Nine Islamists, who admitted an al-Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb London’s stock exchange and set up a militant training camp in Pakistan, were sentenced at a British court to a total of 120 years’ imprisonment on Thursday.
The men, mainly British nationals and all with Bangladeshi or Pakistani backgrounds, were arrested in 2010 after security services overheard two of them discussing how to build a pipe bomb based on instructions in a downloaded al-Qaeda magazine.
The plan had been to plant a potentially lethal pipe bomb in a toilet in the London Stock Exchange, with the intention of causing “terror, property damage and economic damage,” a judge said during sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court in south London.
TRAINING
Three others had been trying to raise funds to build a madrasah, or Islamic school, in Kashmir where British Muslims could go to receive firearms training.
“This was a serious, long-term venture in terrorism ... to establish and maintain a terrorist training facility ... to recruit young British Muslims to go there and train, thereafter being available to commit terrorism abroad and at home,” the judge said.
The men had also considered sending a letter bomb to the US embassy in London and other addresses in the capital, as well as planting bombs in pubs, prosecutors said.
The convictions come just months before London hosts the Olympic Games, where Britain is spending more than ￡1 billion (US$1.6 billion) on security.
INDEPENDENT
The judge said the men were “lone wolf terrorists,” acting as an independent group using al-Qaeda material distributed over the Internet.
The nine men waved and gave a thumbs-up gesture to supporters in the court gallery as they were led away.
Britain has been a target for many years, with its role in Iraq and Afghanistan as a leading US ally increasing the threat from Islamic militants.
In July 2005, the day after London was awarded this summer’s Games, four young British Islamists killed 52 commuters in suicide bomb attacks on the city’s transport network.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
RSS