An update on this jihadist cell. "British bomb plot suspects 'planned jihad'," from Reuters:
LONDON (Reuters) - Seven Britons accused of plotting to bomb clubs, trains and synagogues in England planned to take their fight to Pakistan and Afghanistan if they had succeeded, prosecutors told a court on Tuesday.
"The overall desire was to further the (cause) of jihad (Holy War) wherever and however it could be achieved," prosecution lawyer David Waters said in what police have described as Britain's biggest terrorism trial since September 11 attacks on the United States.
The seven are accused of conspiring to bomb high profile targets, possibly including London's Ministry of Sound nightclub and the huge Bluewater shopping center in Kent using bombs made from fertilizer.
The defendants -- Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar, Omar Khyam, his brother Shujah Mahmood, Waheed Mahmood, Nabeel Hussain, and Salahuddin Amin -- deny conspiring to cause an explosion "likely to endanger life."
Garcia, Khyam and Hussain deny possessing an article for terrorism -- the fertilizer. Khyam and Mahmood deny having aluminum powder, an ingredient in explosives.
Meanwhile, the prosecution is somewhat on trial itself for Islamophobia:
The prosecution said the trial was not a witch-hunt against the defendants' religious beliefs.
"Of course it would be ludicrous to approach the allegations in a vacuum and pretend the backdrop or religious or political motivations does not exist," Waters said.
"But having acknowledged that it is only a backdrop, what we are concerned about are allegations of crime."
No comments:
Post a Comment