Iraqi doctor faces life
2008-12-17 08:08
London - An Iraqi doctor found guilty of trying to murder hundreds of people in failed car bombings in London and Glasgow faces a life behind bars as he awaits sentencing here on Wednesday.
Bilal Abdulla, 29, who was born in Britain but raised in Iraq, was also found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London on Tuesday of conspiracy to cause explosions for the failed attacks in June 2007.
During the trial, he admitted he was a "terrorist" but accused the British government of terrorism too for invading Iraq - and maintained he was not trying to kill or injure anyone.
His co-defendant Mohammed Asha, a 28-year-old Jordanian neurologist, was cleared on both counts.
Asha's lawyers had argued that he would not have fitted in with the alleged attackers because he was too geeky, arguing that Abdulla and another man looked down on him because of his concentration on his work.
Repeated attempts to detonate bombs
After 24 hours and 15 minutes of deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men rejected Abdulla's defence, but found Asha to have known nothing of his friend's plans.
"Bilal Abdulla planned to murder many innocent people when he set out to attack central London," said Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall, the head of the force's Counter-Terrorism Command.
"It was more luck than judgment that their repeated attempts to detonate the two car bombs by mobile phone failed."
Abdulla showed no reaction as the verdicts were read out.
In court, he had said he felt no hatred towards individuals in Britain, and had initially supported the ousting of Saddam Hussein after the US-led invasion in 2003. But he was shocked by the brutality of coalition forces thereafter.
His lawyer Jim Sturman said after the verdict that Abdulla wanted to "emphasise that these offences were motivated by politics, not religion".
"This is not a case where his intention was driven by religious faith but by his frustration with what he saw as an unjust war," he said outside the court.
Asha, meanwhile, faces deportation to Jordan.
- SAPA