Britain |
Cleared Glasgow doctor considers suing for compensation |
2008-12-18 |
The Muslim brain surgeon cleared of masterminding the failed car bombing of a nightclub and airport is set to pocket millions in compensation. Dr Mohammed Asha, 28, was acquitted by a jury of any involvement in the terror attacks on London and Glasgow. Last night he revealed he was considering suing the Home Office and police over his wrongful arrest which had obliterated his life. Legal sources said he could expect at least seven figures. Dr Ashas co-accused British-born Iraqi National Health Service doctor Bilal Abdulla was yesterday jailed for at least 32 years for the bungled raids that left an accomplice dead. Prosecutors at Woolwich Crown Court alleged Jordanian Dr Asha a close pal of Abdullas had co-ordinated the attacks in a series of meetings and phone calls. But the jury found he knew nothing of his friends plans. Last night he was still in jail and faces deportation after being told his presence is not conducive to the public good. In a statement read by his solicitor Tayab Ali, Dr Asha said: This case has obliterated my life and the lives of my family. His legal team said he intends to apply for bail and fight deportation. |
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Britain |
Doctor guilty of car bomb attacks |
2008-12-16 |
![]() A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Bilal Abdulla guilty of plotting the home-made bomb attacks in 2007. Another NHS doctor, Mohammed Asha, was cleared of helping Abdulla and a second attacker, Kafeel Ahmed. Ahmed died following the Glasgow attack on 30 June 2007, a day after he and Abdulla had attacked London's West End. Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the jury the men had been intent on "committing murder on an indiscriminate and wholesale scale" in attacks that would occur without warning, spreading panic among the public. |
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Doctor admits he is 'a terrorist' | ||||||
2008-11-17 | ||||||
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A jury at Woolwich Crown Court heard Dr Abdulla had told police in Scotland "something along those lines" that he was a terrorist shortly after being arrested. Dr Abdulla told the court: "Everyone was saying you are a terrorist, you are arrested under the Terrorism Act and so forth. That is my case in a nutshell. I am told I am a terrorist, but is your government not a terrorist, is your army not a terrorist?
But as he approached the airport, Ahmed suddenly swerved the Jeep into the terminal building without warning. "He drove through the barrier and I got alarmed and I shouted 'What are you doing, what is happening?'," said Dr Abdulla. "I had never seen Kafeel's face like that in my life. He was determined, his foot was on the accelerator and he did not respond to me at all." Dr Abdulla admitted throwing petrol bombs as he got out of the burning vehicle. But he claimed he had tossed them away to protect himself after Ahmed had passed one to him, accidentally lighting the others in the process. He said he could not recall exactly what happened afterwards, adding: "I know that I had struggled with people, I received punches and I punched back." Ahmed, an Indian engineering student, died one month after the attack from critical burns after dousing himself in petrol. Dr Abdulla told the court: "From day one, we said we will not kill or injure any innocent person. This incident, if it was to kill people or cause an explosion, we would not have done it that way. It looks very clumsy."
