(Adds background)
DUBAI, April 30 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s North African branch
has offered to free a British hostage in return for the release
of radical preacher Abu Qatada but warned London against handing
him over to his native Jordan, a statement on an Islamist
website said on Monday.
“The initiative to the British government is to release its
citizen Stephen Malcolm, who also has South African nationality,
if it deports Abu Qatada to one of the ‘Arab Spring’ countries,”
said the statement, which could not be verified, from Al Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
“If Britain ignores this offer it will bear the consequences
of handing Abu Qatada to the Jordanian government,” it added.
Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen have seen changes of
leadership after uprisings last year known as the Arab Spring.
The revolts have empowered Islamists who were often persecuted
by previous governments.
Malcolm is thought to be one of nine Europeans, including
six French nationals, seized by the al Qaeda branch in Mali and
Niger since September 2010. It said in January it would kill
them if France and its allies attack its bases in northern Mali.
The group has said the others are from Sweden and Holland.
Africa’s Sahel region has become a haven for al Qaeda-linked
operatives taking advantage of the vast and lawless area, and is
believed to have raked in millions of dollars in ransoms.
Mauritania’s army has launched a series of attacks on AQIM bases
inside Mali in recent months.
Britain said this month it would resume plans to deport Abu
Qatada to Jordan, where he has been convicted in absentia of
involvement in militant plots.
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