From: Nagikheir@aol.com
 To: undisclosed-recipients:;
 Subject: Jailed sheikh's kin propose  Afghan aid worker swap
 Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 12:36:13 EDT

Jailed sheikh's kin propose
Afghan aid worker swap

  By Esmat Salaheddin

 CAIRO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The family of an Egyptian militant Islamist,

 Jailed  for life in a U.S. prison, have asked Afghanistan's Taliban to set detained  foreign aid workers free if the United States agrees to release the cleric.

 The family appealed for the swap in a letter to the Afghan rulers and obtained by Reuters. It said Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was sentenced in  the United States in 1995 for his part in a plot to bomb buildings in New  York  , suffered from serious health problems.

Islamist sources said the Taliban were willing to free the aid workers, accused of promoting Christianity, if Washington would allow Sheikh Omar to  go to Afghanistan. They said the Taliban's reaction had been passed to U.S. authorities through middlemen.

Judges and Islamic scholars under Afghanistan's Supreme Court went into their  second day of deliberations on Wednesday over a trial of the four German,  two  American and two Australian aid workers.

"The case of Western nationals, arrested for promoting Christianity in Afghanistan, opens the door of hope for exchanging some of them for Sheikh  Omar Abdel-Rahman," said the letter to the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah  Mohammad Omar, a copy of which was faxed to Reuters in Cairo.

  BUSH URGED TO RELEASE SHEIKH

The family also wrote a separate letter to U.S. President Geroge W. Bush which said: "Sheikh Omar's health and human condition is very serious. He is in his 70s, blind and suffering from diabetes.

"Due to this situation and due to the existence of some U.S. nationals on trial in Afghanistan, we ask you to allow the exchange of the Sheikh for some  of them," the second letter added. Both documents were signed by Sheikh  Omar's wife. Sheikh Omar's son confirmed both were authentic.

One Islamist source close to the petition said: "The Taliban have reacted positively to the exchange request, which was forwarded to the U.S. administration."

Islamist sources said Sheikh Omar's lawyer, Ramsey Clark, had already made contact with the State Department. They said that while the family's letters only referred to releasing "some" of the Western detainees, the Taliban would consider releasing all of them in exchange for Sheikh Omar's freedom.

Sheikh Omar is the spiritual leader of Egypt's largest militant Islamic group, al-Gama'a al-Islamia, which gained infamy in 1997 for the massacre in Luxor of 62 foreign tourists and Egyptians.

On Wednesday the Taliban denied Western diplomats access to the trial of the aid workers, but the chief justice said the defendants could hire foreign lawyers.

 The trial process under the hardline Islamic movement remained unclear, and the possible punishment is unclear. The Taliban say Mullah Omar has the final say no matter what the court decides.

 The Taliban say they have strong evidence that the foreigners were involved in trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity, but had no proof any conversions were made.

 Recognised as a legitimate government by just three countries, the Taliban rule most of Afghanistan and want to establish a purist Islamic state.

 Their strict interpretation of Islam has often earned them international condemnation, especially for human rights abuses and the destruction of the country's pre-Islamic heritage.

 10:35 09-05-01