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Airport blast man 'left a will' |
2008-11-07 |
A man who died of burns following an attack at Glasgow airport left a will in which he warned of "hitting at the devil's place", a court has heard. Woolwich Crown Court was told Kafeel Ahmed, 28, e-mailed a document to his brother Sameel to be read by his family in the event of his death. Dr Mohammed Asha, 28, and Dr Bilal Abdulla, 29, deny conspiracy to murder. The pair also deny charges of causing explosions relating to the alleged attempted car bombing in 2007. In his letter Mr Ahmed wrote that the "call of Jihad" had been "loud and open" and he apologised to his mother for lying to her about his "project". Mr Ahmed died of extensive burns after the airport attack. The jury heard that Mr Ahmed had sent a text message to his brother Sameel before the airport attack. This directed Sameel to an e-mail account in which there were two messages. One contained instructions to his brother, asking him to lie to the police about his whereabouts, suggesting that his brother use a story that he was in Iceland studying global warming. There was a will to family members, details of which were read out in court. In the document Kafeel wrote "me and some brothers are getting an opportunity to hit the devil's place to the core, and this is what we tried with the help of Allah". He thanked his father for his strict upbringing, and said: "The call of Jihad was loud and open." He wrote to his mother: "Someone has to do something, why someone else, why not your son. So be generous and sacrifice your son." Mr Ahmed said he sought forgiveness from "all of you for not telling you and lying" but added that it had been "necessary". |
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Britain |
Glasgow bomber's will shows thirst to "lick the blood" of the West |
2008-11-07 |
![]() Abdulla is accused of being a member of an Islamic terrorist cell that plotted mass murder with a series of car bombs. He is alleged to have driven one of two Mercedes cars laden with gas canisters to a club in London's West End, the court has been told. When they failed to detonate, he is said to have joined a suicide attack on Glasgow Airport the following day in which Kafeel Ahmed later died. Abdulla is on trial with a second man, Mohammed Asha, 28, accused of conspiracy to murder and cause explosions. Both men deny the offences. In court yesterday, evidence taken from a laptop found in the burnt-out Jeep was given. Detective Constable Graeme Burridge, a forensic computer examiner, said he was able to recover files from the recycle bin and hard drive of the computer. The documents were written and edited by Abdulla, the court heard. One such document, described as Abdulla's draft will, had been created over a period of 455 minutes and been revised 39 times. It is addressed to a number of recipients, including "Osama" and "our soldiers of Islam in the country of the two rivers" a reference to fighters in Iraq, the jury was told. In it, Abdulla is alleged to have written that he wanted to announce "the news of victory and glorious conquests at the heart of the state of unbelievers and tyranny". The draft will continues: "God has blessed us the ability to lick the blood of the Romans (a reference to westerners] as you have done before us in the past." The court heard Abdulla went on to rail against "the Kingdom of Evil". He is alleged to have written: "It destroyed our caliphate, tore apart our unity, defamed and distorted our religion and stabbed us in the heart the day it established that infernal state in our Palestine." The court was told that, in a reference to conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he wrote: "Their soldiers kill the young and old. They do not discriminate between men and women, so why should we? If the policy of their army is to kill women and children, then only a similar policy would deter them." The draft will holds the entire population responsible for the action of its government. "These people do not care about what is happening in our land as they are all busy with alcoholic drinking and with their intimate friends these people can only be awakened by the sound of booby traps and the Mujahideen hailing 'God is great'." In separate letters, he praised Islamist fighters in Iraq and called on the Muslim community in Britain to "leave this land of unbelievers and atheism before losing your religion". Another document recovered from the laptop contained a transcript of an interview with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the court heard. Abdulla is also alleged to have been the author of a letter purporting to be from his sister to the doctor's supervisor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. In the missive recovered from the computer, the hospital line manager is told Abdulla will not be able to come to work due to an overseas accident in which he had been left paralysed. The letter was last edited on 30 June, the expert witness said, the day of the Glasgow attack. The jury heard that Kafeel Ahmed, who died as a result of burns received when the Jeep caught fire, had left a will to his family before the attacks. In it, he wrote that the "call of Jihad" had been "loud and open" and also apologised for lying to his family. It continued: "Me and some brothers were given the opportunity to hit the devil's place. The core. And this is what we have tried by the help of Allah." In a message to his mother, he added: "You know the pain and cries of our brothers and sisters, and someone has to do something. Why someone else, why not your own son? So be generous and sacrifice your son for the sake of Allah. Tidbit from another article: The jurors were told on Thursday that Ahmed had sent a text message to his brother Sabeel prior to the attacks, directing him to an email account in which two messages had been sent. One contained instructions to his brother to lie to the police about his whereabouts, using a story that he was in Iceland studying global warming. |
