July 7th People's Independent Inquiry Forum -> Glasgow Airport / Tiger Tiger Terror Trial

Glasgow Airport / Tiger Tiger Terror Trial, Woolwich: Bilal Abdulla, Mohammed Asha

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Sinclair

Posted: Oct 2 2008, 03:47 PM

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QUOTE

Two doctors on trial over airport terrorist attack

by Marianne Taylor

TWO NHS doctors accused of plotting the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport are expected to go on trial today.

Jordanian national Mohammed Jamil Asha, 28, and Iraqi Bilal Abdullah, 29, are accused of crashing a flaming Jeep Cherokee, loaded with gas canisters and petrol, into security barriers at the airport's main terminal.

QUOTE

First attack on Scottish soil
IT was the day that terror came to Scotland.

More than 35,000 passengers were due to fly out of Glasgow Airport on June 30, 2007.

The first major terror attack on Scottish soil took place at 3.15pm when the bombers tried to drive a Jeep Cherokee into the main terminal building.

On impact, the car, with the driver and one passenger inside, burst into flames. As holidaymakers looked on, the driver was seen pouring petrol on himself and the car.

As police, airport staff and passengers struggled with the suspects, thousands poured out of the main terminal.

Passengers already on planes were kept on the runway for seven hours while eyewitnesses were ushered to a hotel in the outskirts of the airport.

Remarkably, the airport reopened within 24 hours of the attempted strike.

Around 16,000 passengers flew out the following day, as forensic teams worked inside.

The events of that day have left a lasting legacy at the airport with more than �4million spent on tough new security measures.

The attack happened on June 30, 2007, while thousands of holidaymakers and staff were inside the building.

The trial is expected to begin today but it's thought there will be at least a week of legal arguments before the prosecution opens its case.

It is likely to last at least 12 weeks.

The pair, who are appearing at Woolwich Crown Court in London, are also accused of planning a similar attack in London a day earlier, leaving two Mercedes packed with gas cylinders and nails outside Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket.

The bombs failed to explode.

Abdullah, of the halls of residence, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, and Asha, of Sunningdale Grove, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, are accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions between January 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007.

Both men deny the charges.

Abdullah, who worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, was the first person to be charged in connection with the plots.

He was arrested by police immediately after the airport attack.

Asha was arrested in a police swoop while travelling north on the M6 in Cheshire.

His wife Marwa Asha, 27, who was arrested at the same time, was later released without charge.

Another man, Kafeel Ahmed, 27, was driving the Jeep which crashed into the terminal building.

Ahmed, an engineer who rented a home in Houston, Renfrewshire, set himself on fire and died in August 2007 after suffering third-degree burns to 90% of his body.

Following a hearing at the Old Bailey in London in April, 26-year-old Sabeel Ahmed was jailed for 18 months for withholding information from police.

Publication date 02/10/08

source:Glasgow Evening Times

numeral

Posted: Oct 8 2008, 03:30 PM

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QUOTE

'Prejudice' warning to bomb jury
Page last updated at 12:51 GMT, Wednesday, 8 October 2008 13:51 UK

A jury trying two doctors accused of attempted car bombings in London and at Glasgow airport should put aside any prejudice or beliefs, a judge has said.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, from Glasgow, and Mohammed Asha, 28, of Newcastle- under-Lyme, Staffs, deny conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions in 2007.

Jury selection has begun at Woolwich Crown Court ahead of the trial's start.

The judge said prosecutors claimed the men were "terrorists motivated by... a fundamental form of Islam".

Mr Justice Mackay told the potential jurors they must base any decisions solely on the evidence they hear "and not based on any prejudices, beliefs or personal opinions the members of the jury may have".

He said the court would hear of attempts to explode car bombs in central London in June last year and a suicide bombing attempt at Glasgow airport the following day.

A third man involved called Kafeel Ahmed died in the Glasgow airport incidents, he said.

The prosecution will open its case after the jury is sworn in on Thursday.

