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April 10, 2008

UK: Three Muslims On Trial For Assisting 7/7 Plotters

On Tuesday, April 8, jury selection began at Kingston Crown Court, southwest of London. On Monday, 150 potential jurors were screened, and were given a questionnaire to fill in, to enable the judge, Mr Justice Gross, to select a panel of 12 jurors. The case opened on Wednesday where three Muslims are accused of conspiring to cause explosions.

The men on trial are Waheed Ali (aged 24), Sadeer Saleem (27) and Mohammed Shakil (31). They are accused of assisting the cell of four men that carried out the London Transport attacks of July 7, 2005 (7/7) in which 52 innocent people died. The bombers who killed themselves were Mohammed Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain. Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, laid out the case against the men yesterday. The trial is expected to last between three and four months.

News on the trial so far is carried by Press Association, Evening Standard, Yorkshire Post, International Herald Tribune, Guardian, Yorkshire Evening Post, Reuters, Worthing Herald, Telegraph, BBC, Times, Fox News and In The News.

Two of the accused (Shakil and Saleem) are from Beeston in West Yorkshire, which at various times had been the home of three of the London suicide bombers (apart from Jermaine Lindsay who lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire). The thirs man on trial, Waheed Ali, lived in Tower Hamlets, east London.

The three men on trial all deny conspiring with the 7/7 bombers between November 17, 2004 and July 8, 2005 to cause explosions.

Prosecutor Neil Flewitt QC said that in 2001 Waheed Ali had gone with Mohammed Sidique Khan, leader of the 7/7 bombers, to Pakistan. The pair had stayed there for more than a month. Additionally, Mr Flewitt claimed that Mohammed Shakil had met Khan on July 24, 2003 at Islamabad Airport in Pakistan. Also at the meeting was a man known as "Ausman" and Mohammed Junaid Babar.

(Junaid Babar grew up in New York and later became a supergrass in the Operation Crevice trial which concluded on April 30, 2007. Babar and other members of the Crevice plot were members of Al Muhajiroun. In 2003 Mohammed Sidique Khan had attended a terror training camp in Malakand district in North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan. It was in 2003 that Mohammed Junaid Babar and Sajil Shahid had founded this training camp in Malakand.)

Mr Flewitt told the court that Junaid Babar will be giving evidence by videolink. Babar will assert that Mohammed Sidique Khan and Mohammed Shakil had informed him on a prior occasion that they had trained in Kashmir and had fought in Afghanistan.

On Thursday April 10 the prosecutor said: "Notwithstanding the fact that Mohammad Sidique Khan and Mohammed Shakil said they had not travelled to Pakistan for that purpose, they were persuaded to accompany the others to the training camp where they both took part in firearms training involving the use of light machine guns, rocket propelled grenade launchers and AK47 assault rifles.

"Both men appeared confident and experienced in their use of weapons. While they were at the camp, both Mohammad Sidique Khan and Mohammed Shakil both said they wanted to fight jihad in Afghanistan."

Mr Flewitt said: "That trip to Pakistan provides further evidence of the mindset and motivation of Mohammed Shakil. If the trip made by Waheed Ali in 2001 was for a similar purpose, then, in his case too, you have a further indication of his commitment to fighting jihad."

Mr Flewitt said that the three Muslims on trial had journeyed to London for a "hostile reconnaissance of potential targets" for the 7/7 suicide bombers. The men had visited the London Eye, the Natural History Museum and the London Aquarium. The three who are currently on trial traveled down to London from Leeds accompanied by one of the 7/7 bombers, Hasib Hussain. In London they met another 7/7 bomber, Jermaine Lindsay.

According to the prosecutor, this two-day trip which took place from December 16th to 17th 2004 was "an essential preparatory step in the revised plan to bring death and destruction to the heart of the UK." The men admit that they made the trip to London, but deny that it was connected with the bombings that took place seven months' later.

Mr Flewitt said: "Rather it is their case that the purpose of their journey was to enable Waheed Ali to visit his sister in east London. Further Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil accept that they visited the Natural History Museum, the London Eye and the London Aquarium but maintain they did so for purely social reasons."

Waheed Ali, said Mr Flewitt, had become close to Khan. In December 2003, he had sent a SMS text message to Khan which stated: "Gates of memories I will neva close. How much I will miss you no one knows. Tears in my eyes will wipe away but the love in my heart for you will always stay."

