Egyptian Chemist Detained Over Connection in London Bombing Set Free

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBG9V946CE.html

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Authorities on Tuesday released an Egyptian chemist detained for questioning after the deadly July 7 subway and bus bombings in London, an Interior Ministry official said.

Magdy el-Nashar had been sought by Britain in connection to the attacks in London in which four suicide bombers killed 52 people. El-Nashar was arrested by the Egyptians soon after the bombings and officials from Scotland Yard attended his questioning in Egypt.

An official from the ministry's media office said el-Nashar was released after authorities found no evidence against him and no links to the attacks or to al-Qaida.

"He is at home," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was speaking before an official announcement was made.

"There is nothing against him," the official said when asked whether el-Nashar would be extradited to Britain. Egypt previously has said it would not hand him over.

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1. Interesting

If you'd believed the UK media you'd be in little doubt he'd made the July 7th bombs. Not that this proves no involvement necessarily, who knows, I don't put any more faith in the Egyptian authorities than I do the UK media. How long before he disappears I wonder.

[lockdown]

2. Sounds like he had good reason

to return to Egypt when he did, rather than slipping out of the country before the bombings as was portrayed.

...

But his mother insisted, “I won’t let him go to London now unless the British government officially announces he is innocent the same way they accused him.”

El-Nashar had just completed his doctorate in biolchemistry at Leeds when the attacks occured and had returned to Egypt to submit his certification to the government research centre that sponsored his studies in Britain. He told his interrogators that he had intended to return to Leeds after his holiday.

At the time of the bombings, British media reported that traces of TATP, used by bomber Richard Reid who failed in 2001 to blow up an airplane with explosives in his shoes, were found in el-Nashar’s apartment during raids in Leeds. But the reports were never confirmed.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=152050514&p=y5zx5yzzx