Ahmed Khadr - Arrest, Investigation and Release

Arrest, Investigation and Release

In July 1995, Khadr arranged for his daughter Zaynab to marry an Egyptian man named Khalid Abdullah, "an Egyptian guest of the Taliban" from the Sudan, in December, and Maha began preparing an apartment for the couple in the family's house. Abdullah lived with the family for two months, "like a trial engagement".

On November 19 Ayman al-Zawahiri carried out an attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan, and the suitor Ahmed had arranged for his daughter went into hiding, named as one of the conspirators. A warrant was sworn for Khadr's arrest eight days later, after it was discovered that Khalid Abdullah had purchased one of the vehicles used in the attack. Two dozen Pakistani went to his house on November 27 at approximately 23:00H, but he was still in Afghanistan and had been there since before the attacks. Maha barricaded the door, while the 15-year old Zaynab took her father's rifle and held it over her head screaming. The police managed to enter, and took his wife, three children and in-laws who were visiting from Canada, into custody while they searched the house, seizing $10,000 $29,000 or $40,000 in cash from the home. While he insisted the money was to pay the salaries of HCI workers, others alleged he had used HCI to launder money eventually used to finance the attack. His wife and children were released shortly after the raid, while his in-laws were held for a month before being released.

Stories disagree whether Ahmed was arrested on December 3 at the border crossing back into Pakistan, or if he had returned to his home the previous day and gone to the police station to lodge a complaint about the raid, and been arrested. He was charged with aiding terrorism, and faced the death penalty, although investigators conceded they "did not have much evidence" linking him to the bombing.

After being refused food for two days, Khadr announced he was launching a hunger strike, which led to his collapse on his fifth day and his being transferred to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad. He was interviewed in hospital, where he denounced Foreign Minister Assef Ahmad Ali's claim that he had financed the explosives, detonation devices, and both vehicles used in the bombing. He stated that his work consisted solely of charitable work to provide food and schooling to Afghan orphans. Foregoing legal advice, he also refused to hire a lawyer to defend him. Suffering from a urinary tract infection due to weight loss, he claimed that he had been targeted simply because of his Egyptian background.

His plight caught the attention of the Canadian Arab Federation and the Jewish Civil Rights Educational Foundation of Canada, the latter of whom wrote to Pakistan urging that Khadr be afforded a fair trial, and expressing their concern "about unfair and unnecessary hardship placed on individuals like Khadr" in Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism. The Canadian-Muslim Civil Liberties Association similarly gathered a petition of 800 signatures and presented it to both Canadian and Pakistani officiails, and Human Concern International executive director Kaleem Akhtar echoed his certainty that Khadr was not involved in the blast, stating that "politics was not his cup of tea", and subsequently started a legal defence fund for Khadr. Rumors began to surface that he had already been extradited to Egypt.

As Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien happened to then be visiting Pakistan, he mentioned the matter to Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who promised "fair trial and fair treatment". Lacking evidence to suggest Khadr was involved in the bombing, Pakistan dropped their charges and released Khadr in March. Upon returning to Canada, Khadr kissed the ground.

In 2002, Abul-Dahab confessed to Egyptian interrogators that he had funded the bombing of the Egyptian embassy on orders from bin Laden, and had transferred money from a Californian bank account to Pakistan to finance the attack.