[RSM123]

Five men have been jailed for life for a UK bomb plot linked to al-Qaeda that could have killed hundreds of people.
Jurors in the year-long Old Bailey trial heard of plans to target a shopping centre, nightclub and the gas network with a giant fertiliser bomb.

The judge, Sir Michael Astill, said the men, all British citizens, had "betrayed their country".

It has also been revealed some of the plotters met two of the 7 July London suicide bombers.

Mohammad Sidique Khan was spotted on four occasions in 2004 with at least one of the fertiliser bomb conspirators. At one point MI5 officers followed Khan back to his home in Leeds but no further action was taken.

In the wake of the convictions both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have both called for an independent inquiry into the 7 July link.

IN HIS OWN WORDS
I was requested by Omar Khyam that they wanted to get trained and come back to the UK and do like, you know

Plotter Salahuddin Amin telling police about explosives training
Amin speaks of plot


In pictures: the plot

The call for an inquiry was echoed by Graham Foulkes, whose son David died in the 7 July attacks. He said an inquiry was needed so "lessons could be learned".

Later, in the House of Commons, the Home Secretary, John Reid, ruled out an inquiry, saying it would divert the efforts of those in the security services who were so busy countering the terrorist threat.


MI5 spotted Tanweer and Khyam (circled). Khan is on the right, partially obscured

But he said a committee of MPs would analyse the lessons learned from the fertiliser bomb plot trial.

The new director general of MI5, Jonathan Evans, issued a statement in which he denied being "complacent" and added: "The attack on 7 July in London was a terrible event. The sense of disappointment, felt across the service, at not being able to prevent the attack (despite our efforts to prevent all such atrocities) will always be with us."

He added: "The Security Service will never have the capacity to investigate everyone who appears on the periphery of every operation."

This was not a group of youthful idealists. They were trained, dedicated, ruthless terrorists who were obviously planning to carry out an attack against the British public

Peter Clarke
The indictment in full
The link to 7 July

Britain's top anti-terrorist policeman, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, said: "This was not a group of youthful idealists. They were trained, dedicated, ruthless terrorists who were obviously planning to carry out an attack against the British public."

Police smashed the plot in 2004 after MI5 had watched an Islamist extremist network with links across the world.

The link with 7 July was deliberately kept from the Old Bailey jury for fear of prejudicing their deliberations on the fertiliser bomb plot. The trial was one of the biggest and most expensive in British criminal history.

Al-Qaeda link

The fertiliser bomb plot investigation linked back to senior al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan and Afghanistan, including one who was detained by US forces in Iraq at the weekend.

Omar Khyam, 25, from Crawley, West Sussex, was found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January 2003 and 31 March 2004.


Garcia and Khyam pose for the camera while in Pakistan

Also convicted were Waheed Mahmood, 34, and Jawad Akbar, 23, also of Crawley; Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton, Bedfordshire; Anthony Garcia, 24, of Barkingside, east London.

The judge told them: "You have betrayed this country that has given you every opportunity."

He also warned them: "All of you may never be released. It's not a foregone conclusion."

Two other men, Nabeel Hussain and Shujah Mahmood, were found not guilty.

The Old Bailey heard the plotters had come together over a number of years.

TARGETS DISCUSSED
Bluewater shopping centre
Utilities network
Ministry of Sound nightclub
Parliament
Football stadium

The men had started out sympathetic to Muslim causes around the world - but the key plotters decided that violence was the answer as they came together for secret military training camps in Pakistan.

Back in Britain, they discussed various schemes, including targeting the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent on a busy Saturday or the Ministry of Sound nightclub in central London.

They also talked of attacking the gas or electricity network and Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament.

Tip-off

The group had bought 600kg of ammonium nitrate from an agricultural merchants and kept it at a storage unit in Hanwell, west London.

This fertiliser was to be the key component in the massive bomb - similar to those used in other terrorism attacks around the world.


A smiling Nabeel Hussain, who was cleared at the Old Bailey

But unbeknown to the men, some of them were already on MI5's radar while, at the same time, staff at the storage unit tipped off police.

They replaced the ammonium nitrate with a harmless substance and kept the group under surveillance before swooping in a series of raids.


