Date:09/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/09/stories/2008050955201200.htm

Front Page

An emotional return for Sabeel

Staff Reporter

Media disappointed as he dodges them; mother says he will talk to them later

— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

TENSE HOMECOMING: Sabeel Ahmed rushes into his house in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: Months of tension dissolved into an intensely emotional moment when Zakia Ahmed finally set eyes on her son Sabeel Ahmed, who returned to the city early on Thursday morning.

She and her daughter Sadia Kauser were certainly not the only ones to greet the bearded doctor. There was the inevitable media presence even at three a.m. with the crowd peaking at 4.30 when he finally emerged through another exit.

Dr. Sabeel hugged his mother and rushed towards the car, which was parked away from the arrival terminal, where the media was waiting. Before the surprised media could react, he was out of range. The usual chase and shouting followed all the way to his Banashankari house.

However, some mediapersons were waiting there also since 3 a.m. Dr. Sabeel did not acknowledge them and vanished into the house along with his family members.

After hours of waiting, one of the reporters called Dr. Zakia over phone asking to speak to her son, to be told: “Dr. Ahmed is not in a position to speak with mediapersons. It will take a few more days for him to speak with you.” She then asked the reporters to leave the place.

Finally, when the reporters turned up the volume, Dr. Zakia came out around 7 a.m. to take questions. She said Dr. Sabeel was jetlagged and was resting. “I did all that a mother does… I will see that he talks to the media later. He is very tired.”

Dr. Sabeel was sentenced to 18-month imprisonment — of which he served 11 — for withholding information related to the failed June 30 attack on Glasgow airport last year. In the incident his brother Kabeel drove a flaming jeep through the wall. Kabeel, who sent his brother an SMS just before his mission, died later of his burns.

Under surveillance

Meanwhile, a PTI report said that Dr. Sabeel has been put under surveillance. It quoted a top police official as saying State and Central intelligence agencies will keep a strict vigil on him and that he would be questioned about the events that led to the attack on the airport.

Dr. Sabeel, who hails from Bangalore, was escorted by two UK Metropolitan police officers when he arrived here. He was working at the Halton Hospital in Runcon from where he was arrested.