History > 2007 > UK > Terrorism (I)

7/7 and 21/7

began at al-Qaida camp,

court told

· Failed attack's alleged chief admits Pakistan visit
· QC claims direct link with London suicide bombings

Saturday March 24, 2007
Guardian
Sandra Laville, crime correspondent

Direct links were drawn for the first time yesterday between the July 7 suicide bombings that killed 52 people and the failed Islamist extremist attacks in London two weeks later.

Using footage of the martyrdom videos left by July 7 bombers Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer to illustrate the point, a barrister produced what he said was evidence that the ringleader of the July 21 plot had planned a joint UK terror campaign with them while at an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan months before the summer of 2005.

The links were revealed to the jury in the trial of the July 21 suspects on Thursday, but a court order preventing their publication was only lifted yesterday.

Stephen Kamlish QC, representing one of the six defendants, Manfo Asiedu, 33, told the court that Muktar Said Ibrahim, the alleged July 21 ringleader, was in Pakistan at the same time as Khan and Tanweer. He told the court that within two months of all three returning to the UK they had made almost identical bombs containing hydrogen peroxide and an organic substance, such as flour, which had never been used before in the UK.

Mr Ibrahim denied knowing Khan and Tanweer but has told the court that the 7/7 attacks inspired him to do what he said was a "fake" copycat mission, because the bombs had been so successful in starting a debate in Britain about the Iraq war.

The court has heard that Mr Ibrahim was in Pakistan between December 2004 and March 2005. The prosecution claims he was at a jihadi training camp, but Mr Ibrahim claims he was on a three-month holiday with two friends, in which he visited several mosques and the tomb of the founder of Pakistan; his two friends never returned to the UK and are believed to be dead, according to the prosecution.

In cross-examination Mr Kamlish asked Mr Ibrahim whether he had met Tanweer and Khan in Pakistan. He replied: "I have never met any of these two people."

Referring to evidence given earlier by Clifford Todd, senior scientist at the forensic explosives laboratory at Fort Halstead, Kent, Mr Kamlish continued: "The only two occasions on which the authorities in this country had ever come across an improvised explosive device made with hydrogen peroxide and an organic substance is 7/7 and 21/7.

"Had there been any discussion between you and them on how to make effective bombs, to start a bombing campaign in this country? The first was 7/7 and the second was going to be 21/7."

"No," said Mr Ibrahim.

"Do you know they were both in Pakistan the same time as you? When you were in Pakistan, so were they?" "Yes."

"They were in Pakistan from the end of 2004 into 2005. You were all there at the same time for about two months." "I don't know," said Mr Ibrahim. "All I can say is, I was there for three months."

"You see the coincidence don't you?" asked Mr Kamlish. The defendant replied: "From what you are saying is fact, yes."

The barrister asked: "It wasn't the case that the plan to use hydrogen peroxide was devised between you and others in Pakistan?" "No," said Mr Ibrahim, adding: "From what I know, this has been around; the Palestinians use them."

Jurors were shown martyrdom videos of Khan and Tanweer, both wearing red headscarves and speaking in northern accents, as they justified their suicide bomb attacks nearly two years ago.

Mr Ibrahim stood facing a television screen to the right of the witness box at Woolwich crown court as Khan issued his threat to the west.

"Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate atrocities against my people all over the world ..." Khan said. "Until we feel security, you will be our targets. And until you stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people we will not stop this fight. We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation."

At the video's end, Mr Kamlish pointed out Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida number two, who referred to Khan and Tanweer having been on a camp in Pakistan.

"They were at an al-Qaida training camp when you were in Pakistan, but you never met them?" he asked. "No."

"You had nothing to do with them about using hydrogen peroxide based explosives?" "No," the defendant replied.

Mr Ibrahim, Mr Asiedu, Hussain Osman, Ramzi Mohammed, Yassin Omar and Adel Yahya all deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

    7/7 and 21/7 began at al-Qaida camp, court told, G, 24.4.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2041780,00.html

The Guardian        p. 2        23.3.2007

Three arrested in connection with London suicide bombings

Published: 23 March 2007
The Independent
By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent

Three men suspected of links to the London suicide bombers were seized yesterday in the first arrests by anti-terrorist officers investigating the atrocity.

Two of the men, aged 23 and 30, were arrested at Manchester airport as they were about to fly to Pakistan. A third, aged 26, was seized at a house in Leeds.

The suspects, all believed to be British born of Pakistani heritage, are understood to have been under surveillance for several months by the police and MI5. They were being investigated for either offering support, or having knowledge of the four British-born extremists who carried out the rucksack bombings on the London transport system in 2005 which killed 52 people.

The two men detained at the airport at 1pm, were seized because, it is thought the police suspected they may not return to Britain. The third man was arrested at 4pm. They were all arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Searches were being coducted at five houses in the Beeston area of Leeds, which is where the ringleader of the suicide cell and his deputy lived. A flat and a separate business premises were also being searched in east London.

A counter-terrorism source said: "Our investigations have been ongoing since the attacks on 7 July. We have been seeking answers to the questions of whether anyone else knew about the plans to carry out the attacks, helped or encouraged them.

"These arrests and searches are looking for answers to those questions.

"We are not looking for any more bombers - that is not what this is about."

Scotland Yard said the arrests were part of a pre-planned operation and also involved the West Yorkshire counter terrorism unit.

The significance of yesterday's arrests was unclear but a second anti-terrorism source said the suspects were being investigated for "possible association with some of the bombers".

"We are not talking about bomb plots," said the source.

The arrested men were taken to Paddington Green high security police station in central London where they will be interviewed by the Met's counter-terrorism command.

The police and MI5 have continued to deploy huge resources in investigating the background of the four suicide bombers - Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shahzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Germaine Lindsay, 19.

Khan, the lead figure in the gang, and his deputy, Tanweer, both came from the Beeston area of Leeds. Hussain lived in Holbeck on the outskirts of the city. Lindsay grew up in Beeston but moved to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

All four men died in the attacks. Tanweer killed seven people when he set off his bomb on a Tube train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations on the eastbound Circle line

Khan murdered six when he detonated his bomb on board a westbound Circle line train at Edgware Road

Twenty six were killed by Lindsay on a packed Piccadilly line train as it travels between King's Cross and Russell Square.

An hour later, 13 people died on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square when Hussain set off his device.

Lord Carlile QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said: "Anybody who imagined that this had simply been treated as four lone wolves, or a pack of wolves on 7 July 2005 was very wrong." He said a "rigorous hunt" was going on for everyone connected with the attacks and nobody involved could "lie easy in their beds".

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Detectives have continued to pursue many lines of inquiry both here in the UK and overseas. This remains a painstaking investigation with a substantial amount of information being analysed and investigated.

"As we have said previously, we are determined to follow the evidence wherever it takes us to identify any other person who may have been involved, in any way, in the terrorist attacks.

"We need to know who else, apart from the bombers, knew what they were planning. Did anyone encourage them? Did anyone help them with money, or accommodation?"

    Three arrested in connection with London suicide bombings, I, 23.3.2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2383900.ece

2.45pm

July 21 suspect 'plotted with 7/7 bombers'

Friday March 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

The alleged ringleader of the July 21 bomb plot collaborated with two of the attackers behind the July 7 attacks on London, Woolwich crown court heard.

The claims were made yesterday by the barrister acting for one of the co-defendants of Muktar Said Ibrahim, but can only be reported today after media restrictions were lifted.

Yesterday's hearing was told that Mr Ibrahim, 29, spent two months in Pakistan at the same time as Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, two of the four suicide attackers who blew themselves up on tube trains and a bus on July 7 2005, killing 52 people.

Previously, there had been no connection made at the trial between this attack and the alleged plot carried out two weeks later by Mr Ibrahim and his five fellow defendants.

The accusation came from the defence barrister representing Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, who broke ranks yesterday from the other suspects to describe how Mr Ibrahim wanted to carry out something "bigger and better than 7/7". Mr Asiedu, 33, is now seated separately in the dock.

Stephen Kamlish QC said he had documentary evidence proving Mr Ibrahim, Khan and Tanweer were all in Pakistan at the same time.

"Has there been any discussion between you and them on how to make effective bombs to start a bombing campaign in this country, the first of which was 7/7, the second of which was going to be 21/7?" he asked.

Mr Ibrahim replied: "No."

This appeared to be too much of coincidence, Mr Kamlish said.

Recalling the earlier evidence of a prosecution scientist, he noted: "The only two occasions on which the authorities in this country had ever come across an improvised explosive device made from hydrogen peroxide and an organic substance was the 7th of July and the 21st of July."

"Yes," Mr Ibrahim replied.

Mr Kamlish continued: "There is a question mark whether or not the only two ever-known bombs made from hydrogen peroxide are the 7/7 and 21/7 bombs and you were in Pakistan at the same time (as Khan and Tanweer) - you see the coincidence, don't you?"

Mr Ibrahim replied: "When you say this fact, yes." However, he insisted, he had never met either of the July 7 attackers and had learned his explosive-making skills from the internet.

Mr Ibrahim admits making rucksack-carried explosive devices but claims none of them were capable of detonating or injuring anyone and that they were intended to be used as a non-violent protest against the Iraq war.

