LONDON: Egypt deported to London three Britons released from jail where they had served almost four years of their five-year sentences for spreading propaganda for an Islamist group, officials said on Wednesday.
The Britons were among a group of 26 men jailed for between one and five years for spreading propaganda of the Hizbut Al-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party). They boarded a flight to London on Wednesday, officials at the airport and the British embassy said. These men were prisoners of conscience who were never accused even by the Egyptian authorities of violence, terrorism or militancy, Imran Waheed, a spokesman for Hizbut Al-Tahrir Britain, said. They were incarcerated solely for their political views and will rightfully return to Britain as heroes amongst the Muslim community in whose eyes they are not guilty of any crime. Waheed added that ironically, the trio could face 10 years in prison in their native country if Prime Minister Tony Blair makes good on his threat last year to proscribe Hizbut Al-Tahrir in Britain. The three Britons were arrested in April 2002 and found guilty of belonging to Hizbut Al-Tahrir, an Islamist group banned in Egypt, that is committed to the creation of a single Islamic state for the world s Muslims. They were sentenced in March 2004 along with 23 other young Islamists by Egypt s state security court. Their defense counsel appealed to the prosecutor general for the men s release on the grounds they had served four out of their five-year terms, and he consented after prison authorities raised no objections. Nawaz, an Islamic law student at the University of London, and Nisbett, a convert to Islam, said they traveled to Egypt to learn Arabic, while Pankhurst, a computer programmer, was living in Cairo with his parents. Hezbut Al-Tahrir, founded in 1953 by Palestinian cleric Takieddin Al-Nabahani, seeks to combine all Muslim states into one Islamic nation. Active in London, it developed in several Arab states as well as across Central Asia. Agencies
