El-Nashar said he had returned to Egypt for a six-week holiday when he was detained last month in connection with the attacks that killed 52 people and the four bombers. He told reporters at his south Cairo home that he intended to return to England.
“I knew two of the accused in the London bombings,” El-Nashar said. Three of the four bombers were British Muslims of Pakistani descent and one was a Jamaican-born Briton. El-Nashar said he knew Hasib Husain, 18, and the Jamaican-born man named as Lindsey Germail or Lindsey Germaine in British and US reports. El-Nashar referred to him as Jamal, his Muslim name.
“Jamal was very quiet and entered into Islam two months before the bombings,” El-Nashar said. “I met Jamal and he asked me for the key to my flat. He said he wanted to stay there for a short time and I agreed,” he said. British police had searched El-Nashar’s rented flat in the northern town of Leeds in connection with the bombings. Three of the four bombers were from the same area.
“The reason for suspecting me was because I specialize in chemistry. I am completely innocent,” he said, adding that he planned legal action against British media that he said had defamed him. He did not identify the media.
El-Nashar, who said he was well-treated by Egyptian security during the investigation, said he wanted to return to Britain, where he obtained a doctorate earlier this year. “I hope to return to London to continue my career but I don’t know if this will happen soon,” he said.
“The 33-year-old Egyptian biochemist was released on Aug. 9 after we finished the investigations that proved that he played no role in the London bombings,” said a statement released by the Interior Ministry.
El-Nashar, a teacher at Leeds University in England, told Egyptian investigators that he met Hussein at the university mosque and that he helped him find an apartment in the city.