Sadeer Saleem has three children, but in a letter he wrote: "I want loads and have them with the intention of making them mujahids…and mujaidas (people who fight jihad) because the filthy kafir (unbelievers) have got big plans against the Muslims. I am going to have children, have them with the intention of making them something that will benefit Islam."

He also wrote: "When I am shaheed [martyr] as a muslim I don't care in what way I receive my death for Allah's cause. If he wishes he will bless the cut limbs."

The 7/7 attacks

The prosecutor mapped out the events leading up to and including the explosions of 7/7, 2005. The explosives and bombs had been manufactured in Leeds. On July3, 2005, Shehzad Tanweer had gone to First 24 Hour Car Limited in Leeds, where he hired a sky blue Nissan Micra. On the morning of 7/7 at 4 am, the three bombers who livied in Yorkshire left Leeds in the car. They drove down to Luton railway station. Here they met Jermaine Lindsay who had driven to the station (in a red Fiat Brava). The men put on their explosive rucksacks and went to the Thameslink platform of the station (at 7.21 am).

In London an hour later (at 8.26 am), they arrived at Kings Cross, where they went onto the underground train network.

At 8.50 am Mohammed Sidique Khan detonated his rucksack on a westbound Circle Line train just after it left Edgeware Road station. He died along with six passengers.

Shehzad Tanweer had gone in the opposite direction on a Circle Line train and at the same time Khan blew up, Tanweer detonated his pack near Aldgate station. Seven other people were killed. The jury were shown footage from CCTV cameras at Aldgate station that had not been revealed before. The train left the platform and half a minute later smoke fills the station.

Jermaine Lindsay detonated his rucksack near Russell Square on the Piccadilly Line. He killed 26 passengers.

Hasib Hussain for some reason had left Kings Cross, and was unable to get onto the tube system as the explosions had caused the network to be shut down. He (had wandered into MacDonalds and also a branch of Boots the chemist at 9 am, before he) boarded a Number 30 bus, (where he sat on the top floor). Hussain blew himself up when the bus reached Tavistock Square (at 9.47 am). 13 other people were killed in the explosion.

Neil Flewitt QC presented images to the jury that had not been shown before, including photographs of the damage caused by Mohammed Sidique Khan's bomb, and also CTV footage of Hussain crouched over his rucksack outside the WH Smith news store at King's Cross. He went inside where he is thought to have purchased a battery. He then put on a pair of sunglasses and caught the 30 bus. The prosecutor suggested that there could have been some technical problem with Hussain's rucksack and its detonation mechanism.

The homes of the three current defendants were raided on March 22, 2007. At that time Waheed Ali was living with his sister in Leeds.

The Iqra bookshop in Leeds was frequented by Mohammed SIdique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and occasionally Hasib Hussain. This shop was raided on July 15, 2005. Here a notepad was found, which bore words which had been written by Saleem: "I do not fear death as I am going to die but my fear is of the surrounding fire. May God save me from it. I am not going to show my weakness nor fear. Without doubt I am returning to my creator. When I am shaheed as a Muslim I do not care in what way I receive my DEATH."

On Shakil's computer had been found a file entitled: "Jihad Page - this is a Chechen Mujahid ready to eat the Russian dogs." Also on his computer was found a lengthy article called "The Nineteen Lions" which eulogised the 19 people who carried out the attacks on 9/11.

Another video was shown to the jury which has never been publicly released. It is a home video made by Mohammed Sidique Khan, in which he says farewell to his daughter before leaving to go to Pakistan in late 2004.

Khan states: "Sweetheart, not long to go now. really miss you a lot. I'm thinking about it already. Look, I absolutely love you to bits and you have been the happiest thing in my life. You and your mum, absolutely brilliant. I don't know what else to say. I just wish I could have been part of your life, especially these growing up - these next months, they're really special with you learning to walk and things. I just so much wanted to be with you but I have to do this thing for our future and it will be for the best, insallah, in the long run. That's the most important thing. You make plenty of Dua (special prayer) for you guys and you've got loads of people to look after you and keep and eye on you. But most importantly I entrust you to Allah and let Allah take care of you. I'm doing what I'm doing for the sake of Islam, not, you, know, it's not for materialistic or worldly benefits."

Khan is shown on this video introducing his daughter to her "uncles" - Hasib Hussain, SHehzad Tanweer and Waheed Ali. This defendant is shown on the video bouncing the child in is arms and saying "Where's Daddy?"

The prosecutor, speaking of Khan in the video, said: "Put bluntly, he knew that he was going to his death and he went voluntarily then just as he went willingly when he blew himself up on July 7 2005."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 10, 2008 8:51 PM

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