His co-defendants are Mr Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address, Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London, Hussain Osman, 28, of no fixed address, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, of Kensington, west London, and Adel Yahya, 24, of Tottenham, north London.

They all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

Mr Asiedu made a last minute change of defence yesterday, with his barrister accusing Mr Ibrahim of booby-trapping a sideboard at his flat designed to blow up the building when police searched it.

Mr Kamlish also said his client had not known until the morning of July 21 that he was to take part in a suicide attack, and that on learning this he had dumped his bomb in scrubland in north-west London.

According to the barrister, Mr Asiedu was drafted in at the last minute after Mr Ibrahim decided he didn't want to kill himself. "That's not true," Mr Ibrahim replied.

    July 21 suspect 'plotted with 7/7 bombers', G, 23.3.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2041454,00.html

12.45pm

July 21 defendant rounds on 'ringleader'

Thursday March 22, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

One of the alleged July 21 bomb plotters was today accused by a fellow defendant of planning to make his explosions "bigger and better" than those that killed 52 commuters in London two week earlier.

The accusation came in the trial of the six men accused of plotting to set off explosive devices on tube trains and a bus across central London.

The alleged ringleader of the plotters, Muktar Said Ibrahim, planned to set off four bombs on the tube and to booby trap a flat in a north London tower block, Woolwich crown court heard.

In a dramatic twist to the two-month trial, Stephen Kamlish QC, who represents another of the men, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, repeatedly accused Mr Ibrahim of making genuine bombs.

"Your plan was to explode real bombs on the London transport system. These were not to be hoax devices," said the QC.

"Four real bombs on the tube and one block of flats, a tower, destroyed, going up in a ball of flames. That was your plan, wasn't it?"

"That's totally not true," Mr Ibrahim replied. The defendant has previously told the court the devices were dummies that were not meant to explode.

The QC said Mr Ibrahim Mr Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address, brought Mr Asiedu, 33, into the plot only the day before the attacks because "you lost your bottle at the last minute.

"You actually decided that you couldn't kill yourself for any particular cause, therefore you had to find a fourth person to carry out the fourth bomb[ing]."

Mr Kamlish said Mr Ibrahim set the booby trap in 58 Curtis House, New Southgate - the alleged bomb factory - to go off when anyone entered the premises.

"We say your 21/7 bombs were to be bigger and better in your twisted thinking than that of 7/7," said the QC.

Also on trial are Yassin Omar, 26, of New Southgate, north London, Hussain Osman 28, of no fixed address, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, of North Kensington, west London, and Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London.

All six men deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

The trial continues.

    July 21 defendant rounds on 'ringleader', G, 22.3.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2040319,00.html

4.15pm

July 21 device 'went off by accident'

Tuesday March 20, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

The alleged ringleader of the July 21 bomb plotters today said he detonated his rucksack-carried device on a London bus by accident.

Muktar Said Ibrahim told Woolwich crown court he had not planned to set off the hydrogen peroxide and chapatti flour explosive device on a number 26 bus in east London, and had been travelling home at the time.

Mr Ibrahim, of Stoke Newington, north London, is the first of six men accused of plotting to set off explosive devices on tube trains and a bus to give evidence.

According to the prosecution, the devices carried by Mr Ibrahim and his co-defendants failed to explode as planned, with only the detonators going off.

He insists the plan was for a series of mock suicide attacks, in which nobody would be injured, as a protest against the Iraq war.

During his third day in the witness box, the 29-year-old said he had been supposed to set off his device at Bank underground station in central London, but changed his mind.

"There was people waiting to get off [the tube] and so it made it hard for me to open my rucksack," he said. "I thought I might get caught so I decided to call it off."

Mr Ibrahim said he then decided to take a number 26 bus towards Hackney Wick, east London, where he would change buses and go home.

"I sat down at the back of the bus and after a while I looked at the rucksack and I saw there's a wire sticking out, and then I thought this might be suspicious," he said.

"I put the rucksack between my legs and I was pushing the loose wire inside my rucksack and at the same time I was trying to locate the battery. I wanted to disconnect the battery. Accidentally it touched the loose wire and it set off the detonator."

He told the court he had been sitting at the back of the bus and the nearest passenger was three seats in front of him.

Also on trial are Yassin Omar, 26, of New Southgate, north London, 33-year-old Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, of no fixed address, Hussain Osman 28, of no fixed address, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, of North Kensington, west London and 24-year-old Adel Yahya, of High Road, Tottenham, north London.

All deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

Mr Ibrahim admits making five rucksack devices, but claims none were capable of fully detonating and he did not intend to kill or injure anyone.

Yesterday, he said the original plan had been to leave explosive devices in public places to cause disruption, but the July 7 bomb attacks, which killed 52 commuters on London's public transport system, had persuaded him a new tactic would create more publicity.

The case continues.

    July 21 device 'went off by accident', G, 20.3.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2038601,00.html

3.30pm update

Al-Qaida gets fake papers as Home Office issues 10,000 passports to fraudsters

Tuesday March 20, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and agencies

An estimated 10,000 British passports were issued after fraudulent applications in the space of a year - and al-Qaida terrorists have successfully faked applications, the Home Office admitted today.

The Home Office minister, Joan Ryan, said the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) had received 16,500 fraudulent applications between October 2005 and September 2006.

In a written ministerial statement, she said "almost half" the applications were stopped by existing safeguards, but the remainder had gone undetected.

"Our current estimate is, therefore, that the level of undetected fraud is about 0.5%, equivalent to 10,000 applications against the planned 6.6m passports issued per year," Ms Ryan said.

Dhiren Barot, the most senior al-Qaida terrorist ever captured in Britain, received two passports, the IPS said. Barot - a Briton who was jailed for life last November and will not be considered for parole for at least 40 years - was one of two convicted terrorists to be issued with a passport.

Moroccan national Salaheddine Benyaich - currently serving 18 years in Morocco for terrorist offences - also had two British passports in the name of a British citizen born in Brighton.

Tony Blair's official spokesman said: "It isn't just a matter of saying there's 10,000 [fraudulently obtained passports] out there and doing nothing about them. Each and every one of these is being followed up to ensure that those responsible are caught." The shadow home secretary, David Davis, described it as a "shocking admission" that betrayed "chaos at the heart of the passport system".

"This is the latest in a long line of shambles afflicting the passport service. Given this dire record, they have no chance of running the ID card project, which will cost up to £20bn and involve billions of pieces of data, effectively," he said.

The details emerged as the IPS announced that adult first-time passport applicants would have to attend face-to-face interviews from May.

The IPS executive director, Bernard Herdan, said applicants would be expected to know answers from a pool of around 200 questions about their ancestry, financial history and previous addresses.

"We will not ask questions to which we don't know the answers," he said. "Before the interview takes place, we will have cross-checked that individual against various databases in order to uncover information about them."

The questions are intended to ensure that applicants are the people they claim to be and uncover any cases of identity fraud, he added.

Applicants will be asked who lives with them, whether they have a mortgage, where and when their parents were born and which bank accounts they hold, and will also face questions about the counter-signatory to their passport application.

Speaking of Barot, Mr Herdan said: "He had two passports in fraudulent identities which would have been stopped if he had been interviewed."

The IPS chief executive, James Hall, said he hoped the process would reduce the level of fraud. "We would obviously like to see it come down year-on-year, and that is what we have committed ourselves to," he said.

Today's fraud figures, based on a sample of several thousand applications, are believed to be the most accurate estimate so far of the extent of passport fraud.

"Although precise figures are difficult to obtain, it appears that the level of attempted fraud is increasing and getting more sophisticated," Ms Ryan said.

"Analysis of the frauds shows that the main fraud threat is from first-time adult applications, followed by first-time child applications."

Barot, 34, of Willesden, north London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder at Woolwich crown court last year. He planned to launch attacks on both sides of the Atlantic, targeting Washington, New York and Newark and plotting carnage "on a colossal scale" in Britain. He had seven passports in his true identity and two further passports in fraudulent identities.

Today's figures are the latest in a line of bureaucratic embarrassments to hit the Home Office and its various agencies.

When John Reid became the home secretary in May 2006, the department had already faced a number of scandals, including the revelation that more than 1,000 foreign prisoners had been freed without first being considered for deportation.

After taking over, Mr Reid attacked his predecessor, Charles Clarke, declaring the department was "not fit for purpose" and saying it was led by officials "incapable of producing facts or figures that remain accurate for even a short period".

In January this year, Mr Reid admitted to the Commons that the details of 280 Britons convicted abroad of serious offences - including murder, rape and robbery - dating back to 1999 have yet to be logged on to the criminal records database. The number represents more than half the total of Britons convicted overseas.

In the same month, it emerged that a third terror suspect under a control order had escaped, with all the escapes happening in a period of less than six months.

    Al-Qaida gets fake papers as Home Office issues 10,000 passports to fraudsters, G, 20.3.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2038442,00.html

How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place

New figures show dramatic rise in terror attacks worldwide since the invasion of Iraq

Published: 28 February 2007
The Independent
By Kim Sengupta and Patrick Cockburn

Innocent people across the world are now paying the price of the "Iraq effect", with the loss of hundreds of lives directly linked to the invasion and occupation by American and British forces.

