Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

In Leicester, England, Eight Men Arrested Under Britain's Terrorism Act

Aired January 18, 2002 - 07:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We turn now back to the war on terrorism. Early this morning, six suspected terrorists in Bosnia, held in the country since October, were handed over to U.S. authorities just after a judge there moved to dismiss all of the charges against them. And in Leicester, England, a very busy day yesterday for people who arrested eight men under Britain's Terrorism Act.

CNN's senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar joins us now from London with more -- good morning, Sheila. What's the latest from there?

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Well, there is six Algerians -- actually five Algerians, one Yemeni, have been held, as you said, in prison in Bosnia since mid-October, when they were arrested on charges of allegedly plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy. Now, the United States had told Bosnian government officials that they had telephone intercepts of conversations between the six, talking about a plot in the days after U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began.

Now, under Bosnian law, there is three months to bring these people forward to court, or you have to let them go. Because the evidence them was U.S. intelligence information, the U.S. would not release that information -- that is standard policy -- would not hand it over for use in open court for fears that it could compromise intelligence sources. Bosnians, therefore, were obliged to let them go. They were handed over to the U.S. after what are described as very delicate negotiations, and we believe they now, or shortly will be, on their way to Guantanamo Bay -- Paula.

ZAHN: Is there any question about legality of their transfer to Cuba?

MACVICAR: Well, lawyers acting for four of them had obtained what amounted to an injunction from the chamber of human rights in Bosnia. And that chamber had said that these four could not be removed until there was a further judicial proceeding. The Bosnian government argues that the human rights court in Bosnia has jurisdiction only over Bosnian citizens. These were men who had had Bosnian citizenship. It had been stripped. Therefore, the Bosnian government says there was no impediment. But to quote a senior Bosnian official, they think that this is going to become a big issue and raise more questions about how the U.S. is conducting its war on terror -- Paula.

ZAHN: Let's come back to the story you covered all day long yesterday, and that's the arrest of eight men in England. What evidence is there that any of them have direct links with al Qaeda?

MACVICAR: Well, under Britain's Terrorism Act, we, in fact, know very little about these men. We know a little from visits that producers and correspondents working for CNN made to the neighborhood in Leicester last night. We know that they are all Muslims. We know that some of them are French-speaking North African origin. But the charges have not yet been specified. We have seen in the past when there have been these big roundups a number of people had been released a short while later. So the police basically have seven days before they actually have to specify charges.

Now, in addition to that yesterday in Leicester, we had two men in court who had been previously arrested. One of the men is charged with directing al Qaeda, and we know from French intelligence sources and elsewhere that he has been named by someone else who is in custody elsewhere as being a major recruiter for al Qaeda. So those are pretty big developments, pretty important developments in terms of piecing together all of these webs and networks as they intersect across Europe.

ZAHN: We'll be counting on you to keep us posted on both of these stories -- thanks so much for the update, Sheila -- appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.