Briton on Terror Charge

A British Muslim man being held by police in Zambia has been charged by the American authorities with being an al-Qaida terrorist, it emerged yesterday.

Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was charged over his alleged role in a plot to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon more than five years ago.

Despite widespread media reports, however, he is not suspected of involvement in the London attacks of July 7 that claimed 56 lives, although British police and counter-terrorism officials may question him about possible links with one of the suicide bombers.

Aswat has been held in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, since crossing into the country more than a week ago.

A dispute has arisen between British diplomats, who have no objection to him being extradited to stand trial, and American authorities, who are understood to wish to see him subjected to a process known as rendition, which could see him taken to a country other than the US, where he may be at risk of being tortured.

A hunt was launched for Aswat in the aftermath of the suicide bomb attacks as Scotland Yard attempted to investigate possible links with Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, the eldest of the four suicide bombers.

Both men lived in the Dewsbury area of West Yorkshire, and there had been unconfirmed reports that they had been in telephone contact before the bombings.