Terrorists launch 21/7 appeal bid
Updated on 05 March 2008
Four men jailed for planning the failed July 21 London suicide bombings have launched a High Court battle to have their convictions declared unsafe.
The terrorists claim their rights were infringed when police interviewed them before arranging for them to see lawyers when they were arrested shortly after the attacks.
The four, all jailed for life for plotting to detonate ruscksack bombs on the capital's transport network, are seeking leave to appeal against their convictions.
Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to murder at Woolwich Crown Court last year.
They were filmed trying to blow up three Underground trains at Shepherd's Bush, Oval station and Warren Street stations and a bus in Hackney Road just two weeks after 52 commuters died in the 7/7 terror attacks.
The four claimed the plot was an elaborate hoax to protest against anti-Muslim foreign policy and said their home made chapatti-flour bombs were designed to go off without causing injury.
George Carter-Stephenson QC, for Muktar Said Ibrahim, the alleged leader of the conspiracy, said the trial judge should not have let jurors hear what Ibrahim told police in "safety" interviews conducted immediately after he was seized in July 2005.
The barrister said Mr Justice Fulford "erred in the extent to which he found that the applicant's right to legal advice and representation had been breached".
Officers have the right to quiz suspects in emergencies when public safety is under threat but they went too far, he said.
The judge also should have let Ibrahim's legal team call evidence about a late confession from co-defendant Hussain Osman, Mr Carter-Stephenson added.
Michael Wolkind QC, for Yassin Omar, also said his client's interviews should not have been included as evidence because police had no right "to delay for seven hours the request to contact a solicitor to arrange his attendance".
He told the court Hussain Osman was said to have confessed to two prison officers "that the bombs involved were intended to be fully functional" but the jury did not hear about it.
Ramzi Mohammed is complaining along the same lines while Hussain Osman's barrister said a fifth plotter, Manfo Asiedu, committed perjury while giving evidence at the trial that helped convict his client.
Asiedu, who was jailed for 33 years in November after admitting conspiracy to cause explosions, is seeking permission to appeal against his sentence in a separate hearing.
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