LONDON, 12 July 2007 — A judge at Woolwich Crown Court in south London yesterday sentenced each of the four Al-Qaeda-linked men involved in the 21/7 failed bombing plot against London’s transport network to life imprisonment with a recommendation that they serve a minimum time of 40 years each.

The men — including the ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim, an Eritrean asylum seeker known as ‘the Emir,’ Yassin Omar, from Somalia, Ramzi Mohammed, also from Somalia, and Hussein Osman from Ethiopia — were found guilty on Monday by a jury of nine women and three men of attempted murder and conspiracy to cause explosions on the London transport system on July 21, 2005, in a trial that lasted six months.

The sentences mark one of the longest times in British criminal history and underline the serious nature of the charges and the determination of the judiciary to tackle terrorist-linked offenses head-on.

The trial judge, Justice Fulford, in his sentencing statement, stressed that their plot to detonate explosives on three Tube trains and a bus “was a viable, indeed a very nearly successful, attempt at mass murder. What happened on July 7 in 2005 is of considerable relevance to this sentencing. I have no doubt that they were both part of an Al-Qaeda-inspired and controlled sequence of attacks.”

The judge added they had designed the plot for “maximum impact” and had carried it out “with their eyes wide open. After 7/7 each defendant knew exactly what the result would be. The plan came very close to succeeding. If the detonators had been slightly more powerful or the hydrogen peroxide slightly more concentrated, then each bomb would have exploded.”

Two other men allegedly involved in the plot — Ghanaian-born Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, from west London and Ethiopian-born Adel Yahya, 24, from north London — face a retrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict on their charges on Tuesday.

Sue Hemming, head of counterterrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), confirmed yesterday that a retrial had been ordered later this summer. She added that the two men were only accused of the offenses and had a right to a fair trial. Justice Fulford remanded them in custody.

Asiedu was accused of being the “fifth” bomber targeting White City station but subsequently got cold feet and abandoned his bomb in bushes at Little Wormwood Scrubs. He insisted the bombs were real, but that he was duped into carrying them. Crown prosecutor, Nigel Sweeney QC, claimed Yahya of High Road, Tottenham, was part of the “inner circle” of bombers and accused him of playing an important behind-the-scenes planning and logistics role. Yahya, who was not in the country at the time of the alleged plot, denied all knowledge of the conspiracy.

Sue Hemming of the CPS said the convicted four had seen the “devastation” caused on 7/7 and “could have been in no doubt about the consequences of their actions on 21/7. These men planned a coordinated attack on the London transport system. Over many months they designed and built their own bombs. While the implementation of their plan was incompetent, their aim was clear. They wanted to kill and maim on a massive scale.”

The attempted attack failed because the explosives were not prepared properly in the right ratio of ingredients. It came just a fortnight after the 7/7 attacks.

Yesterday’s sentences coincided with a historic statement to the House of Commons by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who broke 150 years of parliamentary convention, by outlining the intended legislation his government planned to include in the Queen’s Speech, which traditionally signals the beginning of a parliamentary session.

Normally these provisions are kept secret, but the prime minister is keen on a change in style from his predecessor Tony Blair and was keen for Parliament and the British public to debate these provisions so that changes could be made to the draft bills in time.

On the terrorism threat, Prime Minister Brown was emphatic as he sought a cross-party consensus.

“Protecting the security and safety of the British people is paramount for any government. We stand ready to introduce new measures into the Criminal Justice Bill — to be carried over into the next session — including as a result of the review of policing by Sir Ronnie Flanagan which reports later this year.