Sinclair

Posted: Oct 8 2008, 05:02 PM

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Posts: 2,833
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Joined: 24-January 06

QUOTE

Jury selection in doctors trial
7 hours ago

The trial in the case of two doctors accused of attempting to murder hundreds of people with car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow is to begin selecting its jury.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammed Asha, 28, are being held in custody accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. The two men will appear at Woolwich Crown Court, south-east London, as Mr Justice Mackay oversees jury selection.

The prosecution will open on Thursday. Both men deny conspiring with Ahmed and others unknown to murder and cause explosions between January 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jG...NUipq_2st_8fA9g

The insidious and others unknown creeps onto the indictment in yet another 'terrorism' case.

QUOTE

UK: 2 doctors face car-bomb terror trial in London
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK � 27 minutes ago

LONDON (AP) � Two doctors charged with trying to bomb a Glasgow airport and London's West End will be portrayed by prosecutors as terrorists in thrall to a fundamental form of Islam, a jury in London heard Wednesday.

Justice Colin Mackay also instructed jurors to set aside their prejudices and prepare for "an interesting case."

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammed Asha, 28, have been in jail awaiting trial since the abortive June 2007 attacks. The Iraqi-raised Abdulla and Asha, a Jordanian, had worked in British hospitals since 2004.

Two poorly designed car bombs abandoned outside West End night spots on June 29, 2007, failed to detonate. They were discovered only accidentally � one when paramedics spotted it emitting smoke, the other after it had been towed away by traffic enforcement officials. Police said both contained drums of fuel, packs of nails, timers and detonators.

The following day, an attempted suicide car-bomb attack on Glasgow International Airport caused only one death � that of attacker Kafeel Ahmed, who suffered lethal burns while trying to ignite a propane-based bomb on board his vehicle.

Indian-born Ahmed was the alleged driver of the sports-utility vehicle that rammed into security barriers outside the airport, while Abdulla was the alleged passenger. Police suspect that Abdulla and Ahmed also delivered the West End car bombs.

Asha was arrested hours after the Glasgow attack while driving with his wife on an English highway, and police subsequently identified him as a likely ringleader based on cell-phone and other electronic records.

Abdulla and Asha face identical charges of conspiring to commit murder and cause explosions from January 2006 to July 2007. Both deny the charges.

Asha's father and brother, who live in Amman, Jordan, have rejected police descriptions of him as a Muslim extremist, and insist he was a political and religious moderate hoping to pursue a career in Britain as a neurosurgeon.

But Mackay told jurors at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London that prosecutors would characterize Abdulla and Asha as "terrorists motivated by their belief in a fundamental form of Islam." The prosecutors' opening statement is scheduled for Thursday.

The judge warned the jury to reach its verdict "based solely on the evidence it hears as it is given in this court, and not based on any prejudices, beliefs or personal opinions." He predicted that the jurors "will find it an interesting case to try."

The case is expected to run for eight to 10 weeks.

So far, only one person � Ahmed's younger brother Sabeel, also a doctor practicing in Britain � has been convicted in relation to the June 2007 threats. He served half of an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to concealing information about the attacks and was deported to India in April.

During his trial, Sabeel Ahmed admitted that he received an e-mail from his brother but claimed he did not see it until the day after his brother had suffered horrific burns at the airport terminal.

"This is the project that I was working on for some time now. Everything else was a lie," Kafeel Ahmed's e-mail read. "It's about time that we give up our lives and our families for the sake of Islam to please Allah."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g9Kd5GU...nJvziwD93ME1UO0

Sinclair

Posted: Oct 9 2008, 10:55 AM

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QUOTE

Terror trial: Doctors plotted 'indiscriminate and wholesale' murder
Two NHS doctors plotted "indiscriminate and wholesale" murder in a series of car bombings at Glasgow Airport and across Britain, a court was told.

Last Updated: 11:47AM BST 09 Oct 2008
The trial of two men charged with trying to murder hundreds of people in botched car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow is due to begin.

