Hecktix
28-04-2009, 11:18 AM
yeahh... nobody ever gets punished for terrrorism nowadays :/
Trio cleared over 7/7 attacks
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44556000/jpg/_44556134_7julyassist_met_comp226.jpg Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil denied the charge
Three men have been cleared of helping to plan the 7/7 London suicide attacks with an alleged reconnaissance mission.
A jury at Kingston Crown Court found them not guilty of conspiring with the 2005 bombers by organising a trip to find possible targets in London.
Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, admitted knowing the bombers - but denied helping them.
The men were originally tried in 2008, but the first jury failed to reach verdicts against them.
Despite being cleared of involvement in the London attacks, Ali and Shakil were found guilty of a second charge of plotting to attend a terrorism training camp in Pakistan at the time of their 2007 arrest. They will be sentenced on Wednesday.
The three men are the only people to face any charges in relation to the 7/7 London bombings.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif 7/7 Investigation in numbers
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44845000/gif/_44845353_travelcard226.gif
90,000 phone calls examined
4,700 phone numbers probed
13,000 exhibits
7,000 forensically examined
18,450 statements taken
19,400 documents created
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif
In Pictures: 7/7 investigation (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7506375.stm)
During the three-month retrial, the jury heard that the trio, all from Leeds and all close friends of the bombers, had been key members of a tight circle around ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan.
All three, the jury was told, shared a violent jihadist ideology.
Prosecutors in both trials had claimed that the men's movements in London mirrored a scouting trip by the bombers and included sites ultimately attacked.
Neil Flewitt QC had told the trial that the case centred on circumstantial evidence which, he argued, created a compelling picture of guilt.
But the trio maintained throughout the trial - and during tense evidence from the witness box - that they ideologically opposed suicide bombings and had been shocked by the attacks.
Counsel for the men told the jury there was no evidence linking them to the bombings and that they were being tried for guilt by association.
Mr Flewitt said a December 2004 trip to London lay at the heart of the case because the three men, accompanied by two of the eventual suicide attackers, had used it to visit a number of possible targets.
'Witch-hunt'
The prosecution said the group's movements bore a "striking similarity" to the final targets.
But the men told the jury that the trip had been organised because Waheed Ali was planning to leave the country for militant training in Pakistan.
He and Sadeer Saleem were going to join the future bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, who had already left.
He wanted to say goodbye to his sister, who lived in the capital. The others, the court heard, had simply gone along for the ride.
Mr Ali and the other two defendants had attacked the prosecution as politically motivated and a witch-hunt.
Mr Ali was adamant that he was innocent and taunted the prosecution's attempts to pin the bombings on him.
At one point during the first trial, he said he was not guilty of plotting with the bombers - but had he been, he would have been unstoppable on 7 July.
The three men acquitted were arrested in 2007 amid the largest criminal investigation yet in the UK. But the 2008 trial reached a stalemate after almost three weeks of deliberations by the first jury.
Tens of thousands of police hours have been spent on the four-year investigation - and detectives maintain there are people in the Leeds area who know more that could help their investigation.
The defendants accused the police and media of creating a climate of fear in the Beeston area of Leeds.
Trio cleared over 7/7 attacks
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44556000/jpg/_44556134_7julyassist_met_comp226.jpg Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem and Mohammed Shakil denied the charge
Three men have been cleared of helping to plan the 7/7 London suicide attacks with an alleged reconnaissance mission.
A jury at Kingston Crown Court found them not guilty of conspiring with the 2005 bombers by organising a trip to find possible targets in London.
Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, admitted knowing the bombers - but denied helping them.
The men were originally tried in 2008, but the first jury failed to reach verdicts against them.
Despite being cleared of involvement in the London attacks, Ali and Shakil were found guilty of a second charge of plotting to attend a terrorism training camp in Pakistan at the time of their 2007 arrest. They will be sentenced on Wednesday.
The three men are the only people to face any charges in relation to the 7/7 London bombings.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif 7/7 Investigation in numbers
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44845000/gif/_44845353_travelcard226.gif
90,000 phone calls examined
4,700 phone numbers probed
13,000 exhibits
7,000 forensically examined
18,450 statements taken
19,400 documents created
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif
In Pictures: 7/7 investigation (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7506375.stm)
During the three-month retrial, the jury heard that the trio, all from Leeds and all close friends of the bombers, had been key members of a tight circle around ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan.
All three, the jury was told, shared a violent jihadist ideology.
Prosecutors in both trials had claimed that the men's movements in London mirrored a scouting trip by the bombers and included sites ultimately attacked.
Neil Flewitt QC had told the trial that the case centred on circumstantial evidence which, he argued, created a compelling picture of guilt.
But the trio maintained throughout the trial - and during tense evidence from the witness box - that they ideologically opposed suicide bombings and had been shocked by the attacks.
Counsel for the men told the jury there was no evidence linking them to the bombings and that they were being tried for guilt by association.
Mr Flewitt said a December 2004 trip to London lay at the heart of the case because the three men, accompanied by two of the eventual suicide attackers, had used it to visit a number of possible targets.
'Witch-hunt'
The prosecution said the group's movements bore a "striking similarity" to the final targets.
But the men told the jury that the trip had been organised because Waheed Ali was planning to leave the country for militant training in Pakistan.
He and Sadeer Saleem were going to join the future bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, who had already left.
He wanted to say goodbye to his sister, who lived in the capital. The others, the court heard, had simply gone along for the ride.
Mr Ali and the other two defendants had attacked the prosecution as politically motivated and a witch-hunt.
Mr Ali was adamant that he was innocent and taunted the prosecution's attempts to pin the bombings on him.
At one point during the first trial, he said he was not guilty of plotting with the bombers - but had he been, he would have been unstoppable on 7 July.
The three men acquitted were arrested in 2007 amid the largest criminal investigation yet in the UK. But the 2008 trial reached a stalemate after almost three weeks of deliberations by the first jury.
Tens of thousands of police hours have been spent on the four-year investigation - and detectives maintain there are people in the Leeds area who know more that could help their investigation.
The defendants accused the police and media of creating a climate of fear in the Beeston area of Leeds.