Key witness

The Old Bailey heard the defendants had at least two fellow conspirators.

TRIAL FACTS
3,644 witness statements taken
105 prosecution witnesses
Trial lasted for 13 months
Jury was out for record 27 days

One of them, an American called Mohammed Junaid Babar, admitted his role in the plot after being arrested by the FBI and became a vital prosecution witness.

The other was Mohammed Momin Khawaja, awaiting trial in Canada.

The jury deliberated for 27 days, a record in British criminal history.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said the deal allowing Babar to testify was unprecedented in British courts.

Outside court a solicitor read out a statement on behalf of Nabeel Hussain. He said: " I have always maintained my innocence of the allegations against me. I have never been an extremist or believed in extremism... I am so glad this ordeal is over."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/homepage/int...uk/6195914.stm

[linskyjack]

Its a shame you don't have the Death Penalty for these traitors.

[RSM123]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

Its a shame you don't have the Death Penalty for these traitors.

Agreed. Though the European Charter on Human Rights is the reason we cannot execute - or deport to a state where capital punishment is used.

Odd though that there is still an exemption that would permit the execution of military personnel.

The very people who fight for democracy.

[Chicon]

Originally Posted by RSM123

...

The very people who fight for democracy.

Hi RSM,

If your government allows this, then democracy has a serious problem.

[oldie]

Originally Posted by Chicon

Hi RSM,

If your government allows this, then democracy has a serious problem.

But no Islamic state that I'm aware of is ready to reciprocate .. what an odd ball situation to be in

[RSM123]

Originally Posted by Chicon

Hi RSM,

If your government allows this, then democracy has a serious problem.

Thanks for posting that Chicon - I don't get the Daliy Express.

I had heard last year that muslims in N England had requested the right to establish Shari'a Courts - and been refused.

That is a serioujs development if it is true.

The original request was reputedly to cover matrimonial disputes, payment of dowries, business disputes, etc, that they argued were 'within their community.'

Be interesting to know how enthusiastic the approvers are if they start chopping off hands, or stoning adulterers.


Thanks again for posting.

[Chicon]

Originally Posted by RSM123

...
I had heard last year that muslims in N England had requested the right to establish Shari'a Courts - and been refused. ...

Fortunately !

Originally Posted by RSM123

...
The original request was reputedly to cover matrimonial disputes, payment of dowries, business disputes, etc, that they argued were 'within their community.'...

You start to give them the tip of your finger and in the end, they'll get your whole arm.
'Matrimonial disputes' are not light legal matters when children are involved.

Originally Posted by RSM123

...
Be interesting to know how enthusiastic the approvers are if they start chopping off hands, or stoning adulterers.

[SlackAli]

Personally I'd be sceptical about even the TV listings in the Express - but then I read RSM's favourite papers, the Indie and the Grauniad

If the report is accurate about Sharia law - not sure if that's the correct spelling, and it doesn't deserve the respect of checking - then this is another triumph for the fatally misconceived 'idea' of multi-culturalism.

[WarC]

Originally Posted by SlackAli

If the report is accurate about Sharia law - not sure if that's the correct spelling, and it doesn't deserve the respect of checking -

That cracked me up

[lorelai]

Imagine-the UK caught and succesfully prosecuted terrorists without invading any countries halfway around the world that were unrelated to the attack-they used intel and law enforcement. Who'da thunk it?

[linskyjack]

Precisely---the war against terror is policing exercise, not a war exercise. There will be occasions where we will have deploy elite units to eliminate training bases etc.

[RSM123]

Originally Posted by lorelai

Imagine-the UK caught and succesfully prosecuted terrorists without invading any countries halfway around the world that were unrelated to the attack-they used intel and law enforcement. Who'da thunk it?

But these people were native born, and captured here.

Different proposition when you have networks based overseas, sending some to your country to carry out an attack.

We're still waiting for an end to the trial of the alleged 21 July bombers, who I believe, were all foreign nationals, who came here and were granted political asylum

And for the trial of the alleged airline bomb plotters, picked up last summer.

[Littlefield]

The guy that turned them in was a Yankees fan and got immunity .Interesting article .


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe....ap/index.html