Bilal Abdulla, 28, and Mohammed Asha, 29, were members of an Islamic terrorist cell, Woolwich Crown Court in London was told.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC said they wanted to kill the innocent and seize public attention around the world.

Mr Laidlaw said: "Their plan was to carry out a series of attacks on the public using bombs concealed in vehicles.

"No warnings were to be given and the cars were to be positioned in busy urban areas.

"In short, these men were intent on committing murder on an indiscriminate and a wholesale scale.

"In addition to the killing of the innocent, the objective of course was to seize public attention both here in this country and internationally."

Mr Laidlaw was opening the prosecution against the two men accused of plotting car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

Iraqi-born Dr Abdulla was arrested after a burning Jeep was driven into the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport on June 30 last year.

Jordanian Asha, a neurologist, was arrested on the M6 motorway in Cheshire later that day.

In the early hours of June 29, two Mercedes cars containing petrol, gas cylinders and nails were driven into London's West End.

One was discovered outside the Tiger, Tiger nightclub in Haymarket, causing hundreds of revellers to be evacuated.

The second car, parked in adjoining Cockspur Street, was towed to a nearby car pound. It was made safe later that day.

Dr Abdulla, of Houston, Glasgow, and Asha, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, deny the offences.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/316...ale-murder.html

This post has been edited by Sinclair on Oct 9 2008, 02:36 PM

Sinclair

Posted: Oct 9 2008, 03:00 PM

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Posts: 2,833
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Joined: 24-January 06

QUOTE

From Times Online
October 9, 2008

Two NHS doctors 'planned campaign of indiscriminate and wholesale murder'
Steve Bird and Sean O�Neil

Two NHS hospital doctors started a terrorist campaign intended to spread �indiscriminate and wholesale� murder in a series of car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow, a jury heard today.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammad Asha, 28, are accused of driving two Mercedes cars loaded with nail bombs to a popular London nightclub and Westminster with the intention of killing and maiming the British public. They then took part in a suicide attack on Glasgow Airport on its busiest day, it is claimed.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, said that Mr Asha, a neurologist, and Mr Abdulla, a junior house officer, had been part of a terrorist cell attacking the Haymarket in London and then Glasgow Airport in June last year.

�Apart from the shocking nature of the activity these two defendants were engaged in, the extraordinary thing about this case is that both men are doctors,� Mr Laidlaw told the jury.

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�Dr Abdulla is an Iraqi and Dr Asha is from Jordan. Having studied at universities in their homelands they sought and obtained work in British hospitals to complete their medical training," he said.

�While here, as the evidence demonstrates, they turned their attention away from the treating of illness to the planning of murder.�

He continued: �In addition to the killing of the innocent, the objective was to seize public attention, both here and internationally.

�By the carrying out of a series of explosions, with no warning as to where the next strike would occur, the terrorists knew the public would be gripped by fear; they would not know where the terrorists would strike next.

�In this way, as these men well appreciated, public anxiety would be heightened � rather, as you will remember, it was in the summer of 2005 after the 7/7 attacks and the attempted bombings of 21/7.�

Their first attack took place outside the West End�s Tiger Tiger nightclub near Piccadilly Circus, where more than 500 people were drinking and dancing during the early hours of Friday, June 29, Woolwich Crown Court was told.

Another car bomb was parked in Hotspur Street, just south of The Haymarket near a night-bus stop where a group of people were waiting for public transport home.

The bombers, who had sprinkled petrol inside the cars, had �retreated� to a safe distance and used mobile phones to detonate the devices, Mr Laidlaw said.

It was only �good fortune� that meant that the car bombs, loaded with nails, gas, petrol and electric circuits, did not detonate. The bombers were said to have then fled to a hotel in Forest Gate. [where they managed to elude the Met Police & then drive up north to Glasgow by the next day]

But their failure meant that they were forced to make a �dramatic change in approach� because clues to their identity had been left behind at both bomb scenes, and �they knew that the police and intelligence services would be quickly after them�.

