Posted on 09/07/2009 10:23:41 AM PDT by Steelfish
September 7, 2009
Mass murder at 30,000 feet: Islamic extremists guilty of airline bomb plot
Philippe Naughton
Three British Muslims were found guilty today of conspiracy to murder thousands of passengers and crew in an unprecedented airline bomb plot that could have proved as deadly as the 9/11 attacks.
After a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court, jurors found the ringleader, Abdulla Ahmed, and two other men, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain, guilty of plotting to use liquid bombs to blow up airliners en route from Heathrow to the United States.
Another defendant, Umar Islam, was found guilty of a more general charge of conspiracy to murder because jurors could not decide whether he knew of the specific targets in the plot three years ago.
Three other men, Arafat Khan, Ibrahim Savant and Waheed Zaman, were found not guilty of conspiracy to blow up aircraft but could face a retrial on the more general conspiracy to murder charge because jurors could not reach a verdict.
It has been three years since what was previously known as the airport 'experience' became the definition of a travel nightmare
PICTURES: Liquid bomb plot
The eighth defendant, Muslim convert Donald Stewart-Whyte, was found not guilty on the terrorism charges but had pleaded guilty to a firearms offence.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2335895/posts
Ringleader of Airline Plot Dreamed of Jihad Since His Teens
Guardian ^ | Vikram Dodd and Jo Adetunji
Posted on September 9, 2009 5:03:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Like other Britons convicted of plotting violence in the name of al-Qaida, there was little to mark Abdulla Ahmed Ali as a potential terrorist.
The UK-based ringleader of the airlines plot had led a life of little note until his conviction for planning to explode bombs on seven transatlantic planes, in Britain’s biggest terrorist conspiracy.
Ali was born in Newham, east London, in 1980 and a year later his parents returned to their native Pakistan before returning to Britain in 1987. He was the fourth of eight children born to parents who had aspirations for their offspring. All bar one brother made it to university.
One of Ali’s brothers works as a probation officer; another has worked for London Underground.
He went to school in Walthamstow, where he met two of his fellow accused, Arafat Khan and Ibrahim Savant, neither of whom were convicted. One source said of Ali that his peers described him as well- read and some thought him charismatic.
He would boast in his martyrdom video of dreaming of giving his life to jihad since the age of 16. While at school he came into contact with the Islamic missionary group, Tablighi Jamaat, which he described in court as “boy scouts in a religious environment”. The group denies encouraging extremism and stresses it is purely peaceful. Ali gained a place at City University, London, where he graduated with a degree in computer systems engineering in September 2002. He struggled to hold down a job and had a couple of part time jobs.
He began working for the Islamic Medical Association charity with his older brother, Dawood, and Ibrahim Savant. In late 2002 Ali travelled to Pakistan, he said, to help refugees fleeing the US attack on the Taliban at refugee camps on the Afghan border.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
“Christian councillor calls for action against ‘mega-mosque’ group”
SNIPPET: “A Christian councillor is calling on an east London council to take action against the Islamic group planning to build a ‘mega-mosque’ close to the site of the 2012 Olympics.”
by Jenna Lyle
Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2009, 14:04 (BST)
SNIPPET: “Tablighi Jamaat has come under the close observation of intelligence services in recent years over suspected links to terrorism, despite the group’s insistence that it does not preach violence.
This week it emerged that the leader of the airline plot terrorist cell regularly attended a Tablighi Jamaat-controlled mosque in Walthamstow, northeast London.
“This looks like unacceptable favouritism by the Labour-run council towards this hostile and irresponsible group,” said Mr Craig. “This is unacceptable, especially in the light of Tablighi Jamaat’s clear links to other unlawful activities like Islamic terrorism.”
Mr Craig has submitted a question for consideration at Newham Council’s meeting on Monday in which he asks whether the Mayor will take enforcement action against Tablighi Jamaat “in order to demonstrate that the Council expects all organisations and residents in the borough to act within and respect the law”. “
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