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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 19, 2002
U.N. protests handing over suspected terrorists to U.S.
Bosnian authorities Friday handed over to the United States six Algerians suspected of having links to the Qaeda terrorist network. Human rights groups and some Bosnian officials denounced the action, calling it illegal.
The transfer was carried out despite a ruling Thursday by the country's highest court that the men be released and an injunction against their extradition from Bosnia's top human rights body.
The six, accused of plotting attacks against U.S. interests in Bosnia, eventually will be transferred to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The United Nations top human rights official in Bosnia said the move undermined the respect for the rule of law, due process and human rights that Washington has so vigorously promoted here.
"The United States is behaving like a rogue state," said Madeleine Rees, head of the Bosnia office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
Bosnian police turned over the suspects after a standoff outside Sarajevo's Central Prison, where hundreds of demonstrators tried to prevent their transfer by blocking roads.
Richard Reid, the man accused of trying to blow up a transatlantic flight last month by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes, pleaded not guilty on Friday in federal court in Boston.
In an indictment handed up on Wednesday, Reid was charged with nine counts including attempted murder, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and placing an explosive device on an aircraft.
The indictment also said that Reid, a 28-year-old British citizen who converted to Islam, received training in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan. Five of the charges against Reid carry a life sentence, three of them carry sentences of 20 years, and the remaining charge carries a sentence of 15 years.
Reid, gangly with unruly dark hair, looked down during much of the brief court hearing, occasionally reading a copy of the indictment that his lawyer held.
ALABAMAN FREED: An Alabama man who said he was kidnapped by a tribal warlord in Afghanistan and held for $25,000 ransom has been released after 10 days of frequent torture, his wife said Friday.
Clark Bowers' wife, Amanda, said he called Friday morning from Pakistan and told her of being tortured by his captors. She didn't say if any ransom had been paid.
Bowers, 37, was on a privately arranged humanitarian mission to Afghanistan when he called his wife Jan. 9 and said he had been taken hostage.
A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the bureau had been unable to confirm that Bowers had either been abducted or released.
NO TRIAL ON TV: A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., denied Court TV's request for televised coverage of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man charged in the Sept. 11 attacks.
DELTA APOLOGIZES: Delta Airlines has apologized to Muslim teenager Enaas Sarsour for making her remove her head scarf during a security check at Baltimore-Washington International Airport last month.
Enaas Sarsour, 17, said she sought the apology because she believed that the incident was racially motivated and violated her religious beliefs.
AND THIS IS THE LINCOLN BEDROOM: The White House will reopen to school tour groups early next month, easing a security clampdown imposed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Visiting children and their adult escorts will be required to submit Social Security numbers and other personal information in advance of their tours for screening by the Secret Service.
AIR FORCE SAYS "ENOUGH': The secretary of the Air Force is pressing the Pentagon to curtail the aircraft patrols over U.S. cities that began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because the missions are interfering with the pilots' regular combat training.