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Prosecutors consider retrial over terror claims
Prosecutors are expected to decide within days whether to order a retrial of seven men accused of plotting mass murder on board transatlantic aircraft.
The news came as counter-terrorism experts debated why the Crown failed to persuade a jury that the defendants intended a wave of suicide bombings on flights from Heathrow Airport to north America.
Some suggested the arrest of a suspect in Pakistan – reportedly at the request of US agencies – forced the British authorities to move sooner than they wanted.
The detention of Briton Rashid Rauf in Bahawalpur in early August 2006 meant police had to swoop immediately on the terror cell under surveillance in east London.
But this prevented them from gathering evidence backing their belief that the men were planning to get on board flights carrying home-made bombs disguised as soft drinks.
Meanwhile, the Government has ruled that restrictions on carrying liquids and gels in hand luggage on flights must continue.
Three of the defendants – Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27 – are facing lengthy prison sentences after being convicted of conspiracy to murder at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday.
But jurors could not agree verdicts on whether another four Muslim men – Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Stoke Newington, north London; Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, of Walthamstow, east London; Waheed Zaman, 24, of Walthamstow; and Umar Islam, 30, of Plaistow, east London – were also involved in the plot.
The Crown Prosecution Service has until the end of the month to decide on a retrial.
But it is understood that prosecutors, in consultation with senior police officers, are likely to make their decision within the next 48 hours.
Ali, of Walthamstow; Sarwar, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; and Hussain, of Leyton, east London, had already admitted planning a series of small-scale headline-grabbing bomb attacks.
And all seven defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause a public nuisance by distributing videos threatening suicide attacks in Britain.
An eighth man, Mohammed Gulzar, 27, of Barking, east London, was cleared of all charges.
Various explanations were put forward today for the jury's inability to reach verdicts, ranging from the complex nature of terror cases to the frequent disruptions to their deliberations.
n Virgin Atlantic has called for a review into restrictions on what passengers can take on planes and said it was time to reassess hand luggage regulations. British Airways (BA) backed Virgin's call and said it was "sensible" that the rules governing the restrictions were kept under review.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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