London - A 38-year-old book publisher appeared in court yesterday charged with conspiring to murder the former leader of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, who was blown up two days before the terrorist attacks on the US, Rachel Donnelly reports.
Mr Yasser Al-Siri, an Egyptian based in London, appeared at the high-security Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south-east London, charged with conspiring to murder Gen Ahmad Shah Masood, who was killed in a suicide bombing on September 9th.
It is alleged that Mr Al-Siri, who runs the Islamic Observation Centre, provided letters of accreditation for the two assassins who posed as journalists to gain access to Masood.
Mr Al-Siri was also charged with inviting support for the banned organisation al Gamm'a al-Islamiyya and stirring up racial hatred by publishing "threatening and abusive" material which called for the killing of Jews. In addition, he was charged with inviting funds for the purpose of terrorism and making available property for the purpose of terrorism.