Camp X-Ray Briton 'brainwashed'

The brothers of Shafiq Rasul, the Briton being held in Camp X-Ray in Cuba, have called for his return saying he was not an al Qaeda supporter and must have been "brainwashed".

The 24-year-old is being held with Asif Iqbal, 20, after they were seized in Afghanistan having flown out shortly after 11 September. The pair grew up together in Tipton, West Midlands.

Shafiq's elder brother, Murtza, said his family has been suffering, particularly their disabled mother. He added: "This has been like going to hell and back, especially for our mother."

His younger brother, Habib, said: "Me and Shafiq watched the news on 11 September together and he was in total condemnation of what happened."

But today fresh allegations emerged that Shafiq and Asif carried guns and were members of a violent gang at school. As part of the so-called Tipton Asian Terror Squad, both boys joined 12 Pakistanis and Indians to fight racist bullies at their school.

In London the Islamic preacher Abu Hamza welcomed the return of his son, Mohammed Kamel, 20, after a threeyear jail sentence for terrorist offences in Yemen.

Kamel was convicted with seven others of plotting to bomb British and American targets in Yemen. He said: "I deny the charges made against me. I am innocent."

His father, the notorious extremist at the Finsbury Park Mosque, added: "He was only in Yemen on holiday with his friends. He is not a terrorist."

It also emerged that a video showing Islamic extremists backed by Osama bin Laden murdering and mutilating Algerian government troops had been found in the mosque run by Hamza.

The video shows young Algerian government soldiers having their throats cut by the Salafist Group For Preaching and War (GSPC), an Algerian group linked to al Qaeda.

GSPC produced the video and smuggled it into Britain just before 11 September for distribution in mosques as part of a recruitment drive for Bin Laden. Copies were on sale for £10 at the Finsbury Park Mosque.

Hamza said: "There are no videos featuring the Taliban. The only videos were taken in Algeria. They are threeanda-half years old and they are available all over the place. They are not recruitment videos."

Meanwhile, students at the London School of Economics have again been linked to al Qaeda. Ex-student Omar Sheikh, 28, has been named as a financier of Mohammed Atta, the pilot of one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center. Now he has been linked to last week's shooting in Calcutta which killed five policemen.

Another alleged terrorist was arrested in India last month for reportedly being involved in an attack on the Indian parliament last year. According to intelligence he lectured Muslim students at LSE in 1993. A third man joined a computer course in 1992 before allegedly attempting to recruit members for a Kashmiri group closely associated with al Qaeda.

US threat to send 'al Qaeda' Britons home