LONDON, 18 March 2007 — One of six Muslim men implicated in an alleged bombing plot that failed told a British court Friday he used a harmless device intended only to protest against Muslim suffering, especially in Iraq.
The first of the six to testify in the trial, Muktar Said Ibrahim has admitted being “principally responsible” for making the devices used in the alleged suicide plot to blow up commuters on London transport on July 21, 2005.
The incidents came exactly two weeks after a deadly wave of suicide bombings. But the Eritrean-born 29-year-old did not mean to injure anyone with the devices, he insisted at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.
Ibrahim swore on the Qur’an before giving evidence in the high-profile trial, being held in Britain’s highest-security court.
He immediately admitted he was the man on a bus in east London caught on security camera footage apparently detonating a device inside a rucksack.
His defense counsel George Carter-Stephenson asked: “Did you have — to describe it neutrally — a device with you?” Ibrahim replied: “Yes.” The lawyer asked: “Did you intend or hope that that device would explode?” And the defendant replied, “No.” Carter-Stephenson said: “Was the device an improvised explosive device, in other words, was it — to your knowledge — capable of detonation?” “No, it was not capable of detonation,” Ibrahim replied.
His defense counsel continued: “In a short sentence, can you help this jury as to why you had that device with you on July 21, 2005?” Ibrahim replied: “To protest against the plight of Muslims everywhere, especially in Iraq.”
In one of the highest-profile cases involving alleged terrorism seen in Britain, the accused deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.
On the opening day of the case on Jan. 15, the accused were alleged to have made bombs out of chappati flour, hydrogen peroxide, acetone and acid, and packed with nails and screws to maximize “devastation.”