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Britain |
Bomb accused escaped in rickshaw |
2008-10-10 |
TWO men who tried to carry out car bombings in central London last year escaped the scene in rickshaws, Woolwich Crown Court has been told. Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Kafeel Ahmed, 28, took the pedal-powered cabs after they had left two Mercedes cars packed with gas canisters, fuel containers and nails outside a club and at a bus stop nearby. CCTV caught Ahmed dumping an umbrella he was carrying in an apparent attempt to shield his face from cameras, prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said. He then took a rickshaw from Piccadilly Circus while Abdulla was also seen using the same method to get away, the court heard. The two men then met up in Edgware Road shortly after 2 am, 30 minutes after the attempted bombings. Mr Laidlaw said the first car bomb was discovered by staff at the Tiger Tiger nightclub, where there were 556 revellers inside, after paramedics were called to treat a customer. A doorman and the club's general manager then noticed gas vapour and smelt liquid petroleum gas. A fire officer called to the scene pulled one of the large gas canisters from the car and realised there was another inside with wires and mobile phones attached. "At that point the potential seriousness of the situation emerged and the Bomb Squad were called to the scene," Laidlaw said. Meanwhile the second car was given a parking ticket and then towed away to a nearby pound. Police made it safe after realising it too had been rigged with bombs. The court heard there had been repeated attempts to set off the bombs remotely using the mobile phone detonators, and although one of the initiators had undergone a slight explosion, neither main device had exploded. This was because the fuel to air ratio in the cars had probably exceeded ignitable limits, Mr Laidlaw said. On Thursday, the court was told Abdulla and co-defendant Mohammed Asha, 28, were part of a small Islamist cell that had planned a series of car bomb attacks in revenge for Britain's treatment of Muslims in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The day after the London bombings failed on June 28, Abdulla and Ahmed drove to Scotland and tried to drive a Jeep Cherokee, packed with fuel containers and gas canisters, into the international terminal at Glasgow Airport. The Jeep became trapped in the terminal doors and Ahmed later died from burns he suffered as he tried to set the car alight. Abdulla, an Iraqi, and Jordanian national Asha, who are both doctors, deny conspiring to murder and to cause explosions likely to endanger life. |
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Doctors plotted "wholesale murder" in UK: prosecutor |
2008-10-09 |
Two doctors went on trial on Thursday accused of being part of an Islamist cell trying to murder people "wholesale" by carrying out car bomb attacks in central London and at a packed Scottish airport last year. Iraqi Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Jordanian Mohammed Asha, 28, were part of a small group that tried to set off bombs outside a busy London nightclub and, when that failed, rammed a car into Glasgow Airport terminal in a dramatic suicide attack, the prosecution said. The men wanted to punish the British people for their country's perceived persecution of Palestinian Muslims and those in Afghanistan and Iraq, the court in east London heard. "These men were intent on committing murder on an indiscriminate and wholesale scale," prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the top security Woolwich Crown Court. "Apart from the shocking nature of the activity these two defendants were engaged in, the extraordinary thing about this case is that both these defendants are doctors," he said. "They turned their attention away from the treatment of illness to the planning of murder." Their plans failed only because, by a mixture of good luck and technical mistakes, the devices did not explode, he said. The first in a series of "spectaculars" was planned for central London, Laidlaw said. Two cars packed with gas canisters, fuel containers and nails were driven down from Scotland and, early on June 29, 2007, left in the busy West End area of the capital. One was parked outside Tiger Tiger, a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus packed with more than 500 revelers, and the second nearby. This was a "secondary device" to catch those fleeing from the first explosion at the club, Laidlaw suggested. Despite repeated attempts