A new audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden's top deputy warns the US that it will pay dearly if it harms detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and urges Muslims everywhere to avenge the prisoners from their "infidel" captors.
A tape that the Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya said was from Ayman Al-Zawahri, a top official in bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network, said the threat was a response to Washington's announcement that it will start putting the detainees on military trials that could result in death sentences.
"I swear by the almighty God ... that crusader America will pay dearly for any harm done to any of the Muslim prisoners it is holding," said the recording broadcast yesterday.
It was not immediately possible to authenticate the tape. Calls made to the Dubai-based TV station yesterday went unanswered.
Montasser el-Zayat, a prominent Egyptian lawyer who represents Islamic fundamentalists, said he believed the voice on the tape was al-Zawahri's because it had the same tone and "expressions."
"He is my friend and I know his voice well," el-Zayat said after listening to the tape.
The tape said all those who handed the prisoners to the US or to any of its "agents" will also pay. "Let it be clear to those who conspire with America, that America cannot defend itself, let alone defend others."
It said every prisoner held by the "infidels" should know that his release is a "debt hanging from the neck of every" Muslim fighter and that "his brothers have not forgotten that they will avenge him from the new crusaders."
The Arabic recording said: "But we tell America one thing: what you have seen so far is nothing but the first skirmishes. The real battle hasn't started yet."
Al-Zawahri's whereabouts are not known. US officials believe bin Laden, who was not mentioned in the latest audio tape, and al-Zawahri are hiding in the wilderness between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On July 3, the Pentagon announced US President George W. Bush had designated six prisoners to become the first terrorism suspects who could be tried before military tribunals. Trial dates have not been set. The six were not identified, but some were believed held at Guantanamo, where US officials are preparing a makeshift courtroom, a permanent detention facility and an execution chamber.
The tape's reference to the Guantanamo trials indicates it was made within the last month.
The tape warned Americans that if they were "keen on their future and the future of their generations ... to follow reason and logic before it is too late."
Muslims were also urged to avenge the detainees. "America and its agents are torturing your prisoners, show them how you will avenge them," he said.
Some 660 terror suspects from 42 countries have been held for nearly two years at the US Navy base in Cuba. The detainees were arrested during the US-led war on Afghanistan, launched after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, blamed on al-Qaeda.
The voice purported to be Al-Zawahri's said by putting the men on trial, America is putting "its people on trial," and by convicting them, it is convicting its own people.
Guantanamo Bay's location puts the detainees out of the jurisdiction of American courts and constututional protections, an arrangement that lawyers and human rights groups have criticized.
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