7/7.. 21/7: Blitz on Britain: Evil Bin Laden's bodyguard? He's a Man

THE man accused of being the mastermind behind the July 7 bomb terror has called home to tell his mum: "Don't worry, I'm being treated well. I'll soon be home...and I won't need a lawyer."

Haroon Rashid Aswat's text message was passed on to his frantic parents in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, by Foreign Office officials last week.

Aswat, who is being held in a Zambian jail, is due to be extradited to Britain to be quizzed about possible contacts with the four suicide bombers who killed 52 people. He flew to Britain to meet them - and made 20 mobile phone calls to them in the 24 hours before the blasts.

According to reports from Zambia, he has also been boasting he was a bodyguard to terror chief Osama Bin laden.

The revelations have left 31-year-old Aswat's family in shock. Talking exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, cousin Ismail Kara, 35, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, said: "It is all so unreal.

"We recognised Haroon's picture in the paper straight away - but we don't recognise this so-called terror mastermind. Haroon was just a simple Yorkshire lad.

"His message has done a lot to ease his mum's mind. He sounds confident that everything will be all right, especially as he says he won't need a lawyer.

"It sounds just like the old Haroon, even though we haven't heard from him in 10 years. I remember him as being just an ordinary lad. He loved football and supported Manchester United. He went to the mosque like most of us, but no way could he be described as a radical."

Mr Kara said Haroon left Dewsbury after a bust-up with his father over his relationship with a white girl.

"Ten years ago things were still very traditional and mixed relationships were frowned upon," he explained, "but Haroon was very independent and he wanted nothing to do with all these conventions." He added: "The text message to his mum Sara came out of the blue. It's the first direct contact the family has had with him for 10 years.

"His mum was so relieved. The family has been besieged by the Press ever since Haroon was named. I am speaking out to try to take some of the pressure off them.

Mr Kara said all the talk and conspiracy theories about masterminds and terror chiefs has left the family bewildered, and added: "As for Haroon being Bin Laden's bodyguard? All I can say is that Bin Laden must be pretty desperate. The Haroon I knew was five feet eight inches tall and a decent puff of wind would blow him away.

"What we do know is that when he left Yorkshire Haroon went to a London mosque - but it wasn't a radical hotbed. For Haroon it was just somewhere to sleep. He had no money and needed somewhere to stay.

"We lost touch with him after that. I can well understand how he might have become brainwashed and indoctrinated by the nutters who eventually ran the mosque. But to describe Haroon as a terror mastermind is unbelievable."

He added: "Haroon was never really interested in education and he left school with the educational equivalent of half an O Level. He just wasn't the intellectual sort. He was quite happy helping his father run his wholesale business and delivering door to door.

"He disappeared when his father objected to him going out with this white girl and that was that. We never dreamed the next time we'd hear from him would be in a situation like this."

Anti-Terror Squad officers want to question Aswat about reports he was in London two weeks before the attack and apparently fled just hours before the explosions. They also want to know why his mobile phone was apparently used to make around 20 calls to two of the four suicide bombers in the weeks before the carnage. Aswat was detained a fortnight ago in Zambia and is being held in the capital, Lusaka, on a US arrest warrant for his alleged role in setting up a terror camp in Oregon.

Cousin Mr Kara added: "I just hope there is a simple explanation for all this. I just hope that one day I will be able to ask him: 'Haroon, what the hell is going on?'"

Meanwhile, a radical Muslim political party has condemned Tony Blair's plan to ban it in Britain and said it will "exhaust all legal avenues" to continue its work.

Hizb ut-Tahrir claimed the Prime Minister's decision was designed to stop legitimate Islamic political debate.

Party spokesman Dr Imran Waheed said: "Placing a ban on a political party with a 50-year history of non-violence will lead many to question the talk of freedom of speech, tolerance, people power, human rights and democracy."

Hizb ut-Tahrir, which campaigns for government based on Islamic Sharia law, is already banned in several countries.

The Government can ban any organisation which it believes is concerned in terrorism. A Home Office spokeswoman would not comment on when the ban may come into force.

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