The US secretary of state has responded to President Mohamed Morsy’s call for extraditing Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is currently serving life imprisonment in the US.
Hillary Clinton said the legal procedures of Abdel Rahman’s trial were correct.
Abdel Rahman was convicted in 1995 for taking part in the World Trade Center bombings in 1993 and helping plan other attacks, including one planned for the United Nations headquarters.
During an interview with CNN while on a visit to Switzerland, Clinton said the evidence against Abdel Rahman, often called “the Blind Sheikh,” was clear and convincing.
Morsy spokesperson Yasser Ali on Sunday said that the president’s statements on releasing Abdel Rahman were based on sympathy for his family, from a humanitarian perspective and not a legal one.
He said Egypt should respect laws and criminal rulings issued in other countries with stable judicial systems, and that legal options exist for dealing with humanitarian issues.
Edited translation from MENA
