US accuses four of supporting terror group

Four people, including one in custody in Britain, were indicted in the US today on charges they provided material support and resources to the Egyptian-based terrorist organisation known as the Islamic Group.

The indictment accuses the defendants of supporting the organisation by passing messages regarding ‘‘Islamic Group activities to and from the imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.’’

It further charges ‘‘that the unlawful communications with the sheik occurred during prison visits and attorney telephone calls’’ involving Lynne Stewart, a New York lawyer for the sheik, and Mohammed Yousry, an Arabic translator who is also charged.

The indictment alleges the sheik in October 2000 issued an edict titled which called on ‘‘brother scholars everywhere in the Muslim world to do their part and issue a unanimous fatwah that urges the Muslim nation to fight the Jews and kill them wherever they are.’’

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Islamic Group has "a message of hate that is now tragically familiar to Americans".

He identified the others charged as Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a Staten Island man described as a ‘‘surrogate’’ for Abdel-Rahman; and Yassir Al-Sirri, the former head of the London-based Islamic Observation Centre, in custody in Britain, ‘‘charged with facilitating communications among Islamic Group members and providing financing for their activities.’’

Abdel-Rahman, 63, was among 10 men convicted by a New York jury in 1995 of conspiracy in a plot to bomb the UN, FBI headquarters in Manhattan, two tunnels and a bridge connecting New Jersey and New York.

Prosecutors said the defendants wanted to use urban terrorism to pressure the United States into curbing support for Middle East nations that opposed the sheik’s extremist brand of Islam.