Britain Extradites Three Tunisians To Italy

They were arrested on a European arrest warrant on behalf of the Italian authorities.

Britain has extradited three Tunisian men to Italy to face charges of membership in a banned organisation and recruiting young men for military training in Afghanistan between 1997-1999, police said on Sunday.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said they are also suspected of being members of an unnamed banned group, identified by British newspapers as al Qaeda's North Africa wing.

The arrests in 2007 were linked to the detention in Italy of nine Tunisians suspected of belonging to the al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, Italian police sources said at the time.

Habib Ignaoua, 47, from north London, Ali Chehidi, 35, from Surrey, southeast England, and Mohamed Khemari, 54, of no fixed address, were sent to Italy on Saturday.

They were arrested on a European arrest warrant on behalf of the Italian authorities. Their arrest warrant said they had "convinced and organised volunteers to undergo military training in Afghanistan for jihad (Muslim holy struggle)" between 1997 and 1999.

British judge Nicholas Evans approved the extradition request at hearing in London in May after Italy accused them of "membership of a criminal organisation for the purposes of terrorism".