Brits admit to al-Qaeda videos

2008-07-22 07:24

London - Two British Muslims admitted on Monday to distributing videos threatening suicide bomb attacks, as the trial of eight men over an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic flights draws towards its close.

Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, and Waheed Zaman, 24, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit public nuisance by distributing al-Qaeda-style videos, a charge admitted by five of the co-defendants last week.

Three of the men have also admitted conspiring to cause explosions, but all the defendants have denied conspiracy to murder in the alleged 2006 plot to down flights in a simultaneous attack over the Atlantic.

The new guilty pleas came as defence lawyers summed up after the terror trial, which began at Woolwich Crown Court in early April. The jury are expected to retire this week to consider verdicts.

At the start of the trial prosecutors alleged that the men plotted suicide attacks on at least seven flights from Britain to North America in a simultaneous attack of "truly global impact".

Limits on liquids

All eight defendants face two charges of conspiracy to murder, with one charge specifying that the attacks would involve detonating improvised bombs on board commercial airliners between January 1 and August 11, 2006.

The men, whose arrest prompted tough limits on liquids in hand baggage on planes, targeted seven flights from London's Heathrow airport to New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal, the jury has heard.

They aimed to use hydrogen peroxide liquid explosives injected into the base of plastic soft drink bottles to cause "a civilian death toll from an act of terrorism on an almost unprecedented scale," prosecutor Peter Wright said.

They were "not long off" putting their plan into action and had talked of up to 18 different suicide bombers targeting seven, or even more flights operated by United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada, he said.

Summing up the case against them last week, a prosecutor said the eight accused wanted to achieve "immortality" and be "lionised" by other Islamic extremists for the attack.

As well as Khan and Zaman the other defendants are: Abdulla Ahmed Ali, also known as Ahmed Ali Khan, 27; Assad Sarwar, 27; Tanvir Hussain, 27; Mohammed Gulzar, 26; Ibrahim Savant, 27 and Umar Islam, also known as Brian Young, 29.

Ali, Sarwar, Hussain, Savant and Islam all pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to commit public nuisance, while Ali, Sarwar and Hussain also admitted to conspiracy to cause explosions.

- AFP