An authoritative US study of terrorist attacks after the invasion in 2003 contradicts the repeated denials of George Bush and Tony Blair that the war is not to blame for an upsurge in fundamentalist violence worldwide. The research is said to be the first to attempt to measure the "Iraq effect" on global terrorism. It found that the number killed in jihadist attacks around the world has risen dramatically since the Iraq war began in March 2003. The study compared the period between 11 September 2001 and the invasion of Iraq with the period since the invasion. The count - excluding the Arab-Israel conflict - shows the number of deaths due to terrorism rose from 729 to 5,420. As well as strikes in Europe, attacks have also increased in Chechnya and Kashmir since the invasion. The research was carried out by the Centre on Law and Security at the NYU Foundation for Mother Jones magazine.

Iraq was the catalyst for a ferocious fundamentalist backlash, according to the study, which says that the number of those killed by Islamists within Iraq rose from seven to 3,122. Afghanistan, invaded by US and British forces in direct response to the September 11 attacks, saw a rise from very few before 2003 to 802 since then. In the Chechen conflict, the toll rose from 234 to 497. In the Kashmir region, as well as India and Pakistan, the total rose from 182 to 489, and in Europe from none to 297.

Two years after declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq President Bush insisted: "If we were not fighting and destroying the enemy in Iraq, they would not be idle. They would be plotting and killing Americans across the world and within our borders. By fighting these terrorists in Iraq, Americans in uniform are defeating a direct threat to the American people."

Mr Blair has also maintained that the Iraq war has not been responsible for Muslim fundamentalist attacks such as the 7/7 London bombings which killed 52 people. "Iraq, the region and the wider world is a safer place without Saddam [Hussein]," Mr Blair declared in July 2004. Announcing the deployment of 1,400 extra troops to Afghanistan earlier this week - raising the British force level in the country above that in Iraq - the Prime Minister steadfastly denied accusations by MPs that there was any link between the Iraq war an unravelling of security elsewhere.

Last month John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence in Washington, said he was "not certain" that the Iraq war had been a recruiting factor for al-Qa'ida and insisted: "I wouldn't say that there has been a widespread growth in Islamic extremism beyond Iraq, I really wouldn't."

Yet the report points out that the US administration's own National Intelligence Estimate on "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States" - partially declassified last October - stated that " the Iraq war has become the 'cause célèbre' for jihadists ... and is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives."

The new study, by Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank, argues that, on the contrary, "the Iraq conflict has greatly increased the spread of al-Qa'ida ideological virus, as shown by a rising number of terrorist attacks in the past three years from London to Kabul, and from Madrid to the Red Sea.

"Our study shows that the Iraq war has generated a stunning increase in the yearly rate of fatal jihadist attacks, amounting to literally hundreds of additional terrorist attacks and civilian lives lost. Even when terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan is excluded, fatal attacks in the rest of the world have increased by more than one third."

In trying to gauge the "Iraq effect", the authors had focused on the rate of terrorist attacks in two periods - from September 2001 to 30 March 2003 (the day of the Iraq invasion) and 21 March 2003 to 30 September 2006. The research has been based on the MIPT-RAND Terrorism database.

The report's assertion that the Iraq invasion has had a far greater impact in radicalising Muslims is widely backed security personnel in the UK. Senior anti-terrorist officials told The Independent that the attack on Iraq, and the now-discredited claims by the US and British governments about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, had led to far more young Muslims engaging in extremist activity than the invasion of Afghanistan two years previously.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of the Secret Service (MI5) said recently: "In Iraq attacks are regularly videoed and the footage is downloaded into the internet.

"Chillingly, we see the results here. Young teenagers are being groomed to be suicide bombers. The threat is serious, is growing and will, I believe, be with us for a generation."

In Afghanistan the most active of the Taliban commanders, Mullah Dadullah, acknowledged how the Iraq war has influenced the struggle in Afghanistan.

"We give and take with the mujahedin in Afghanistan", he said. The most striking example of this has been the dramatic rise in suicide bombings in Afghanistan, a phenomenon not seen through the 10 years of war with the Russians in the 1980s.

The effect of Iraq on various jihadist conflicts has been influenced according to a number of factors, said the report. Countries with troops in Iraq, geographical proximity to the country, the empathy felt for the Iraqis and the exchange of information between Islamist groups. "This may explain why jihadist groups in Europe, Arab countries, and Afghanistan were more affected by the Iraq war than other regions", it said.

Russia, like the US, has used the language of the "war on terror" in its actions in Chechnya, and al-Qa'ida and their associates have entrenched themselves in the border areas of Pakistan from where they have mounted attacks in Kashmir, Pakistan and India.

Statistics for the Arab-Israel conflict also show an increase, but the methodology is disputed in the case of Palestinian attacks in the occupied territories and settler attacks on Palestinians.

* The US is joining the Iraqi government in a diplomatic initiative inviting Iran and Syria to a "neighbours meeting" on stabilising Iraq, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday. The move reflects a change of approach by the Bush administration, which previously had resisted calls to include Iran and Syria in such talks.

    How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place, I, 28.2.2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2311307.ece

4pm update

Forest Gate inquiry condemned as 'whitewash'

Tuesday February 13, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Sandra Laville

Families caught up in the Forest Gate anti-terror raid in east London have today criticised the findings of an independent inquiry into the police operation.

The inquiry concluded that Scotland Yard had no option but to act on intelligence that a remote-controlled chemical bomb was hidden in one of the raided houses.

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23 - who was shot in the shoulder when armed police raided his home - said the report, by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, was a "whitewash".

Both he and his brother, 20-year-old Abul Koyair, were released without charge a week after the June 2005 raid when the intelligence was found to be unsubstantiated.

After an inquiry lasting several months, the IPCC found that, given the intelligence police received, they had no choice but to mount the raid on the adjacent properties in Forest Gate.

However, the police watchdog said Scotland Yard should publicly apologise to the two families for what was a "terrifying ordeal", adding that both had been victims of "a failure of intelligence".

For the first time in the history of the independent commission, officials were shown a copy of the intelligence received by police.

Deborah Glass, the IPCC commissioner, revealed that she was shown it on the basis that she would not reveal its details to anyone. Ms Glass would only confirm that it alleged a "highly dangerous explosive device" was believed to be in one of the two houses.

She said the police tactics had been "forceful and aggressive", but this was "inevitable given the threat the police genuinely believed they faced", but added officers "could and should" have changed their tactics once the houses and their occupants were under control.

Only two of the 11 occupants at the properties were arrested, yet all were taken to a police station, a move described as both "inappropriate and insensitive".

The IPCC received more than 150 complaints from the two families who lived in the houses. They interviewed three police officers under caution over allegations that three people were struck during the raid.

A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service but no charges were brought and, although the IPCC found all three residents had been hit by officers, they made no recommendations that anyone should be subjected to a disciplinary hearing.

In the case of a neighbour of Mr Kahar and Mr Koyair, who was hit on the head and needed stitches, the IPCC accepted the officer's statement that he hit the man because he believed he was trying to reach for something under the bed.

Mr Koyair was hit on the stairs, the report said - but again the IPCC found that, taking into account the circumstances and the perceived threat, a disciplinary tribunal would not find the officer used excessive force.

In addition to being shot, Mr Kahar received a cut to the hand, but again no recommendation was made about disciplinary procedures.

"It is quite right that the level of force used will have raised the most serious concern," Ms Glass said. "I know that some people will feel very strongly that individual officers should be disciplined.

"However, after much thought, I have concluded that the level of force has to be judged in the light of the officers' beliefs that they were facing an extreme lethal threat, not just to themselves but to the public and to the occupants of the houses themselves."

A small number of complaints, relating to the men's treatment in custody, were upheld, and one officer has received a written warning over an allegation of neglect.

The report also criticised the detention of Mr Koyair, who was held by police for several days.

Ms Glass said that when innocent people were injured or "publicly branded as terrorists", the police should make "an equally high-profile public apology".

Although Scotland Yard has apologised for the distress caused to the community by the raid, Ms Glass said it should make a public apology to the two families concerned.

Mr Kahar today described the IPCC's report as a "whitewash" which had given a green light to police to conduct anti-terror operations in whatever way they wanted.

"I would have liked to have seen some people getting prosecuted," he said. "A lot of people understand we were innocent families, we were not what they said we were. We have still not had an apology."

A statement released by the families' solicitors said they had been the victims of entirely false information from an informant.

The statement criticised the IPCC for failing to investigate what steps police had taken to assess the quality of this intelligence.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock, of the Metropolitan police's diversity and citizen focus directorate, said intelligence was taken from a range of sources and was subject to evaluation, assessment and development.

"The police then have to take very difficult operational decisions which, in this case, have been examined by the IPCC and have been found to be necessary and proportionate," he said.

Asked whether the Met was prepared to apologise, he added: "We have apologised on three previous occasions, to the community for the disruption we caused and specifically for the injury we caused in relation to this.

"I think we need to move on from apologising over and over again."

