Three accused of helping 7/7 bombers choose targets
Thursday, 10 Apr 2008 13:30
Three men accused of helping July 7th London suicide bombers
Three men helped the July 7th London suicide bombers choose potential targets, a court has heard.
The men spent two days undertaking a 'reconnaissance mission' through London searching for possible targets, including the Natural History Museum and the London Eye, the jury was told.
Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil have all denied allegations of planning to cause an explosion in London between 2004 and 2005.
Prosecutors at Kingston crown court today claimed that, while the men were not directly responsible for the London transport bombings that killed 52 people in July 2005, they had shared the same "objectives" as the suicide bombers.
Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shezhad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain detonated four separate bombs on London buses and tube trains three years ago.
Neil Flewitt QC claimed that the trio travelled down from Leeds to London in December 2004 with Hussain and then later met with Lindsay, who went on to kill 26 people when he exploded home-made explosives on a Piccadilly line underground train.
"It is not the prosecution's case that the defendants were directly involved in the London bombings in the sense that they were responsible for making or transporting the bombs that were detonated with such catastrophic consequences," Mr Flewitt said.
"However, it is the case that the defendants associated with and shared the beliefs and objectives of the London bombers - and so were willing to assist them in one particular and important aspect of their preparation for the London bombings."
The trial continues and is expected to last at least three months.