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Seven in liquid bombs case to face retrial
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor10.09.08
Seven British Muslims accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners flying out of Heathrow are to face a retrial, the Crown Prosecution Service announced today.
The decision follows the failure of a jury to convict them over the key charge that they plotted to detonate liquid hydrogen peroxide bombs smuggled on board jets in Oasis and Lucozade bottles, even though six of the men had recorded martyrdom videos.
Three plotters, Abdulla Ahmed Ali 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, convicted on Monday at Woolwich crown court on a more general charge of conspiracy to murder, will answer the more serious allegation that they conspired to detonate explosives on an aircraft.
Another four defendants, Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, Waheed Zaman, 24, and Umar Islam, 24, will be retried both for conspiracy to murder and for conspiring to detonate explosives.
Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald said the CPS should apply for retrial "on every count the recently discharged jury failed to agree upon".
The application will be made to Woolwich crown court. The decision will ease pressure on ministers to relax the airport security introduced in the wake of the alleged plot.
