Muslim Men Convicted in London of U.K. Terrorism Plot

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Five British Muslims were convicted today of plotting to carry out a deadly bombing spree across the U.K., ending the country's longest terrorism trial.

Omar Khyam, the ringleader of the group, and four other men were found guilty on the London jury's 27th day of deliberations. The men were all given life sentences by Justice Michael Astill.

``You have betrayed the country that has given you every advantage in life,'' Judge Astill said during sentencing.

The defendants, who have been on trial since March 2006, were charged with planning to use homemade fertilizer bombs on targets including London nightclubs, trains, and the gas and power network. Some of the suspects had close links with two of the four suicide bombers that killed 52 people in London on July 7, 2005, a fact that news organizations were barred by court order from reporting until today's verdicts.

Khyam, 25, Waheed Mahmood, 35, Jawad Akbar, 23, Anthony Garcia, 25, and Salahuddin Amin, 32, were convicted at London's Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life. None of the men will be considered for parole before they have served at least 17 1/2 years in jail and may never be released, Justice Astill said.

Khyam's brother Shujah Mahmood, 20, and Nabeel Hussain, 21, were acquitted.

`Relieved'

Hussain's lawyer, Imran Khan, said his client was ``relieved'' by the verdict. Hussain has ``never been an extremist or believed in extremism,'' Khan said.

``He's lost three years of his life and he'll never get them back,'' Khan said in an interview televised on Sky News.

The trial was the first involving what prosecutors and police described as a ``homegrown'' Muslim terror cell plotting to carry out mass murder in the U.K. Several of the men were linked with al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks. All of them denied the charges against them.

Even with the convictions, the case may prompt an inquiry into Britain's counter-terrorism efforts. Under rules designed to ensure a fair trial, news organizations were barred from reporting the links between the Khyam terror cell and Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, who took part in the July 7 attacks.

Inquiry

Police were monitoring meetings between Khyam, Khan and Tanweer as early as February 2004, 16 months before the July 7 bombings. Police have said they believed Khan and Tanweer were focused on financial crime, to raise money for jihadi causes, and didn't pose an immediate threat. The jury was never told of the connections between the two terrorist cells to prevent prejudicing their deliberations.

``Deliberately or not, the government have not told the British public the whole truth about the circumstances and mistakes leading up to the July 7 attacks,'' David Davis, the home affairs spokesman for the main opposition Conservative party, said in an e-mailed statement. ``As a result, after nearly two years and five government reports, we still don't know the truth.''

U.K. Home Secretary John Reid declined to answer questions on the connection between the defendants in today's trial and the July 7 bombers during a televised news conference. He said the government will respond later.

No Guarantee

``The government has invested heavily in counter-terrorism over the last five years,'' Reid said in a statement. ``It is important to remember that 100 percent commitment can never guarantee 100 percent success.''

Most of the seven men on trial admitted supporting jihad ``holy war'' in places like Afghanistan, Chechnya and Kashmir. Radicalized by extremist Islamic preachers, several had traveled repeatedly to Pakistan for military-style training in weapons and explosives. One of the men, Salahuddin Amin, had links to senior al-Qaeda figures and at one stage made inquiries about buying a radioactive ``dirty bomb'' from the Russian mafia, prosecutors claimed.

While police say the group hadn't settled on a definite target, sites discussed included London nightclub the Ministry of Sound and Bluewater, a 330-store shopping complex southeast of London.

The men were arrested during overnight raids in March 2004, following one of British anti-terrorist forces' biggest investigations, known as ``Operation Crevice.''

Biggest Investigation

U.K. intelligence officials have said they are monitoring 1,600 other individuals and as many as 30 possible terror plots aimed at causing death and damage to the British economy. Six men are on trial for allegedly plotting to carry out a series of deadly explosions on London's public transit network, two weeks to the day after the July 7 attacks.

``This case marked a new stage in our understanding of the threat posed by al-Qaeda in this country,'' Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police Service's counter-terrorism group, said in a statement.

``This was not a group of youthful idealists. They were trained, dedicated, ruthless terrorists who were obviously probably planning to carry out an attack against the British public,'' Clarke said.

Much of the case against the seven Crevice defendants centered on the testimony of Mohammed Babar, a U.S. citizen who has already pleaded guilty in New York to terrorism-related offences, including conspiring to provide material support to the U.K. bomb plot.

Babar Testimony

During 17 days on the witness stand, Babar provided a detailed account of the group's activities, from their military training in Pakistan to efforts to obtain fertilizer and detonators for explosives. Aluminum powder for the bombs' ignition was eventually found in a cookie tin, stashed away in a disused gardening shed in the back of one of the group's homes.

Khyam, a cricket enthusiast from Crawley, south of London, organized military exercises around the Afghan border to teach the group what he'd learned, the jury was told. Another suspect, Waheed Mahmood, obtained detailed plans of the U.K.'s gas and electricity network while working for a contractor for utility National Grid Transco.

At one point during the trial, prosecutors played a taped conversation between Jaward Akbar and Khyam, where they discussed targeting a popular London nightspot.

``No one can turn around and say they were innocent, those slags dancing around,'' Akbar says on the recording.