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| Britain | ||
| Leader of airline bomb plot told he will spend 40 years in jail | ||
| 2009-09-15 | ||
The British leader of the plot to bomb seven transatlantic planes is facing the prospect of dying in jail after a judge said today he was likely to remain a dangerous and motivated terrorist for the rest of his life.
He told Ali, 28, the ringleader and a former mobile phone salesman: "You have embraced Islamic extremism and it is that burning extremism that motivated you throughout this conspiracy and is likely to motivate you again. You are likely to remain a serious danger to the public for an indeterminate time." Ali, of Walthamstow, east London, was sentenced to life and told he must serve 40 years before he could be considered for parole. It is the joint highest sentence handed down in a British terrorism case. The judge made it clear the evidence pointed to an attack within days. The cell was arrested on 9-10 August 2006. An email sent by Ali to his controllers in Pakistan on 6 August showed the terrorists were close to staging the attack. The three men, and a fourth member of the cell convicted of conspiracy to murder, were given life with minimum terms of between 22 and 40 years in prison before they can be considered for release. Assad Sarwar, 29, from High Wycombe, will serve a minimum of 36 years. The judge called him a "vital and leading member" of the plot, "trained in bomb making in Pakistan". He bought litres of chemicals to make explosives and in one day made 83 phone calls seeking hydrogen peroxide. "You were the trained chemist and quartermaster and you were in direct communication with Pakistan," the judge said. Tanvir Hussein, 28, of Leyton, east London, was described by the judge as Ali's "right-hand man", modifying the batteries, bottles and bulbs that were to be used to make the bombs to be smuggled past airport security. He was told he would serve 32 years without parole, with the judge accepting he was not a religious fanatic but perhaps had been blinded by his "long-term loyalty to Ali". The cell's fourth member, Umar Islam, 31, of Plaistow, east London, convicted of conspiracy to murder, was told he would serve a minimum of 22 years. The former bus inspector was described by the judge as a "foot soldier" who was unaware the target was blowing aircraft out of the sky. Nadim Radford QC, representing Ali, said he was a victim of political turmoil. Radford said of the defendants: "They were caught in a political turmoil of their own making, where they misjudged what they should do. He was very greatly affected by what he felt was the harm being done to innocent people from his similar background." Radford said the airlines plot was at an early stage when police broke it up.
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 I don't think his rectum will last that long. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-15 22:08 |
| #2 Ali, 28, the ringleader and a former mobile phone salesman Should have stuck it out with the bong import business. Coppers would have simply looked the other way. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-09-15 04:10 |
| #1 It won't take 40 years until Brits need another oil deal. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-09-15 04:05 |