21/7 bomb plot 'was hoax'
Updated on 19 March 2007
It was just a hoax - and no-one was meant to be hurt - the jury in the July 21st London bombing plot trial's been told.
Muktar Said Ibrahim said he just wanted to cause maximum disruption and maximum debate on the war in Iraq.
He claimed the plot was aimed at putting pressure on the Government with what he called a 'fake suicide mission'.
Ibrahim is one of six defendants who all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.
'Even though I don't agree with the 7th of July it got Britain and the politicians talking about their role in Iraq'Muktar Said Ibrahim
Those behind events two weeks after 52 people were killed on London's public transport network saw how the earlier atrocity had revitalised debate about the war in Iraq, Woolwich Crown Court was told.
They upgraded their initial rucksack explosives which were going be left inert in public places by adding detonators which would make a noise but not kill or injure anyone, it was claimed.
These devices would be carried on the backs of the alleged attackers and set off across the capital to cause "maximum disruption", the court heard.
Muktar Said Ibrahim - who has already been described as "principally responsible" for making the explosives - said he had thought of protest for almost a year but the London bombings in the summer of 2005 brought a new impetus.
He said: "Even though I don't agree with the 7th of July it got Britain and the politicians talking about their role in Iraq."
'I did not think I was going to be in trouble because it was just a hoax'
"My aim was to cause maximum disruption and maximum publicity and get maximum debate about the war in Iraq.
"I thought this was the right time to put pressure on the Government by making a fake suicide mission but obviously without killing innocent people."
When asked if he thought he would get into trouble for carrying out such a protest, he said: "We thought the police would take it seriously at the scene, but we thought that the scientists would conclude that it was fake, not real.
"I did not think I was going to be in trouble because it was just a hoax."
Ibrahim, from Stoke Newington, north London, is the first of the six men accused of carrying out an extremist Muslim plot designed to cause chaos across the capital to give evidence.
All deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.
Giving evidence for a second day, Ibrahim said he and co-defendant Yassin Omar came up with the idea in September 2004.
The men had taken part in several anti-war demonstrations across London over Iraq and Afghanistan but did not think anything was going to change, the court heard.
Ibrahim decided more needed to be done and his feelings only strengthened "because more people were dying and suffering and the lies from the politicians as to why they went to war started to come out".
The trial continues.