    Forest Gate inquiry condemned as 'whitewash', G, 13.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2012042,00.html

11.45am

Raided Islamic school is shut down

Friday February 9, 2007
EducationGuardian.co.uk
Staff and agencies

An independent Islamic school raided by police as part of an anti-terror operation last year has been closed by the government, ministers announced today.

But the Jameah Islamiyah school in Mark Cross, near Crowborough, east Sussex, was shut down for educational - not security - reasons, said the Department for Education and Skills.

Jim Knight, the schools minister, said it was now illegal for the school to continue to operate after it failed to follow an improvement action plan in the wake of a critical Ofsted inspection.

"It is important that parents and the wider public are assured that all schools - whether in the maintained or independent sector - provide their pupils with a suitable education, and that we will take strong action against those that are failing," said Mr Knight.

Following the arrest of 14 men in September for alleged glorification of acts of terrorism, security forces revealed they had been monitoring outdoor training in the Lake District and suspected they were using the vast grounds of the Jameah Islamiyah school for radicalisation and training activities.

The independent school has 54 acres of land and, according to its last Ofsted report, only nine pupils. It advertises in mosques around the country, saying its grounds can be hired for camping trips offering a refuge from city life for young Muslims. It is a registered charity and charges up to £900 a week for groups.

Run on donations from Muslims around the country, the Jameah Islamiyah school provides education for a fee of £1,000 a year. Ofsted inspectors reported that it failed to provide a satisfactory education for its pupils and had significant weaknesses. "Provision for welfare, health and safety" was "unsatisfactory" and it failed to provide a "safe environment" for students.

The DfES said the school had been deleted from the Register of Independent Schools and faces prosecution if it continues to operate.

Ofsted conducted a series of inspections at the school after concerns were raised. The school was then required to follow an action plan to address failings.

The department said the school had failed to meet the action plan and was also struggling through lack of pupils - a situation which was thought likely to continue.

Mr Knight went on: "In the past three years more than 45 independent schools have shut down as a consequence of this government's tough approach."

The recent Education and Inspections Act 2006 would make it easier for independent schools to enter the state sector to improve standards, said Mr Knight.

He added: "The government has funded the Association of Muslim Schools to advise independent Muslim schools interested in joining the state sector."

    Raided Islamic school is shut down, G, 9.2.2007, http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2009579,00.html

4.15pm

Man charged with plot to kidnap and kill soldier

Friday February 9, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and agencies

Five men appeared in court today charged with terror offences after being arrested in a series of raids in Birmingham nine days ago.

One of the defendants, Parviz Khan, is accused of plotting to kidnap and kill a British soldier.

The other four, Amjad Mahmood, Mohammed Irfan, Zahoor Iqbal and Hamid Elasmar, also face offences under the Terrorism Act.

The five defendants were flanked by eight security guards as they filed into the dock at the City of Westminster magistrates court.

Two of the men - including Mr Khan - remained standing throughout the hearing.

They listened intently throughout the hearing before district judge Daphne Wickham.

No applications for bail were made on behalf of Mr Khan, Mr Mahmood or Mr Elasmar and they were remanded in custody until February 23, when they will appear at the Old Bailey.

Bail applications were still being heard for Mr Irfan and Mr Iqbal.

Earlier today the defendants were transferred from Coventry to London in a police convoy.

This morning the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that Mr Khan was accused of plotting to kidnap and kill a member of the British armed forces.

The 36-year-old was accused of engaging in conduct "to give effect to his intention to kidnap and kill a member of the British armed forces" between November 1 last year and the time of his arrest last week, the head of the CPS counter terrorism division, Sue Hemming, told a press conference at West Midlands police headquarters.

Mr Khan was also charged with attempting to supply equipment for use in terrorism acts and making available funds or property which could be used for terrorism acts.

Mr Irfan, 30, and Mr Elasmar, 43, were each charged with one offence under the Terrorism Act 2006 and one offence under the Terrorism Act 2000. Mr Mahmood, 31, was charged with two offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 and one offence under the Terrorism Act 2006.

Two of the nine suspects arrested last Wednesday were freed without charge earlier this week. A third was released without charge today and another man remains in custody. He must either be charged, released or police must be granted court permission to continue detaining him by 4am tomorrow.

The West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable, David Shaw, said the inquiry had made "extraordinary progress" since the arrests nine days ago. More than 4,500 exhibits had been seized, including computers and mobile phones, though most had yet to be examined.

Mr Shaw said that despite the demand on police resources of the "very significant operation", the force had continued to provide services to all its neighbourhoods. He also thanked a number of organisations, including MI5 and the Metropolitan police, for help during the investigation.

"This has been more than just a police operation. Birmingham city council has played a part in working with us to help communities in these difficult times," Mr Shaw said. "We have seen real leadership in all sections of the community."

    Man charged with plot to kidnap and kill soldier, G, 9.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2009381,00.html

Full CPS statement on terror charges

Friday February 9, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Here is the statement in full, read out by Sue Hemming, head of the CPS counter-terrorism division.

"We have invited you here today to update you and the public about the current position in relation to individuals who were arrested in Birmingham on January 31.

"The counter-terrorism division was briefed on this operation shortly before the arrests took place. "Another CPS lawyer and I have been working very closely with the Midlands counter-terrorism unit in Birmingham since we were briefed.

"We have been carefully examining and assessing the evidence against each individual in order to come to charging decisions at the earliest possible opportunity. Over the course of last night, my colleague and I made decisions that there was sufficient evidence and we authorised the charge of five individuals. We have been working closely with the DPP throughout this period.

"One has been charged with an offence of engaging in conduct to give effect to his intention to kidnap and kill a member of the armed forces contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006. He has also been charged with another Section 5 offence of engaging in conduct to give effect to his intention to supply equipment to others for use in acts of terrorism.

"Additionally, he faces a third charge of entering into, or becoming concerned in, a funding arrangement whereby money or other property was to be made available to another and he knew, or had reasonable cause to suspect that, it would be or may be used for the purposes of terrorism.

"Four other individuals have been charged with a second Section 5 offence and the funding arrangements.

"One of those four individuals has also been charged with failing to disclose information of material assistance in preventing an act of terrorism. That particular charge relates to an act of terrorism in the first Section 5 charge, relating to the kidnap of the soldier.

"One other man has been released from custody last night and another is still being held pending inquiries.

"I would like to conclude by reminding you of the need to take care in reporting the events surrounding these alleged charges. These individuals are only accused of these offences and they have a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be responsible media reporting which should not prejudice the due process of law."

    Full CPS statement on terror charges, G, 9.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2009668,00.html

Islamist activist released on bail

Friday February 9, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

A high-profile Islamist activist charged with encouraging terrorism was today released on conditional bail after appearing in court.

Abu Izzadeen, 32, appeared before Westminster magistrates court this afternoon after being arrested yesterday in an east London street.

Mr Izzadeen, a 32-year-old electrician who was born Trevor Brooks, of Leytonstone, east London, was charged under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

District Judge Daphne Wickham released the father of three on bail on a number of conditions, including that he should not attend or address any organised meeting and that he should surrender his passport.

Mr Izzadeen shot to prominence last September when he barracked the home secretary, John Reid, at a community meeting in east London.

His arrest yesterday was not related to that incident. Instead, it was in connection with a speech he made in Birmingham last year marking the first anniversary of the July 7 attacks in London in which 52 people died and 750 were injured.

Scotland Yard said Mr Izzadeen, who is a convert to Islam, was arrested at 9.30am yesterday close to a tube station on Leyton High Street.

Mr Izzadeen had been arrested "for allegedly encouraging terrorism, as a result of an ongoing inquiry", police said.

    Islamist activist released on bail, G, 9.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2009800,00.html

3.15am

Five terror suspects charged

Friday February 9, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

Five men will appear in court today charged with terrorism offences following a series of police raids in Birmingham.

Nine men were arrested last Wednesday over an alleged plot to behead a British Muslim soldier. Two of those suspects were freed without charge earlier this week.

A 38-year-old man was released last night without charge and another suspect remains in custody.

The five men were charged overnight with offences under the Terrorism Act 2006 and the Terrorism Act 2000. They will appear at Coventry magistrates court later today.

Two 36-year-old men were each charged with two offences under the Terrorism Act 2006 and one under the Terrorism Act 2000.

A 30-year-old man and a 43-year-old man were each charged with one offence under the Terrorism Act 2006 and one offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.

A 31-year-old man was charged with two offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 and one offence under the Terrorism Act 2006.

Police must either release the remaining suspect today or ask a judge to grant them more time to carry on questioning him.

West Midlands police and the Crown Prosecution Service will announce further details at a joint press conference later this morning.

    Five terror suspects charged, G, 9.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2009381,00.html

Freed kidnap suspect: my terror at police raid

Thursday February 8, 2007
Guardian
Steven Morris


One of the men arrested during the Birmingham terror raids launched a blistering attack last night on the authorities for the way he was seized, held for a week and questioned for barely four hours about apparently trivial matters.

Abu Bakr, a 27-year-old English teacher and bookshop worker, told the Guardian how his wife screamed in terror as police burst into their house at dawn on January 31 and took him away in handcuffs.

At no point during his detention did officers question him about the alleged plot to kidnap and behead a Muslim soldier, he said. He added that he was friends with only one of the eight other men arrested in the high-profile raids last week and believed he and the other men were "pawns" in a higher political game.

