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Suicide bomber wife cleared
The widow of a British suicide bomber has been cleared of terrorist offences - but his brother and sister are to be retried. Tahira Tabassum was found not guilty of failing to alert authorities to an attempted terrorist act in a bar in Israel in 2003 by husband Omar Sharif. But Old Bailey jurors failed to agree verdicts against his brother and sister, Zahid and Parveen Sharif. Parveen faces a further charge of inciting a terrorist act. The widow, brother and sister of Omar Sharif, all of Derby, had all denied failing to disclose information about terrorism. In April 2003 Omar Sharif, 27, targeted a bar in Tel Aviv, Israel, with fellow British bomber, Asif Hanif, 21, after the pair had joined militant Palestinian organisation Hamas. Two men and a woman were killed and more than 50 injured when Hanif blew himself up in the popular European-style bar. Sharifâs explosives failed to detonate and he fled the scene. His body was found 12 days later in the sea. The family was with charged with failing to report information which could have prevented an act of terrorism after police offices interviewed them as part of investigations into Sharifâs preparations for the attack. Last week, after a two-month trial, the jury acquitted Tahira Tabassum - but told the judge they could not agree on a verdict for the remaining defendants. The judge gave the Crown Prosecution Service a week to decide whether they would be seeking a retrial, meaning the verdict acquitting Ms Tabassum could not be reported until now. The retrial of Parveen and Zahid Sharif is expected in November.Wouldnât mind knowing the ethnicity of the jury. Looked to be an easy one, this one. Damn. Bundles of extremist literature were taken from their house and the e-mail correspondence was fairly damning as well.. bring on the retrial. Posted by: Howard UK 2004-07-08 |
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