Italian police want more time to quiz Osman

Last updated at 10:47 03 August 2005


Italian investigators piecing together the activities of alleged would-be train bomber Hussain Osman are insisting that they need to keep questioning him - despite what the British may think.

Scotland Yard is reported to be concerned over lack of access to Osman, who was held in Rome last Friday as one of the suspected failed July 21 suicide gang.

The British are seeking extradition under a European Arrest Warrant, but an Italian judge has confirmed Osman's arrest for association with international terrorism under Italian law, sparking fears of a hold-up in the extradition process.

Today one of the investigating magistrates who has been questioning Osman in Rome's Regina Coeli prison told newspapers that the British would be helped, but at the moment it was a matter of scrutiny for the Italians.

Franco Ionta said: "We will give the English authorities maximum collaboration, when we receive official requests for access to him, but until we clarify the nature of his contacts in Rome and Italy, his position will remain under the scrutiny of Italian judicial authority."

The British are supplying paperwork needed by the Italians under the Arrest Warrant, and a decision on a date for an extradition hearing may be announced by the end of the week. The hearing itself is unlikely before the end of the month.

Home Office minister Hazel Blears has played down any suggestion of a dispute between Britain and Italy over the issue, saying it was her understanding there are no domestic charges which might delay extradition.

Osman is accused of trying to set off a bomb on an Underground train at Shepherd's Bush, west London.

Born Hamdi Issac in Ethiopia, he moved from Italy to England in 1996, changing his name and pretending to be Somali to help gain political refugee status.

He is one of five brothers. Two of them, living in Italy, Ramzi and Fati, are reportedly suspected of involvement in the July 21 incidents.

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