Mr Bakr, one of two men released in the early hours yesterday, said he felt "stigmatised" by what had happened and claimed a white person would not have been treated in the same way.

He said: "It's been like a funeral in my house. My father and mother have aged 10 to 15 years. I don't think I understand yet how it's affected my wife and children."

Mr Bakr, who has two children, a boy, six, and girl, four, said the first he knew of the dawn raid on his home in the Sparkbrook area of the city was when his wife started screaming. "I immediately looked to see if the police were armed and thought about what happened at Forest Gate. I thought there was going to be a shot. There was a copper there and I said to him: 'Don't humiliate my family'. An Asian guy read me my rights. They then handcuffed me and put me in a police car and the guy spoke on the radio and mentioned 'Operation Gamble'."

West Midlands police defended last week's raid and ongoing investigation, saying it was not uncommon for people to be released without charge at this stage of an operation.

Mr Bakr said he had been told he was arrested under anti-terrorism legislation. "I thought, if they take me to Paddington Green it must be serious. When they took me to Coventry I thought it couldn't be so bad."

He said he was questioned no more than four times, and for no more than an hour each time.

"It was farcical. I was questioned for seven days but not once did they put these allegations about a plot to kidnap and behead a soldier to me. They were doing things like putting a piece of paper in front of me - a note, a scribble by one of my children, a jacket, a hat - and asking me about it. My solicitor advised me to make no comment so that's what I did. It felt a bit amateurish like they didn't really know what they were doing."

Mr Bakr, a tall, bespectacled English teacher who is studying for a master's degree and works in the Maktabah bookshop which was also raided, said he read George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier to pass the time while he was held.

He said he "kept on asking" why he was there. "You can't comprehend how confusing it all was. I didn't know what it was all about until I got out this morning. I've been on the internet catching up with all the crap that was being alleged.

"Look, I've always been a bit of a cynic. I've always thought there's no smoke without fire. In this case there is no fire at all.

"We were arrested at 4am. Within a few hours everyone was talking about this plot to behead a soldier. I feel angry. Why have we been used in this way? We are pawns in some kind of bigger game."

Mr Bakr said he was a friend of the other man who was released yesterday - a 19-year-old who is training to be a plumber. He knew one other of the men arrested through football - but did not know any of the other six at all. "They showed me photos of them. I had no idea who they were."

Mr Bakr said he was not scared. "With the help of god, I wasn't. I knew my conscience was clear."

    Freed kidnap suspect: my terror at police raid, G, 8.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2008316,00.html

12.15pm update

Police free two held in Birmingham raids

Wednesday February 7, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Agencies

Two of the nine men arrested under anti-terrorism laws during raids in Birmingham last week were released without charge today.

Speaking after the men's release, a prominent Muslim spokesman said the events of the past seven days had left community relations "in tatters".

Police were forced to either charge or release the men when a district judge refused to grant an extension to the time for which they could be held in custody.

Eight of the suspects were detained during dawn raids at addresses around Birmingham a week ago. The ninth was stopped on a motorway in the city several hours later.

The men were held in connection with what police sources said was an alleged plot to abduct and behead a British Muslim soldier.

However, in a statement after the two men had been released from Chace Avenue police station in Coventry, their solicitor said nothing of this sort had been mentioned to them.

"They have left the police station without any better understanding of why they were there than when they first arrived seven days ago," Gareth Peirce said.

"Not a word was ever mentioned to either of them about a plot to kidnap, or the grisly suggestion of a beheading, or even of a soldier at all.

"Both have been met with a consistent refusal over seven days for any explanation for their arrest. They are convinced that others in the police station must be as innocent as they, and urge that they also be swiftly released."

Speaking after the men were released, Jafer Qureshi, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the community had been left feeling "very angry and victimised".

He hit out at politicians for "maligning" the community after the Conservative leader, David Cameron, said separatist Muslims were a mirror image of the BNP.

He said local leaders had done a lot of work in recent years to improve community relations, which had been affected by events of the past week.

"We are asking who will be next," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. "If there are criminal elements, they should be charged - but the whole hype and coverage of this event has left the community divided in this town and we have a lot of work to do to recover."

"The attitude of the politicians in this town at the very time these raids were happening was really to malign and to cast doubt on the community rather than to help us heal the process.

"Comparing to the BNP and others has left the community in tatters."

The West Midlands force, which finished searching 18 addresses around Birmingham on Monday, said it was still examining evidence connected to the case.

Yesterday, the judge granted detectives a further three days to question the seven men remaining in custody.

"Two of the men were not granted an extension in custody and therefore had to be charged or released in the early hours of the morning," a West Midlands police spokesman said.

Police have not named any of the detained men, and have refused to comment publicly about any alleged plot.

"The Crown Prosecution Service has been involved in the examination of the evidence throughout this investigation," a spokesman said. "In all such operations, people may be released without charge at this stage while others may remain in custody for further investigation.

"This is normal and to be expected in large, complex criminal inquiries where a number of arrests have taken place. We still have a large amount of evidence seized during the searches to examine, and our inquiries continue with those that remain in custody.

"Our priority today remains the same as it was at the start of this investigation, and that is to ensure that we balance the safety of the public against the rights of the men we have in custody."

· A £5m fund to help town halls lead the fight against Muslim extremism was unveiled today.

The communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, said the "battle for hearts and minds" could not be won from Whitehall as she set out fresh guidance on the role town halls could play.

"This new, more local approach will help reach directly into communities to support the law-abiding majority in tackling the false and pernicious ideology spread by extremists," she said.

    Police free two held in Birmingham raids, G, 7.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2007521,00.html

4pm update

Relief for Blair in honours row

Tuesday February 6, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Deborah Summers, Matthew Tempest and agencies

Pressure on Tony Blair over the cash-for-honours inquiry eased today when the Crown Prosecution Service admitted there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Des Smith.

The headteacher was the first person arrested in connection with the Scotland Yard probe and was freed on bail in April "pending further inquiries".

Mr Smith, formerly an adviser to the body that finds wealthy sponsors for the government's city academies, was alleged to have suggested that backers of the flagship Labour schools policy could expect to be rewarded with honours.

His lawyers said he "categorically" denied the claims.

Meanwhile, the most senior civil servant in Whitehall, the cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, denied categorically that No 10 operated a secondary email system - a persistent rumour in recent weeks.

Giving evidence to a select committee this afternoon, Sir Gus insisted that the government was getting on with "government as usual" during the police investigation - and added that it was "deeply worrying how just how much media coverage there is".

In a statement today, the CPS said it had advised the Metropolitan police that there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Mr Smith with an offence under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.

"Mr Smith has been advised of this decision," the CPS said.

Mr Smith said he was "relieved" the CPS had decided not to take any further action over allegations that he committed honours offences.

The move will also be welcome news to the prime minister, who has himself been questioned by police on two occasions over the allegations.

Downing Street has been at pains to point out that he was only interviewed as a witness and was not under caution.

But the Times today reported that Jonathan Powell, the prime minister's chief of staff, was likely to be interviewed under caution for a second time by police investigating the affair.

The paper claimed that he is expected to be quizzed about an alleged cover-up which appeared to have supposedly hidden evidence from the ten-month inquiry.

Following the announcement, Scotland Yard said: "The CPS has today advised us of their decision that there is insufficient evidence to charge in relation to the arrest on April 13 2006 of a man in Redbridge borough for an alleged offence under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.

"The decision has been conveyed to the man's solicitors this morning and as a result his bail has been cancelled.

"The wider police investigation is ongoing and as a result there will be no further police comment at this stage."

Downing Street declined to comment on the development.

The Scotland Yard investigation was sparked by claims early last year that wealthy Labour backers were being rewarded with seats in the House of Lords in return for providing secret loans.

The scope of the inquiry was then widened to cover similar claims about the Conservatives.

So far there have been no charges.

    Relief for Blair in honours row, G, 6.2.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/funding/story/0,,2007000,00.html

Tighter security for Muslim police officers in fear of kidnap by Islamic extremists

· Met promises urgent risk assessment after arrests
· Magistrates allow 7 more days to question suspects

Friday February 2, 2007
Guardian
Vikram Dodd, Steven Morris and Paul Lewis

Britain's biggest police force is to consider extra security measures to protect its Muslim officers after an alleged plot to kidnap and behead a Muslim soldier was foiled. Several officers in the Metropolitan police have raised fears that they could be the next target of the alleged new UK jihadist tactic.

Coventry magistrates last night granted police an extra seven days to question nine men arrested in Birmingham on suspicion of preparing a kidnap and execution plot apparently inspired by footage of Iraqi murders posted on the internet. A man alleged to have been an intended victim is in protective police custody amid reports that up to 25 Muslim soldiers had been targets.

Muslim soldiers were given security advice, but yesterday the Association of Muslim Police Officers was in urgent talks with Met police chiefs. The force is expected to carry out an urgent risk assessment of the dangers Muslim officers face in their duties. Several officers say they have been threatened by Islamist extremists. Last year a Muslim officer asked to be moved from guarding the Israeli embassy.

