FBI names 'cash for terrorists' suspects

A lecturer living in Oxfordshire who teaches at the Muslim College in London and a Florida university professor were among eight people accused yesterday of supporting and financing a Palestinian militant group blamed for the deaths of more than 100 people.

The lecturer, Bashir Musa Mohammed Nafi, 50, was named by John Ashcroft, the US Attorney General, as one of those operating extortion rackets to fundIslamic Jihad.

The 50-count indictment said Mr Nafi was the head of a British group supporting the organisation. The lecturer, who is half Palestinian and half Egyptian, would not comment last night. But a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said America was "harassing Palestinian academics" and "doing Israel's bidding".

Mr Nafi, a senior lecturer in modern Islamic history, has written books on the Arab world and the Palestinian question. Whether America was seeking to extradite him was unclear. A Home Office spokeswoman said it did not confirm or deny extradition requests until they reached court, while the Metropolitan Police said it had not arrested the man.

The charges were revealed after FBI agents arrested four men, including Sami al-Arian, 45, a professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He is described as the group's leader in America. "It's all about politics," said Mr Arian, who has denied links to terror groups, as he was led away.

¿ A former US Air Force master sergeant was convicted of attempting to sell secret documents to Iraq and China yesterday. Brian Regan, 40, who worked at the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates spy satellites, was arrested in August 2001.