Some 22 Islamists delivered to Algeria from Syria

The Algerian independent daily "Al-Aalam Al-Siyasi" said on Monday that the Syrian authorities handed over Algeria, 22 Islamists since the beginning of this Summer.

The paper said those Islamists are considered as ranking officials in the Islamic movement. It added that Damascus handed them over following difficult and secret negotiations between the security systems in the two states.

The paper did not disclose the names of the evacuees, but mentioned the name of al-Tayeb al-Bargouth which it described as "one of the brains of the political and philosophical figures of the Islamic movement in Algeria." The paper added that the Islamists were arrested in two shifts: the first included 16 persons and the second six. It did not mention dates of the two arrest operations.

The paper did not make clear whether the evacuation process came as a result of the anti-Arab terrorism pact signed among all Arab states or as a fruit of bilateral negotiations. The paper stated that the number of Islamist residents in the Arab states is less than their number in the European countries.