Mr Laidlaw said that the bombers, realising they had limited time, decided to try to become suicide bombers.

�The bombers, even though the attack was likely to result in their own deaths, were absolutely determined that the next vehicle would explode. There was to be no repeat of the failure of the London devices,� he said.

The next day they prepared a Jeep packed with gas and petrol canisters for a third car bomb.

Mr Abdulla and Mr Kafeel Ahmed, 28, another member of the cell, drove the car at high speed into the terminal doors of Glasgow Airport �with the obvious intention it should explode� in the departure hall, Mr Laidlaw said.

�The driver and the passenger in an effort to ensure the vehicle exploded threw down petrol bombs. Glasgow Airport was experiencing its busiest day of the year and the terminal building was full with passengers.�

However, the Jeep became stuck in the entrance to the terminal and, despite causing a fire, it did not explode. Mr Ahmed died in the fire and Mr Abdulla was arrested at the scene while Mr Asha was arrested while driving on the M6 [with his wife].

Mr Laidlaw added: �Material found in their possession after their arrests reveal they both hold or adhere to extreme Islamic belief and that both share, despite their professions and their obligations to save life and avert suffering, the same extreme religious and murderous ideology as has inspired other terrorists who have struck at or threatened this country in recent years.

�These attacks they had planned and almost succeeded in pulling off were to be revengeful attacks; punishment brought to bear on the British people for what these men see as our country�s part in the persecution of the Muslim community all over the world, but particularly in Palestine and, of course, in Iraq.�

Mr Laidlaw said that such high-profile attacks, called �spectaculars� by Islamic terrorists, had been planned by the defendants from the early part of 2007.

Reconnaissance trips had been made in London, when the bombers visited both the West End, the City and the Old Bailey, Mr Laidlaw said. They then purchased four cars and a jeep in Scotland and the North of England.

They are also accused of buying a large quantity of nails, gas canisters, fuel and oil to build the bombs. Mr Laidlaw said that Abdulla, who was working at a hospital in Paisley, Glasgow, was a �central figure� in the terrorist cell. He admits planning the use of the explosive devices, but claims that it was not his intention to kill anyone.

Mr Asha, who is married with a son and had worked at the Neurology Department of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, was also an �important member of the cell,� Mr Laidlaw said, adding that the defendant was not involved in the purchase of the car bombs, the construction of the devices and remained far away both from London and Glasgow. However, the prosecution claim, he was in regular contact with Mr Abdulla and Mr Ahmed at the time of the attacks and also helped fund the terrorist activity.

Mr Abdulla, from Houston, Glasgow, and Mr Asha, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, both deny conspiracy to cause murder and cause explosions likely to endanger life. The trial continues.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/c...icle4913355.ece

The Antagonist

Posted: Oct 9 2008, 05:01 PM

Antagonista

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QUOTE

'Doctors in Glasgow Airport attack inspired by fundamentalist Islam'
Published Date: 09 October 2008
By MARTYN McLAUGHLIN

TWO NHS doctors accused of trying to murder hundreds of people in Glasgow and London using car bombs were motivated by "a fundamental form of Islam," a court heard yesterday.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammed Asha, 28, are on trial for their alleged involvement in attacks on Glasgow Airport's main terminal and a central London nightclub last year.

Both men deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January, 2006 and 1 July, 2007.

Speaking at Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Justice Mackay said jurors must try the men on the facts alone and not on any prejudices, beliefs or personal opinions. He said the men were charged with conspiring to murder and cause explosions in attacks on London's West End and Glasgow Airport over two days last summer.

The judge said: "The prosecution case is that both these defendants and a third man called Kafeel Ahmed, who died in the third of these incidents, were terrorists motivated by their belief in a fundamental form of Islam.

"It is essential that the jury that is to try them makes its decisions based solely on the evidence it hears and it is given in this court, and not based on any prejudices, beliefs or personal opinions the members of the jury may have."

