Cairo appoints lawyer to defend Bin Laden's asistant

The Supreme Military Court in Cairo decided to appoint a lawyer to defend Ali Amin El-Rachidi, who is known as Abu Obida El-Banshidi, whose name was stated in the list of those accused in the issue of those who returned from Albaina despite statements that confirmed the death of Abu Obida by drowning in Lake Victoria in Kenya in 1996.

The defense in the case said that lawyer Saad Hesballah asked to summon the wife of El-Rachidi, who resides in Egypt, in order to prove before the court that her husband has died and was buried in Kenya. The sources said the case's papers included several accusations leveled at El-Rachidi, including that until 1996 he was Bin Laden's right-hand man and he met with a number of the accused in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen.

He also participated in training a large number of fundamentalists to use weapons and guerrilla warfare methods, including radio-detonated explosions of cars.

In the early 1990s he assumed the leadership of Bin Laden's military organization, then he moved to several countries, especially Africa. He took part in Somalia in fighting against U.S forces and participated in planting members of their organization in African countries.

Meanwhile, the court resumed today its examination of the case of 107 persons accused of belonging to the outlawed El-Gihad group, headed by Ayman El-Zowahry.