Accused 'linked to terror leader'

Atilla Ahmet was the alleged emir, or leader, of five men who went on trial accused of terrorist offences. The extremist preacher boasted that CNN labelled him "the number one al Qaida in Europe", Woolwich Crown Court heard.

One of those on trial, Mohammed Hamid, 50, once told police his name was "Osama bin London" and threatened to blow them up. He made the comments after being arrested with July 21 ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim in 2004, the prosecution said.

David Farrell QC, prosecuting, said Hamid was Ahmet's "partner in terrorist conversion". Mr Farrell described some of the 21/7 bombers as Hamid's "pupils", after they attended trips and meetings at his home.

He said: "The prosecution's case is that Hamid, assisted by Ahmet, was a recruiter, groomer and corrupter of young Muslims. His purpose was to convert such men to his own fanatical and extreme beliefs and, having given them such a foundation, thereby enabling them to move on to join others in the pursuit of 'jihad' by acts of terrorism."

Ahmet's guilty plea to three counts of soliciting murder last month can be revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted. Secretly-recorded conversations featuring him are a key part of the trial.

Woolwich Crown Court heard evidence of a number of links between the five defendants and the four 21/7 failed bombers. Just hours after the July 7 bombings in which 52 people died, Hamid, 50, sent a text message to one of them, Hussain Osman. Two weeks later Osman and three other men would go on to try and blow themselves up on the London transport network.

The message said: "Assalam bro, we fear no one except Allah. We will not change our ways, we are proud to be Muslim and we will not hide." Mr Farrell QC, said: "(This) shows exactly where his sympathies and intentions lay."

Hamid ran "military-style" training camps and paintballing trips across the UK and held regular Friday meetings at his east London home, it was said. The prosecution claim that he used them to encourage his young Muslim followers to murder kuffars - non believers.

Hamid, of Clapton, east London, is on trial alongside four other men. They are Mousa Brown, 41, of Walthamstow, east London; Kibley da Costa, 24, of West Norwood, south-east London; Mohammed Al-Figari, 42, of Tottenham, north London; and Kader Ahmed, 20, of Plaistow, east London. All five deny a range of terrorism charges. The trial continues.