Superintendent Del Babu, chairman of the Muslim police association, said: "Some of our members have expressed concerns about their safety and welfare since the events in Birmingham. We've brought this issue about the safety of Muslim officers to the attention of the Metropolitan police service. We are aware that uniformed Muslim police officers have been confronted by Islamic extremists and threatened. We want the MPS to ensure there is sufficient support for Muslim officers. We do not have the intelligence or understand the veracity of the intelligence about the events in Birmingham."

Armed police stood guard for yesterday's court appearances in Coventry of some of the nine men who were arrested in raids early on Wednesday. West Midlands police had to seek an extension hold them beyond 48 hours. It is understood that three of the men attended. The rest chose not to go to court.

Police refused to comment last night on reports that they were hunting for two other suspects, as the search of homes and businesses continued. At Elmbridge Road in Kingstanding, north of Birmingham city centre, police examined the large semi-detached house of a man identified by residents as a teacher.

Officers took a black Audi A4 from the drive. A neighbour said she knew the family well: "They have two kids. He's a handsome guy, tall, well-built." Others arrested include a businessman, a shop assistant and the owner of a pizza takeaway.

A heavy police presence remained in Jackson Road, Alum Rock, a mile east of the city centre, where one of the nine men arrested, Amjad Mahmood, 29, lived and worked in a corner shop. Police removed computer equipment from Blade, a cybercafe on Stratford Road, south of the centre of town. Cardboard boxes had been prised open in a storeroom next to the shop, which has been accused of selling extremist material.

In the vicinity of the premises raided, police handed out about 5,000 leaflets in English, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Hindi giving details of the raids and a confidential anti-terrorist hotline number. "The police are not targeting communities or faiths, but suspected criminals," it said. "Our role is to protect, reassure and support all communities. Our message to you is to be patient and vigilant." It says hate crime will not be tolerated and asks any victims to come forward.

    Tighter security for Muslim police officers in fear of kidnap by Islamic extremists, G, 2.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2004373,00.html

A British beheading on the net - police claim to foil plot

Nine held after 4am raids in Birmingham over feared abduction of Muslim soldier

Thursday February 1, 2007
Guardian
Ian Cobain and Steven Morris

A plot to abduct and film the beheading of a young British Muslim soldier - apparently inspired by footage of Iraqi murders posted on the internet - was foiled yesterday with the arrest of nine men, according to police and security sources.

In what would mark a new departure for UK jihadists, members of the group are alleged to have been preparing to film the kidnap victim as he begged for mercy before being murdered, and were then planning to post the footage on the web.

The conspiracy is alleged to have been intended to echo the deaths of hostages in Iraq such as Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan, according to security sources, but to the incredulity of the local community.

Whitehall sources confirmed last night that the joint West Midlands police and security service operation was prompted by fears that the alleged plotters were too close to endangering public safety to allow the "potential risk" to continue. They refused to be drawn on the plot further, but added: "It is significant insofar as it shows a continued commitment on the part of extremists to carry out operations in this country and the fact that it is different to what we have seen before."

Eight men were arrested in raids before dawn at their homes across Birmingham yesterday, while a ninth was seized later in the day as he drove out of the city along the M6 motorway. Those who were identified by relatives and neighbours were mostly in their late 20s and early 30s, and included at least two shopkeepers and one businessman. There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that all those arrested were Britons of Pakistani origin.

The man alleged to have been the intended victim, a lance corporal in his 20s, was taken into police protective custody yesterday along with several members of his family amid reports that two other men had evaded arrest. He had recently arrived home on leave after a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and police and the security service, MI5, believe he was to have been bundled into a van as he walked along a street and driven to a pre-prepared cell where he could be filmed. There, they allege, he was likely to have been tortured and eventually beheaded.

The operation appears to underline recent warnings by senior police and the security service that the UK could be particularly vulnerable to attack by al-Qaida because of its traditional links with Pakistan. Detectives from the newly-formed Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit carried out the raids at 4am at houses in the Sparkhill, Washwood Heath, Kingstanding and Edgbaston areas of Birmingham.

West Midlands police said the men had been arrested "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000". Four other premises - an internet cafe, two Islamic bookshops and a grocery store - were also raided and were being searched late yesterday. The nine men, who were being held at a police station in Coventry last night, are all family men, well known in their communities.

One was named locally as Amjad Mahmood, 29, a father of two young sons, who worked at his father's store. A man who identified himself as Mr Mahmood's brother, Ziah Khan, said he ran out of his own nearby home when he heard the police raid. "The little boys were shouting 'please don't take our father' over and over again," he said. "He is a very decent man, all he does is work. He is no terrorist. He doesn't have time for anything else - he never leaves the country."

It was unclear last night whether all those suspected of involvement in the alleged plot had been arrested, although David Shaw, assistant chief constable of West Midlands, said the motorway arrest "illustrates ... that this remains a dynamic, fluid operation". He added: "We are literally right at the foothills of what is a very, very major investigation."

    A British beheading on the net - police claim to foil plot, G, 1.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2003207,00.html

8.30am

Eight held in anti-terror raids

Wednesday January 31, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

Eight people were arrested today under the Terrorism Act, police said.

The suspects were detained during early morning raids on a number of addresses in Birmingham.

West Midlands police said they were held "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000".

In a statement, the force added: "The arrests were part of a counter-terrorism operation coordinated and led by the Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, supported by officers from the West Midlands police and Metropolitan police.

"A number of addresses in Birmingham have been secured and sealed off and are currently being searched by officers from West Midlands police and Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit.

"Whilst this operation poses no specific threat to the West Midlands, as a precautionary measure we will have an enhanced police presence at these locations. "We would ask for the continued support and co-operation of the public.

"Our message to people living in the West Midlands is to remain vigilant. Public safety is our absolute priority."

The Home Office said the home secretary, John Reid, had been fully briefed on what it described as a nationwide operation. A spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a major counterterrorism operation took place earlier today led by West Midlands police.

"Eight arrests under the Terrorism Act have been made to date during this nationwide operation.

"The home secretary was fully briefed on the operation and is receiving regular updates as developments occur." She added: "This operation is a reminder of the real and serious nature of the terrorist threat we face."

Today's arrests came after police detained a total of five people in anti-terror raids in Manchester and Halifax, West Yorkshire, last week.

Officers arrested two 24-year-old men and a 32-year-old in Manchester on January 23 as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a man being monitored under a control order.

The same day, unarmed Metropolitan police anti-terrorist officers supported by West Yorkshire police arrested two men in dawn raids in the Pellon area of Halifax. Rizwan Ditta, 29, of Royd Terrace, Halifax, and Bilal Mohammed, 26, of Thrum Hall Close, Halifax, were later charged with terror offences.

The pair were remanded in custody yesterday to appear before London's City of Westminster magistrates court on February 6 by video link.

Mr Ditta faces 13 charges under the Terrorism Act, while Mr Mohammed is accused of two.

The charges relate to alleged possession of extremist material, said to include an al-Qaida training film and a computer file called Hamas Bomb.

    Eight held in anti-terror raids, G, 31.1.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2002631,00.html

3.45pm update

Fireman 'confronted tube bomber'

Tuesday January 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

A firefighter told a court today how he confronted one of the alleged July 21 2005 bomb plotters moments after the man tried to detonate an explosion on an underground train.

Angus Campbell said he had been "cowed" by the explosion and saw the alleged bomber, Ramzi Mohammed, "screaming and shouting", with smoke coming from behind him.

Mr Campbell, who was on his way to work on the day of the alleged attack, said he faced Mr Mohammed as others tried to flee the tube train carriage. He shouted: "What have you done, what have you done?"

The firefighter said a young mother opposite him, Nadia Baro, who had her nine-month son in a buggy with her, began screaming.

Ms Baro later told Woolwich crown court: "I was in such a panic. I did not know how a bomb worked and I thought we were going to die now."

Mr Campbell and Ms Baro were among the passengers on a northbound Northern line train travelling between Stockwell and Oval stations, in south London, when Mr Mohammed allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device, the jury heard.

The prosecution alleges that 25-year-old Mr Mohammed, of North Kensington, west London, was part of a failed extremist Islamist plot by would-be suicide bombers to target London's transport network.

He is one of six men charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

Mr Campbell said he tried and failed to get Mr Mohammed to lie on the floor before the accused fled.

The firefighter said there was a lot of sponge-like debris on the floor of the carriage, and before Mr Mohammed fled, he had asked him what it was.

The witness told the jury the defendant told him it was bread. The prosecution has already told the trial the alleged bombs were chapatti flour mixed with hydrogen peroxide.

When the trial opened last week, the prosecution said there was "no doubt" that the devices carried by the alleged plotters were "functional". However, when the men attempted to set them off, the detonators fired but the main charges did not explode.

Today, Mr Campbell - who has been in the fire service for 21 years - said the incident took place in the middle of the day when the tube was "quite empty". Before it happened, the train had filled up with 20 to 30 people coming into his carriage at Stockwell station, he added.

He told the jury he had been sitting in the middle portion of the carriage on a fold-down seat when he heard a blast.

"We were in a confined carriage and the explosion was loud," he said. "My first memory was being cowed. I was crouched in my seat.

