Egypt says Britain has cleared detained biochemist

[allemand]

Agence France-Presse
Cairo, July 19, 2005

The British authorities have concluded that Egyptian biochemist Magdy Nashar was not involved in the July 7 London bombings, a senior security source was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"The British have made sure thanks to the investigation carried out by the Egyptian authorities that Nashar played no part in the bombings," the official told the leading state-owned daily Al-Ahram on condition of anonymity.

Magdy Nashar, a 33-year-old biochemist who lives in England, returned to Egypt four days before the quadruple bombings that left at least 56 people dead and was arrested last week in Cairo. (...)

Following his arrest, the Egyptian authorities were swift to deny Nashar had any links with Al-Qaeda, which London suspects was responsible for the devastating bombings.

More:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1435439,00050006.htm

Before we had only the declarations of an Egyptian minister, now it seems that the British authorities came to the same conclusion.

[bin.dare]

1. "same conclusion" why?

I would say the Egyptians told the british that Magdy Nashar was working for them.

[allemand]

2. They probably came to this conclusion after interviewing Nashar's friends,

colleagues, neighbors, etc.

This is how Nashar got involved in the bomb plot:

Respected hospital consultant Dr Shakir Al Ani was "approached by Leeds-based Elnashar who said he had a "friend from London" who needed somewhere to stay in the city. There is no suggestion Elnashar knowingly assisted the bombers. Dr Shakir first met Elnashar at the Leeds Grand mosque close to Alexandra Grove four years ago.

The two became friends and Dr Shakir rented him one of several properties he owns in St John's Terrace, close to the mosque. (...)

"There was someone coming from London who needed somewhere to stay so I gave Magdy the keys for him about a month ago. I did not take the other man's full name and I never met him. But I spoke to him on the phone. He had a British accent, it was not a distinct accent but he was fluent.

"He told me he wanted to get rid of some of the furniture because he needed the space, that his wife was coming and he wanted to 'do it up'. I didn't think it was a problem but explained it wasn't my property."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15733472&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=7-7--war-on-britain--where-is-the-fifth-man---name_page.html

Nashar gave the keys to Hasib Hussain. He must have had a convincing story of how he met Hussain: now both Egyptian and British authorities seem to believe him.

[jobycom]

3. Interesting--they won't let him go until the investigation is over

[Roland99]

4. Kick with MSNBC article

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8629718/