28-year-old British citizen Richard C. Reid, who allegedly tried to blow up an American airliner over the atlantic ocean last month by igniting explosives in his shoes, was brought before an American federal court today and charged with eight counts, including a charge of attampted murder against the passengers and crew of the flight.
Reid, who was overpowered by the aircraft's passengers and crew when he tried to set his explosives-filled shoes on fire, was taken into custody when the airplane landed at Boston, but until now he has only been formally charged with the minor offense of "interfering with a flight crew". The new charges indicate the United States authorities have finished their investigation against Reid.
In the courtroom, the fact that the U.S. belives it has evidence linking Reid to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization emerged, but there was no indication of just how deep this involvement was. The American prosecuter charged that Reid had been trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, but the indictment did not include any specific charges that Reid had attempted to carry his suicide attack under orders from al-Qaeda, or anyone else.
Meanwhile in France, newspaper La Provence in Marseille said on Saturday that French investigators had found an e-mail from Reid in which he described his plans to destroy an airliner written shortly before his alleged attempt to bring down the American airliner. According to Reuters, the French investigators had tracked the e-mail by following an Internet Café address found on Reid after his arrest.
La Provence said investigators had also learned from the e-mail that Reid called himself a "martyr of the Islamic cause", and had asked the several people he sent the electronic message to not to publicize it unless the plot was executed successfully. (www.albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