"I remember my arm being over my head. I looked up through my arm - the first thing I remember seeing is Mr Mohammed, who was screaming and shouting, and there was smoke issuing from behind him, from his back and, I think, to the floor.

"My first reaction was to run away. I wanted to run away. The woman opposite me was screaming ... Mr Mohammed was shouting, and there was an awful lot of smoke in the carriage."

The firefighter was shown CCTV footage of the moment the explosion went off and film of the aftermath, in which he is seen talking to a man the prosecution says is Mr Mohammed.

Mr Campbell told the court he had initially thought Mr Mohammed was hurt, saying: "I thought he was in pain, I thought he was a victim."

However, when he questioned Mr Mohammed, he said the alleged bomber replied: "This is wrong, this is wrong."

In his attempt to flee the carriage with Ms Baro and her child, Mr Campbell set off the alarm, which added to a "cacophony" of noise on the train, the jury was told.

The firefighter said he asked Mr Mohammed to lie down on the floor and offered to help him. "I shouted at him: 'You are scaring us. I want to help you, I can help you, but I want you to lie down' because I needed him to be submissive to me."

However, rather than obeying, Mr Mohammed became increasingly agitated and aggressive, the court was told.

When the train finally pulled into the station, Mr Campbell said he thought the doors would remain closed. However, they opened, and Mr Mohammed was able to escape.

The other five alleged plotters are Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28, from Stoke Newington, north London; Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; 28-year-old Hussain Osman, of no fixed address; Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address; and 24-year-old Adel Yahya, of High Road, Tottenham.

All six men deny all the charges. The trial continues.

    Fireman 'confronted tube bomber', G, 23.1.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1996919,00.html

12.15pm update

Police arrest five in anti-terror raids

Tuesday January 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Agencies

Five people were arrested in separate anti-terrorism operations this morning, two in West Yorkshire and three around Manchester, police have said.

Two men, aged 25 and 29, were held in Halifax at 6am "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan police said.

The London force's anti-terrorism officers carried out the raid in conjunction with West Yorkshire police, and officers were not armed during the operation.

Four properties in Halifax and a flat in north London were being searched as part of the investigation, the spokeswoman added, saying the arrests were part of an "intelligence-led operation".

"The men were arrested at separate houses in Halifax," she said. "Both premises, plus two others in the area, are currently being searched."

The two men were in custody and were due to be taken to a police station in central London later today.

Greater Manchester police said its officers raided four addresses around the city this morning, adding that the operation was "not linked to the arrests in West Yorkshire".

Two men, both aged 24, were arrested in the Cheetham Hill area of the city, and a 32-year-old man was detained in the Longsight district. All were held under anti-terrorism laws.

A police spokeswoman said three of the addresses were being searched using warrants under the Terrorism Act. The operation was "in connection with an investigation concerning suspected terrorist support and facilitation".

"At this stage, there is no intelligence of any planned terrorist activity in the UK, and the arrests are part of an ongoing investigation," the spokeswoman said.

Police gave no information about the addresses searched or the people arrested.

However, officers sealed off a series of addresses in Halifax. Neighbours of one two-storey terraced house being searched in the Pellon area of the town said three brothers lived there with their families, including some children.

Another address, around half a mile away, was also cordoned off. A neighbour there said a family of around seven or eight people, including three sons, lived in the property.

    Police arrest five in anti-terror raids, G, 23.1.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1996665,00.html

July 21 bomb suspects

had been under surveillance

Tuesday January 16, 2007
Guardian
Sandra Laville

Five men suspected of the failed July 21 suicide bombings had been under police surveillance 14 months before they tried to detonate rucksack bombs on the London transport system in a "murderous" attack designed to kill and maim large numbers of people, a jury heard yesterday.

Photographs of the five taken by police while they were on a camping trip in the Lake District in May 2004, were displayed to a jury at Woolwich crown court yesterday. They were seen dressed in walking clothes, taking down tents and loading up cars against a backdrop of the Langdale fells, one of the Lake District's best-known beauty spots.

While there, the five were pictured talking to someone who appeared to be their "leader", and participating in Islamic prayers together, the jury heard. The five were part of a larger group of 20 Muslims who were camping on the farm.

At some point on May 3, the police put the group under surveillance, the court was told. But the jury was not told what prompted them to be targeted or what happened afterwards.

Nigel Sweeney, QC, opening the case against six men of African origin who are suspected of plotting to carry out the suicide attacks said yesterday it was luck that the four rucksacks packed with 5kg hydrogen peroxide bombs did not explode, causing serious injury and possible death on July 21.

The men fled and went to ground, one of them leaving London in the ensuing days by disguising himself as a Muslim woman in a burka and boarding a coach to Birmingham, he said.

The court heard that three of the men were disciples of the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza at Finsbury Park mosque and five fed their extremist views by watching beheadings and suicide bombings, copies of which were found at two flats associated with the group.

A suicide note and evidence of a suicide video were allegedly found when police arrested the men in the aftermath of the failed bomb attacks on the London underground and a London bus in July 2005.

The opening of the terrorist trial, which is due to last 12 weeks, heard how there were allegedly six would-be suicide bombers. In the end one, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, lost his nerve and dumped his bomb in woodland, and another, Adel Yahya, left the UK before the attack.

"This case is concerned with an extremist Muslim plot, the ultimate objective of which was to carry out a number of murderous suicide bombings on the public transport system in London," Mr Sweeney said. "The day eventually chosen for those attacks was Thursday July 21, just 14 days after the carnage of 7/7."

Mr Sweeney said the plot was not some "copy cat" attack of July 7, in which 52 people died, but a carefully organised plan organised over months. Bombs made of hydrogen peroxide, chapati flour, nail varnish remover and metal nuts, screws and tacks were built in what was to become a bomb factory, a one-bedroomed council flat in north London, where Yassin Hassan Omar lived.

The men created TATP, triacetone triperoxide, to use as the detonator and put the contents of the bombs into plastic tubs, the court was told.

But the jury heard that four of the six - Ramzi Mohammed, Muktar Said Ibrahim, Mr Omar and Hussein Osman - had been under police surveillance 14 months before they boarded three tube trains and a bus and detonated their rucksack bombs. With Mr Yahya, they were watched by police while they packed up their tents on a campsite in Langdale.

Mr Sweeney said Mr Osman, Mr Yahya and Mr Omar had also been on other camping trips to Scotland, where two of them had sustained injuries. He told the jury that Mr Ibrahim, originally from Ethiopia, was in control of the group. He had been given military training in Sudan in 2003 and had travelled to Pakistan in December 2004 to "take part in jihad or train for it".

He was stopped by police at Heathrow on his way to Pakistan and interviewed. Officers found he had £3,000 in cash and was carrying a first aid kit, a sleeping bag and cold weather clothes in his luggage, the court heard.

Mr Ibrahim, 28, Mr Omar, 26, Mr Yahya, 23, and Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, all of north London, Mr Osman, 28, of south London, and Mr Mohammed, 25, from west London, sat behind reinforced glass in the dock of Woolwich crown court yesterday.

They deny conspiracy to murder between January 2005 and July 30 2005 and conspiracy to cause explosions between the same dates.

    July 21 bomb suspects had been under surveillance, G, 16.1.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1991471,00.html

5pm update

July 21 six 'planned suicide bombings'

Monday January 15, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Agencies

Six men planned to carry out a series of "murderous suicide bombings" on London's public transport system on July 21 2005, using rucksack-carried bombs designed to cause maximum injuries, a court was told today.

Opening the prosecution case at the start of a trial scheduled to last up to four months, Nigel Sweeney QC said the men were engaged in an "extremist Muslim plot" which would have seen devices explode a fortnight after 52 people were killed by blasts on three tube trains and a bus around London.

"This case is concerned with an extremist Muslim plot, the ultimate objective of which was to carry out a number of murderous suicide bombings on the public transport system in London," he told the jury of nine women and five men at Woolwich crown court in east London. "The day eventually chosen was Thursday July 21 2005, just 14 days after the carnage of July 7."

The six are all charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28, from Stoke Newington, north London; Ramzi Mohammed, 25, from North Kensington, west London; Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; Hussain Osman, 28, of no fixed address; Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address; and Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, deny the charges.

The jury was told that Mr Ibrahim, Mr Asiedu, Mr Osman, Mr Omar and Mr Mohammed were meant to have taken the role of "would-be suicide bombers". However, Mr Asiedu, "lost his nerve at the last moment" and dumped his device.

The sixth defendant, Mr Yahya, was "involved, at the least of it, taking part in some of the essential preparation done in furtherance of the conspiracy", even though he left Britain six weeks before July 21, Mr Sweeney said.

All the men were militant Islamists, the prosecution lawyer said. Three had attended sermons by the radical cleric Abu Hamza at Finsbury Park mosque, in north London, while one had received military training in Sudan, he alleged.

The defendants "in various combinations" were all known to each other by the summer of 2005, he said, while Mr Omar's one-bedroom flat in New Southgate was the conspirators' bomb factory, "where the great majority, if not all, of the work required to make those bombs was carried out".

Completed bombs were placed in large plastic containers with "a large quantity of screws, tacks, washers, or nuts" taped around them. "The purpose of shrapnel is, of course, to increase damage when the bomb explodes and thus to maximise the possibility of injuries - fatal or otherwise - to those who are in the vicinity," Mr Sweeney said.