to set off the mobile phone detonators in the cars, neither vehicle exploded. The bombers then dramatically changed their plans, aware that the police and security services would quickly trace them through clues left in the cars, the prosecution said. "... the next attack was to be a suicide attack. There was to be no repeat of the failure of the devices in London," said Laidlaw. "... the ultimate purpose...remained to kill and maim." The next day, the bombers drove to Scotland. A vehicle packed with fuel containers and gas canisters was driven at speed into the international terminal at Glasgow Airport on its busiest day of the year. The vehicle became stuck in the terminal doors and despite attempts to detonate it with petrol bombs, it failed to explode. Driver Kafeel Ahmed, 28, died from his burns, while Abdulla who was in the passenger seat survived. Laidlaw said Abdulla was a central figure in the plot while Asha, who was in neither London nor Glasgow, was an important member of the cell. Both men deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. The trial is due to last three months. |
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Mustapha Skingraft is no more | |
2007-08-03 | |
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Ahmed, 27, was being cared for at a specialist unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary after the incident on June 30. After being doused with a fire extinguisher by an off-duty policeman, Ahmed was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, in Paisley. Ahmed, who is also known as Khalid, suffered 90% burns and spent 33 days in hospital before succumbing to his injuries. A spokesman for the Scottish Executive defended Ahmed's treatment.He said: "There has been some comment about the treatment provided for him by the NHS. "It was perfectly right that he should have received the appropriate treatment our health service could offer as this reflects the value our society places on human life. "The focus now should be on the criminal investigation that is under way." The Glasgow Airport attack followed two suspected car bomb attempts in central London when police discovered two vehicles allegedly laden with gas canisters and fuel. Ahmed's alleged accomplice Bilal Abdullah, 27, an Iraqi doctor, was arrested and charged with conspiring to cause explosions. Mohammed Asha, 26, from Newcastle-Under-Lyme, who was arrested on the M6 motorway near Sandbach in Cheshire on the day of the airport attack, is also accused of conspiring to cause explosions. And Liverpool man Sabeel Ahmed, 26, has been charged with not disclosing information that could have helped police arrest a suspected terrorist. The NHS succeeds where a jeep full of gas cannisters and petrol failed. | |
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Britain |
Fourth UK Terror Plot Suspect Charged |
2007-07-20 |
![]() Asha was arrested with his wife Marwa Asha, 27, a laboratory technician, on the M6 motorway in Cheshire on June 30. He is the fourth person to be charged in connection with the failed terror attacks in central London and Glasgow Airport. In the first attack on June 29, Scotland Yard officers found two Mercedes saloon cars containing petrol and propane gas cylinders and a cocktail of nails and bolts in the Haymarket outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub and Cockspur Street in central London. Due to faulty connections, the detonators failed to explode. In the second attack the following day, a blazing Jeep Cherokee, similarly packed with gas and petrol cylinders and nails, was driven into the main terminal building at Glasgow International Airport. The Jeep failed to break through barriers and thus did not enter the actual terminal building where hundreds of passengers were gathered. Eight suspects were originally detained in connection with the terror plot. Thus far three of the eight detainees have been released without charges, including Marwa Asha and two unnamed trainee doctors. The first one to be charged was Iraqi Dr. Bilal Talal Samad Abdullah, who is believed to be the driver of the Jeep involved in the Glasgow Airport attack. He was charged July 6 with conspiracy to cause explosions; and sent to trial at the Old Bailey on July 27. The other suspect charged in the UK is Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, 26, of Liverpool who worked at the Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire. He was charged last Saturday under the Terrorism Act with having information that could have prevented an act of terrorism. The third person charged is Dr. Mohammed Haneef, who worked at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland in Australia and was arrested at Brisbane Airport en route to Bangalore in India on a one-way ticket. He was charged by the Australian Federal Police with providing reckless support to a terrorist organization. He is alleged to have provided the mobile phone SIM card to his cousins Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed in the UK. |
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Failed UK car bombs suspect claims innocence |
2007-07-16 |
