– YASSER  EL-SIRRI

Yasser el Sirri was born in Egypt in 1962. He became a member of the EGYPTIAN Jamaa Islamiya, one of the Islamic militant groups that emerged in Egypt to oppose the peace process with Israel, signed in 11/1978.

Yasser el Sirri was arrested in Egypt in 09/1981, like many other Islamic activists, shortly before the assassination of the Egyptian President Anwar Saadat by Khalid El-Islambouli, on 10/06/1981, because of his Islamic opposition to the Egyptian regime and the peace treaty with Israel.

Yasser el Sirri left Egypt in 1988 and eventually traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He arrived to UK in 1994. Yasser el Sirri lived in London, UK as an asylum seeker and became the director of the Islamic Observation center (IOC), an Islamic lobbying organization in the British media, in Paddington, central London.

In the early 90’s  Yasser el Sirri met Osama Bin Laden’s ‘s right-hand man, Islamic Jihad leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, in Pakistan but that the two, according to Yasser el Sirri, did not see eye-to-eye on the usefulness of political murders.

In 1993 Yasser el Sirri was put on trial in Egypt, in absentia, because of his aggressive opposition to the Egyptian regime and attempted murder of former Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Sedki in 11/1993. He was sentenced to death in 1994.

Yasser el Sirri confirmed that he provided recommendation letters to Dahmane Abd el-Sattar and Bouraoui el-Ouaer, whom he never met, the Ahmad Shah Massoud’s assassins. According to Yasser el Sirri someone has contacted his organization (IOC)   and suggested to make a TV program titled “Afghanistan: Past, Present and Future.”    and sell it to IOC because of its independent approach in the media. He had no clue what the real purpose of the letters was. 

Yasser el Sirri was arrested in 10/2001 in UK and charged with plotting to murder the military commander of Afghanistan’s northern alliance, Ahmad Shah Massoud. The charges against him were later dropped.

On 04/09/2002, in New York, USA, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that Yasser el Sirri was one of four people indicted for providing material support to the Islamic Group, which he described as an Egyptian terrorist group and charged with “facilitating communications among Islamic Group members and providing financing for their activities.”  According to USA intelligence Yasser el Sirri sent money to the Afghanistan-based family of Omar Abdel Rahman.

In 07/2002 Yasser el Sirri was arrested under USA request but was released on 07/30/2002 on bail for lack of sufficient evidences. Today (08/2007) Yasser el Sirri is a free man living in London.

 

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