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Suspect in Khobar bombing case fights deportation
bombing

May 4, 1997
Web posted at: 10:16 p.m. EDT (0216 GMT)

From World Affairs Correspondent Ralph Begleiter

OTTAWA (CNN) -- A Saudi Arabian man whom Western officials believe was involved in the bombing of a military apartment complex last year will go before a Canadian judge Monday to continue his fight to stay in Canada.

Canadian authorities maintain Hani al-Sayegh served as a lookout for a suicide truck bomber who exploded a device outside the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American airmen and injuring hundreds of others.

They are trying to deport him from Canada, but al-Sayegh has gone to court to stop the deportation. If the Canadian government succeeds in ousting him, U.S. officials investigating the Khobar bombing may get their chance to question him.

During a recent visit to Washington, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien pledged his cooperation in delivering al-Sayegh to the Americans.

The suspect has given different accounts of where he was on the day that the bomb exploded. He told Canadian officials that he was in Damascus, Syria at the time. But he later told a reporter that he was in Qom, Iran.
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

After the attack, al-Sayegh's travel documents show that he made his way through five countries -- Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Italy and the United States -- before landing in Canada. Canadian officials confirm that they wiretapped al-Sayegh and established links between him and the Iranian embassy in Ottawa.

Authorities believe he was probably not one of the masterminds behind the terrorist crime.

"He's really not that significant. He is more of a drawbridge into the terrorist castle," says Larry Johnson, a terrorism expert. "Nonetheless, he provides good circumstantial evidence of the Iranian tie to the incident."

The judge who will decide the deportation case in Ottawa has been presented with a thick file of documents -- including al-Sayegh's Saudi passport and identification card -- to buttress the government's claim that he was involved in the attack.

Al-Sayegh's attorney tells CNN that the suspect, who wants refugee status in Canada, will testify that he was not involved in the bombing and will downplay any ties to Iran.