London, Jan 5: Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, a British Muslim whose Gujarati family is said to have come to Britain from India, can be extradited to the US to face terrorism charges, a district judge in London ruled today.

Aswat’s lawyer said he would appeal against the decision to the High Court.

Aswat, who grew up in Yorkshire but has not been in touch with his parents for 10 years, was arrested in Zambia and brought back to Britain in August last year.

The Americans allege that in 1999, Aswat tried to set up an al Qaida training camp in Bly, Oregon. It has also been claimed that 20 phone calls received by the July 7 suicide bombers in London were traced to Aswat’s mobile.

At Bow Street Magistrates’ Court today, district judge Timothy Workman said he was satisfied that Aswat could be sent to stand trial in the US, although the final decision would have to be taken by Charles Clarke, the home secretary.

In many ways, Aswat’s case symbolises the plight of British Muslims who fall foul of the US. They are afraid that once they are in the clutches of the Americans, they will disappear into the Guantanamo Bay black hole.

Although Aswat was brought up in Dewsbury, he asserted his Muslim identity in court by sticking to his all black garb worn with a black skull cap. He has also grown a long beard.

Lawyers generally advise their roughest clients to dress conservatively in a dark suit with a smart shirt and tie for court appearances, especially if their prospects look bleak.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s when Indians and Pakistanis first came to Britain in large numbers, women were forced to abandon their saris and salwaar kameez in order to gain employment in factories.

Today, a growing number of even educated British-born Muslim women insist on wearing the hejab, while many young men sport the kind of Islamic beards that would not find favour with their educated counterparts in Pakistan or other Islamic countries.

While Aswat’s sartorial style will be considered unnecessarily provocative by some, others will, no doubt, admire his commitment to his faith. However, these are not young men from remote villages in Pakistan but Yorkshire lads with Yorkshire accents. Today’s judge seemed reassured by a note from the US embassy in London that Aswat would be “prosecuted before a federal court in accordance with the full panoply of rights and protections that would otherwise be provided to a defendant facing similar charges”.

Workman said: “Whilst the note does not provide any personal protection to this defendant I am satisfied that it does bind the government of the United States of

America which, in these terms, includes the president.”

Aswat’s barrister, Paul Bowen, said that his client “wants to say that he is an innocent man, that he has nothing to hide and nothing to fear from a trial itself.

What he fears is the process he faces in the US.” Also outside court, Gareth Pierce, Britain’s most respected human rights lawyer, called the decision “outrageous” and said the case against Aswat was “nonsense”.

It appears that the evidence against Aswat has been provided by James Ujaama, 38, an American convert to Islam who lived in London and has been given a

two-year jail sentence for helping the Taliban. Ujaama is “a co-operating witness” in several anti- terrorist inquiries in the US.

Pierce pointed out: “The only witness against him in the United States was threatened that if he didn’t plead guilty and co-operate he would be put under military

detention. It shows the extent to which the United States is manipulating evidence and pressuring witnesses.”

She added: “All that is said about Haroon Aswat is that, in 1999, he travelled to a farm in the United States which was considering setting up a Muslim community

and, after a few days, left. That’s it, that’s the evidence.”

She also claimed the diplomatic note sent by the US Embassy in London to the court was not a guarantee of how Aswat’s case would be handled in the US.

Pierce argued that the US president had the right under law there to do “anything he wants”.

“The US is claiming absolute authority to do absolutely anything to anyone in the world and we have seen it quite nakedly in this case,” said Pierce.

Aswat’s father, Rashid Aswat, 59, who runs a bathroom business in Batley, Yorkshire, told one newspaper last year after the suicide bombings in London: “I’ve

been living in this country for 40 years and we’ve never dreamt about something like this happening. Islam does not permit suicides. You can’t find it anywhere in the

Koran. This is a very sad time for everybody, Muslim and non-Muslim.”