He showed a replica bomb to the jury, saying that while six had been made, only five were intended to be used on July 21, carried in rucksacks.

The barrister said there was "no doubt" that the design for the devices was "functional", saying scientists from the forensic explosives laboratory in Kent had conducted a number of tests.

The would-be bombers met at Mr Mohammed's flat in north Kensington, west London, the night before the alleged attack, from where they set off the following day, Mr Sweeney said.

Mr Ibrahim, Mr Omar and Mr Mohammed made their way south of the river Thamas, while Mr Osman made his way on foot north of the river.

"The period between 12.30pm and just after 1pm that Thursday afternoon, all four fired their bombs - three on Tube trains and one later on a bus," the barrister said, explaining that "in each case" the detonator fired but the main charge did not explode.

Mr Sweeney said evidence showed that Mr Mohammed had tried to explode his device on a tube carriage near Oval station, in south London; Mr Omar had done the same close to Warren Street, in the centre, and Mr Osman near Shepherd's Bush in the west. Mr Ibrahim had been on the top deck of a bus in Shoreditch, in east London, Mr Sweeney said.

It was not known whether the bombs had failed because of a manufacturing fault, the mixture of chemicals used or the hot weather on that day, Mr Sweeney said, arguing that it was "simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared".

The jury was told that Mr Omar was seen on CCTV footage the next day at coach stations in north London and Birmingham coach station disguised as a woman wearing a burka. He was arrested at a house in Birmingham on July 27, standing in a bath fully clothed with a rucksack on his back, Mr Sweeney said

Mr Muktar, Mr Ibrahim and Mr Mohammed were arrested at the flat in north Kensington two days after the alleged attack. Mr Osman travelled to Rome, where he was arrested on July 29.

Mr Sweeney told the court that, following his arrest, Mr Osman claimed to police that the plot was not a serious attempt to kill commuters but "a deliberate hoax in order to make a political point".

"The prosecution case is that this was no hoax," the lawyer said. "The failure of those bombs to explode owed nothing to the intention of these defendants, rather it was simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared."

Mr Asiedu was supposed to be the fifth bomber but "lost his nerve" and dumped his bomb in a wooded area in Little Wormwood Scrubs, north-west London, where it was found two days later, the jury was told.

Afterwards, he tried to convey the impression of a man "carrying on his life as normal", Mr Sweeney said.

On July 26 he went to the police but "not to tell the truth", he alleged.

Instead, during the course of interviews lasting a number of days, Asiedu "lied on an epic scale" to keep up the pretence that he only happened to know two of the defendants, Mr Sweeney told the jury.

Mr Sweeney said the evidence also showed that a number of the defendants were connected with the alleged "bomb factory" between April and July 2005.

"It is our case that the events with which this case is concerned are plainly not some hastily arranged copycat, albeit, as we shall see, like 7/7, one of the bombs was deployed on a bus somewhat after the others," Mr Sweeney said.

The court was told that five of the six had been under surveillance by police during a camping trip they made to the Lake District almost 15 months before their alleged bombing attempt. Their photographs were taken by police as they lined up with others on the trip, on a bank holiday weekend in early May 2004, apparently to take part in prayer.

No one was killed in the alleged July 21 attempted bombings.

    July 21 six 'planned suicide bombings', G, 15.1.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1990934,00.html

Five years on,

no end to the horror that is Guantanamo

Published: 09 January 2007
The Independent
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington and Andy McSmith
 

When the first prisoners arrived at Guantanamo in January 2002 they were handcuffed, shackled and wearing hoods. The reason for these exceptional measures, explained the then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, was that the prisoners were highly dangerous. "These are the sort of people who would chew through a hydraulics cable to bring a C-17 [transport plane] down," he claimed. "They are very, very dangerous people."

Five years later none of these "worst of the worst" have been brought to trial. Just 10 have been formally charged while hundreds of others have been returned to their own countries and released. Meanwhile, three have committed suicide, at least 40 others have tried to do so and there are concerns about the mental health of most of the 400 or so remaining prisoners.

"It is remarkable that Guantanamo still exists five years on," said Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of the British group Reprieve, which represents three dozen inmates. "But what is also remarkable is that Guantanamo has distracted attention from other secret prisons the US has. As of August last year we know there are 14,000 prisoners in US custody around the world."

Critics say the low point of the past five years perhaps came in June 2006 when three prisoners - Ali Abdullah Ahmed, 28, from Yemen, and Saudis Yassar Talal al-Zahrani, 21, and 30-year-old Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi - hanged themselves using torn sheets. Lawyers said they did so out of desperation but the base commander claimed it was "an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us".

Controversy had previously been stirred in December 2005 when it emerged the US military was strapping prisoners into "restraint chairs" to force-feed those who had gone on hunger-strike.

General Bantz Craddock, head of the US Southern Command, defended repeatedly inserting feeding tubes into prisoners' throats and nostrils, saying: " Some of these hard-core guys were getting worse." There have been numerous reports of abuse, humiliation and torture. Prisoners have allegedly been held in stress positions, locked in solitary confinement not permitted to sleep and been smeared with fake menstrual blood.

Three Britons who were held for more than two years before being released without charge - Asef Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul - claimed they were repeatedly punched, kicked, slapped, injected with drugs, hooded, photographed naked, subjected to body searches and forced to endure sexual and religious humiliation. Mr Ahmed said he was questioned by a British interrogator while a gun was held to his head.

One of the more unusual reports was the so-called Harry Potter torture. Visiting US legislators watched through a one-way mirror as a woman interrogator sought to wear down a prisoner's resistance with a non-stop reading of the adventures of the boy wizard, which reportedly lasted for hours.

Campaigners believed they had achieved a breakthrough last June when the US Supreme Court ruled that the Bush administration's use of military tribunals was unconstitutional. It also ruled that each of the prisoners had the right to have their cases heard in court.

But though Mr Bush said at the time he wished to close Guantanamo, just three months later he was successful in getting Congress to pass new legislation that circumvented the Supreme Court ruling and opened the way to proceed with the tribunals. It also backed the administration's decision to refuse prisoners the right to see the evidence used against them.

Last May the UN Committee on Torture called on the US government to close the facility immediately. The same month the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, also said the prison's continued operation was "unacceptable" . Tony Blair called it an "anomaly". But the Government refuses to help eight British residents who are still being held at the prison even though the US has sought their repatriation.

In October the High Court in London ruled that the men did not have the right to be treated in the same way as British nationals. The Foreign Office claims it has no power to intervene on behalf of foreign nationals, even if they were long-term residents of the UK.

The numbers that shame America

1825 Number of days that Guantanamo has been open

400 prisoners are currently detained at Guantanamo

20 detainees arrived on 11 January 2002, the day the detention centre opened. They were hooded and shackled

8 per cent of detainees accused of fighting for a terrorist group

300 prisoners who have been released back to their own countries since 2002

86 per cent captured by the Northern Alliance or the Pakistani authorities for US bounties

70 prisoners who President Bush's administration plans to charge in military courts

10 prisoners who have already been charged

0 number of detainees brought to trial

    Five years on, no end to the horror that is Guantanamo, I, 9.1.2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2137655.ece

Kate Allen:

Britain must act to stop this outrage

Published: 09 January 2007
The Independent

Why has the Government abandoned them? The Government's answer: they're not British - we don't feel any obligation toward them. Let other countries speak up for them.

No matter, apparently, that they have British wives or children. That they are in some cases officially recognised refugees from countries such as Libya, Iraq or Jordan, where no help is likely. And no matter that the US apparently wishes to send them back to Britain.

UK government criticism of the regime at Guantanamo has been patchy at best. Last year Tony Blair called the camp "an anomaly". Peter Hain, pinned down on a television programme, agreed that it was wrong and that, yes, he did oppose Guantanamo's existence. Charles Falconer went a step further. The camp was an "affront to democracy", he said.

Now that we are, incredibly, marking the moment that some prisoners have spent five years of their lives at Guantanamo, it's easy to forget that the UK Government defended the camp for much of this time. On the relatively rare occasions that senior politicians spoke about it, they often referred to the supposed dangerousness of the detainees. They typically downplayed or ignored the fact that the White House had barred human rights groups from this prison, suspending even minimal legal protections, pressing on regardless of the damage to international human rights agreements.

Supposing, then, that the UK Government now wishes to make up for lost time over Guantanamo, what should it do? First, it should immediately negotiate the return of Jamil el-Banna and the seven other UK residents. In the relatively unlikely event that there are criminal charges facing any of these men, they should of course be prosecuted in proper courts in the UK.

Second, the Government should stop pussyfooting around Guantanamo detentions and make it abundantly clear - in public and in private - that it strongly opposes this wholesale affront to democracy and will do everything in its power to bring about Guantanamo's closure.

Third, the Government should also unambiguously condemn all other secret "war on terror" detentions (the so-called "black site" prisoners) as well as the "rendition" flights that underpin them.

Kate Allen is the director of Amnesty International UK

    Kate Allen: Britain must act to stop this outrage, I, 9.1.2007, http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2137664.ece