Abdul Rasheed not a terrorist, says mother

MADURAI: Fathima Begum, mother of Mohammad Niaz Abdul Rasheed, arrested in France a fortnight ago for allegedly recruiting people for a terrorist outfit, on Wednesday claimed that her son was innocent and did not have links with any terrorist organisation, including the banned SIMI.“As a mother, I know Niaz very well and he is not the kind who could have become a terrorist,” Fathima told reporters here on Wednesday.She said her son had visited the family’s house in Melur in January when he was reportedly under surveillance. She questioned why he had not been arrested for his alleged terrorist links then.Fathima revealed that officials from the immigration department had recently scrutinised Rasheed’s passport at the house. But, she added, they left without a word.Rasheed had used this passport, obtained from the Tiruchy passport office, in 2005 to go to Saudi Arabia, before leaving for France for a job. Fathima said her son had stayed with the family in Karimedu till 2005. The family later moved to Melur, about 30 km from here.“He was educated at a reputed school here and did a polytechnic course at the Mohammed Sathak Insitute in Ramanathapuram district, before joining the MIET and completing another course in Tiruchy.”Fathima said her son had met a girl via a social networking website and married her despite his family’s objections. Rasheed reportedly reduced his communication with the family before heading for France due to these differences. However, he later got in touch with his family. On his alleged ties with terrorist outfits, Fathima maintained that she did not know who his friends were in France. “Only the media is projecting him as a terrorist,” she complained.The police had on Tuesday said Rasheed had obtained two passports from Tamil Nadu,one from Tiruchy, but were not sure from where he got the other one, apparently a fake.They added that the terror accused had visited Melur three months ago and had stayed there for about 14 days while intelligence officials were tracking him. They said he was a member of the Jhunjhunwala militant outfit, based in Pakistan. Investigations were on to ascertain how he got in touch with them.Officials said they were verifying bank records here to ascertain if money had been transferred to anyone from Paris, where he had been living for long.Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had on Monday said Rasheed was held on May 10 by the French police, along with six other suspected Islamic militants.