Mr Justice Mackay was addressing potential jurors before the case begins today.

Members of the public selected for jury service in the trial, which is expected to last between eight and ten weeks, were told the two defendants worked as doctors at several NHS hospitals. They were told Abdulla worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

Asha worked at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge; Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli; Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

Potential jurors were told they may not be able to serve if they or a close relative had been treated by either of the doctors or if they knew any of the witnesses in the case.

They were also asked if they had been the victim of a terrorist attack or worked for the police, Crown Prosecution Service, prison service, armed forces or security services.

The judge said: "In this case, the two defendants that you see in the dock are charged with taking part in a conspiracy to murder and cause explosions with the intent of endangering life.

"It is the prosecution's case that, as a result of this conspiracy, two attempts were made to explode car bombs in the West End of London which, happily, were not successful.

"On the following day, there was an unsuccessful attempt to mount a suicide bomb attack on Glasgow Airport."

Iraqi-born Abdulla was allegedly arrested after a burning Jeep was driven into the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport on 30 June last year.

Jordanian Asha, a neurologist, was arrested on the M6 in Cheshire later that day.

Ahmed, 28, died 33 days later from critical burns suffered in the airport attack. He was the driver of the vehicle.

Both men are accused of conspiring with Ahmed and others unknown to murder and cause explosions.

The above story includes the following comment:

QUOTE

ThinAir,
09/10/2008 09:09:29

Funny how "the terrorists" always pick targets where the security is run by a company (www.ictseurope.com) founded by a convicted criminal Israeli Mossad officer?

Boston (9/11) - London (7/7) - Glasgow Airport

How Odd?

Bridget

Posted: Oct 10 2008, 09:07 AM

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I think Sinclair had already picked up the use of pictures of the 21/7 accused during the opening reports of this trial. (Can't find where he posted this). To continue the theme of 'failed suicide bombers' and panic to feed into the JCdM Inquest we have this:

QUOTE

Glasgow Doctors Planned Car-Bomb Terrorism Campaign, Jury Told

By James Lumley

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Two doctors on trial for planting car bombs in central London and later attacking Glasgow airport aimed to perpetrate a campaign of terror attacks, prosecutors told a British jury today.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammad Asha, 28, were arrested in June 2007 after two terrorist incidents in three days. The first was a failed attempt to remotely detonate car bombs made with propane canisters, gasoline and nails in central London. Two days later a burning Jeep Cherokee was rammed into the main terminal of Glasgow airport.

``Their plan was to carry out a series of attacks on the public using bombs concealed in vehicles,'' prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told a jury at Woolwich Crown Court, south London today, the first day of their trial. ``No warnings were to be given and the cars were to be placed in busy urban areas.''

Abdullah was in the flaming vehicle that tried to ram into the airport-terminal entrance along with another man, Kafeel Ahmed. By pure ``fortune'' none of the travelers lining up for their flights were killed, Laidlaw said. The men were arrested at the scene, and Ahmhed died a month later from his burns.

The London car plot was an attempt to carry out a ``terrorist spectacular,'' Laidlaw said. Two cars were left outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub near Piccadilly Circus and were supposed to be detonated by mobile-phone late at night.

More bombings were planned, said Laidlaw. ``The public would be gripped by fear, they would not know where they would strike next.''

`Dramatic Change'

Both the accused are doctors who worked for the U.K.'s National Health Service at the time of their arrest. They deny the charges. Abdulla is a British-born Iraqi citizen and Asha is Jordanian.

The Glasgow attack was a hastily arranged ``dramatic change'' of plan, Laidlaw said. After the failure of the London bombings, the men realized ``they only had limited time available to them'' and had to strike quickly before being captured.

Police and the security services hadn't been watching the men prior to the attacks, Laidlaw said.

``Who'd have suspected that two doctors would have been involved in such planning?'' he said.

Lawyers for the accused will present their defense later in the trial, which is scheduled to last for three months.

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