Airline terror plot jury shown chilling 'martyrdom video from suspect inspired by Osama Bin Laden'

Umar Islam recorded a ranting video message which was yesterday played to a jury.

It was intended, say prosecutors, that the "martyrdom video" would be watched by an appalled world after his death - and the deaths of countless civilians.

Instead, the 19-minute video was shown as part of the case against 29-year-old Islam.

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Sitting in front of a black flag bearing Arabic writing, Islam tells how he had been inspired by Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden.

And in a chilling reference to the impending suicide plot, he declares: "We love to die like you love life, so you can't win. As you bomb, you will be bombed and as you kill, you will be killed.

"And if you want to kill our women and children then the same thing will happen to you. This is not a joke.

"If you think you can go into our land and do what you are doing in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine and keep on supporting those that are fighting against the Muslims and think it will not come back on to your doorstep, then you have another think coming."

Islam from Plaistow, East London, insists no one is innocent and accuses all British people of being complicit in the fighting.

Now and then checking his script, he adds: "Most of you are too busy watching Home and Away and EastEnders, complaining about the World Cup, drinking your alcohol, to even care about anything."

Islam is among eight defendants accused of plotting to blow up at least seven planes flying from Heathrow to cities in the U.S. and Canada between August and October 2006 by detonating bombs made from soft drink bottles.

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If they had been successful, almost 2,000 passengers and crew would have been killed.

His video was one of six recorded by the group and later discovered in the boot of a red Nissan after the arrest of "key suspects" Ahmed Abdulla Ali and Assad Sarwar in a town hall car park in Walthamstow, East London, on August 9, 2006, which foiled the plot.

Major disruption was caused to British airports and hundreds of flights were grounded. Tough limits on the amount of liquids and types of carry-on luggage passengers could take on flights were imposed.

At the start of his video, Islam says he has an obligation to wage war on the "Kuffar" (non-believers).

In a message to Bin Laden and to Mullah Omar (leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan) he says: "You have inspired many of the Muslims and you have inspired me personally to follow the true path of the prophets."

Asked by a voice off-camera - which the prosecution allege is that of Ali - what he would say to those who accused him of being brainwashed, Umar Islam replied: "I would say that yes, my brain has been washed and it has been washed by the clean and cleansing spirit of Islam and the Koran."

Giving a faint smile at the end of the video, he warns Britons to stay away from "Government, military and economic targets".

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In another video, lasting four minutes, another defendant, Arafat Waheed Khan, accuses taxpayers of equipping soldiers to kill Muslims.

He says: "There is a big war going on from east to west."

Woolwich Crown Court heard that two voice-changing gadgets for use on mobile phones were found in Sawar's home, along with survival handbooks which included advice on everything from "escaping quicksand and wrestling alligators to landing a plane".

Khan, Ali, 27, and Waheed Zaman, 23, all from Walthamstow, Ibrahim Savant, 27, from Stoke Newington, North London, Mohammed Gulzar, 26, from Barking, East London, Sarwar, 27, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, from Leyton, East London, along with Islam, deny plotting to murder and plotting to commit an act of violence likely to endanger the safety of an aircraft.

The trial continues.