![]() Sabeel Ahmed, 26, is the third person to have been charged over the failed attacks, in which two cars laden with gas canisters were left in central London on June 29 and, the following day, a sports utility vehicle was driven into Glasgow airport, bursting into flames. Ahmed, dressed in traditional white robes and with shoulder-length black hair and a black beard, spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth at a preliminary hearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court. The suspect is the brother of Kafeel Ahmed, 27, who was arrested after the attack at Scotland's biggest airport. Also a suspect, he is critically ill with burns in hospital. Sabeel Ahmed sat with his arms folded throughout the 20-minute hearing, before being remanded in custody until August 13. His solicitor Nadeem Afzal said that he intended to plead not guilty. "You will be remanded in custody for the reasons put forward by the prosecution," District Judge Anthony Evans told Ahmed. He could make his next court appearance by video link, he was told before being led from court. The medic from Bangalore, was arrested in Liverpool, north-west England, on June 30. He worked at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, south-east of the city. He is charged under Section 38 of the Terrorism Act with knowingly withholding information that might have led to the arrest of another person preparing or engaging in an act of terrorism. Ahmed is one of eight people who were arrested in connection with the attack. British police have charged 27-year-old Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla in connection with the London attempts. He was remanded in custody earlier this month, accused of conspiracy to cause explosions. Australian police have accused Ahmed's cousin, fellow Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, 27, of providing "reckless" support to a terrorist organisation, a charge under which he faces a maximum 15-year penalty. Haneef was granted bail in Brisbane on Monday, but the Australian government then ordered him to be locked up in immigration detention after cancelling his visa. Jordanian doctor Mohammed Asha, 26, remains in custody and detectives have until Saturday to question him. Three of those arrested have been released. The eighth suspect is Kafeel Ahmed. Meanwhile Admiral Alan West, Britain's security and counter-terrorism minister, said up to 30 Islamist militant cells are plotting attacks and they are monitoring 2,000 suspects and another 2,000 sympathisers. Lord West told BBC radio that the scale of the security operation was "quite dramatic" as he backed extending the 28-day limit on the time suspects can be held without charge. "There are 30 that are actually being looked at very closely indeed because they have got to the stage where they are gathering materials and doing things which could lead in fairly short term to doing something if they wanted to," said the former chief of defence intelligence. "This means that effectively about 2,000 individuals are being monitored in varying degrees of closeness and probably about another 2,000 loosely connected to them. The scale of this whole thing is quite dramatic." |
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2 UK bomb suspects freed without charge |
2007-07-16 |
![]() Officers were given more time on Saturday to question a third man, Mohammed Asha, 26, who was arrested by counter-terrorism officers on the northbound M6 motorway in Cheshire, northern England, on June 30. His detention warrant will now expire on July 21. Three people have so far been charged over the attacks. British police charged Sabeel Ahmed, 26, of Liverpool, on Saturday with failing to disclose information that could have prevented an act of terrorism. Earlier the same day, Australian Federal Police charged 27-year-old Mohamed Haneef, Sabeels cousin, with providing support to a terrorist organisation. Iraqi-trained doctor Bilal Abdulla, 27, was charged in Britain last week with conspiring to cause explosions. A seventh man, Indian engineer Kafeel Ahmed, 27, who is Sabeels brother, is under police guard in hospital after being badly burned when a jeep was driven into an airport terminal building in Glasgow, Scotland, and set ablaze on June 30. That attack came 36 hours after the discovery of two cars packed with fuel, gas tanks and nails primed to explode in central London. Police think the two incidents were linked. All but one of the eight original suspects are medics from the Middle East or India. Dana Asha wife of Mohammed and the only woman among those detained in the case was arrested at the same time as her husband, but was released without charge on Thursday. |
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Woman held in UK bomb plot released |
2007-07-14 |
![]() That attack came 36 hours after the discovery of two cars packed with fuel, gas tanks and nails primed to explode near a crowded nightclub in London. Police think the two incidents were linked. All but one of the suspects are medics from the Middle East or India. One, Iraqi-trained doctor Bilal Abdulla, 27, was charged last week with conspiring to cause explosions. Indian engineer Kafeel Ahmed, 27, is under police guard badly burned in hospital. Four other suspects, including Ahmed's brother, Sabeel, are held at a central London police station. Another Indian doctor is being questioned by police in Australia. |
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