Canada Will Not Extradite Al Qaeda Funding Suspect

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada said on Monday that a man who was suspected of helping fund Osama bin Laden will not be extradited to the United States, a decision U.S. officials immediately branded a mistake.

Canada's Justice Ministry said in a statement that it was discontinuing proceedings against Somali-born Liban Hussein, named by both the United States and Canada on a list of companies and people with supposed links to bin Laden.

"Based on a full and thorough investigation collected in relation to the extradition proceedings, the government of Canada has concluded there are no reasonable grounds to believe Mr. Hussein is connected to any terrorist activities," it said.

It added that the U.S. Department of Justice had not objected to the decision but the U.S. embassy in Ottawa denied this was the case.

"We have not said we don't object. We have shared evidence of terrorist financing with Canadian authorities," spokesman Buck Shinkman told Reuters.