LONDON, 17 July 2007 — District Judge Anthony Evans presiding over a hearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London yesterday remanded Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, 26, of Liverpool into custody and sent him for a committal hearing on Aug. 13.
Judge Evans, however, did stress that he would review Ahmed’s case next Monday. Ahmed, who trained as a doctor in Bangalore in India and worked at the Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire, was charged on Saturday under the Terrorism Act with having information that could have prevented an act of terrorism.
He is one of eight people detained — seven in the UK and one in Australia — in connection with the failed car bomb attacks in central London and at Glasgow Airport on June 30. Scotland Yard police officers found two Mercedes saloon cars containing petrol and propane gas cylinders and a cocktail of nails and bolts in Haymarket outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub and Cockspur Street in central London. Due to faulty connections, the detonators fortunately failed to explode. The next day, a blazing Jeep Cherokee similarly loaded with petrol and gas cylinders and nails, was driven into the main terminal building at Glasgow’s International Airport. The attacks were seemingly coordinated and precipitated a massive manhunt in the UK. Dr. Sabeel Ahmed was arrested on June 30 and is accused under Section 38(B) of the Terrorism Act 2000 that he had information which he “knew or believed may be of material assistance in preventing the commission by another of an act of terrorism.” As such he is accused of not disclosing information that could have helped police arrest a suspected terrorist.
His lawyer, Nadeem Afzal, told the 20-minute hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court that his client intends to plead not guilty to the charge. A subdued Ahmed spoke only to give his name, address and to confirm his date of birth. The court was told that Ahmed holds no tenancy agreement for his home in Ramilies Road in Liverpool, and has not applied to extend his employment visa. Of the eight suspects originally detained three have been charged and three released without charges. Those charged in the UK are Dr. Sabeel Ahmed and Iraqi Dr. Bilal Talal Samad Abdullah, who is believed to be the driver of the Jeep involved in the Glasgow Airport incident. He was charged on July 6 with conspiracy to cause explosions, and sent to trial at the Old Bailey on July 27. The third person charged is Dr. Mohammed Haneef, a 27-year-old medic and a cousin of Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, who worked at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland in Australia. He was arrested at Brisbane Airport on July 2 en route to his native Bangalore on a one-way ticket and charged last Saturday with providing “reckless support” to a terrorist organization. He is alleged to have given a mobile phone SIM card to Dr. Sabeel Ahmed and his brother Dr. Kafeel Ahmed, allegedly involved in the Glasgow Airport incident, who are also his cousins. It is not clear whether the mobile phone or SIM card was used in the UK attacks. Dr. Haneef has denied any involvement in the plot.
In a dramatic development at Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday Judge Jacqui Payne freed Dr. Haneef on bail of A$10,000 (4,300 British pounds), and adjourned the case until Aug. 31. She told the prosecutors that they had “failed to provide evidence of a direct link between Dr. Haneef and a terrorist organization.” This is in stark contrast to the position of the UK courts.
However, no sooner had Judge Payne set the bail, Dr. Haneef was detained in custody by immigration officials apparently for violating Australian immigration law. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews conveniently canceled the doctor’s working visa because of alleged links to criminal activity.
“I reasonably suspect that he has or has had an association with persons engaged in criminal activity, criminal conduct, namely terrorism in the UK. I am satisfied that the cancellation is in the national interest.”
Dr. Kafeel Ahmed, 27, in the meantime remains under heavy police guard in a ward at the Specialized Burns Unit at the Royal Glasgow Infirmary. He suffered 90-degree burns to most of his body torso. Crown prosecutor Karen Jones, yesterday told the London court during the hearing of Dr. Sabeel Ahmed that the injured man was in “an extremely poor physical state.” Doctors have warned that his condition is so severe that it is unlikely that he will survive his injuries, sustained when he set himself alight during the Glasgow suicide attack. The eighth alleged plotter, Dr. Mohammed Asha, 26, who lives in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, is being held at London’s high-security Paddington Green police station, where police on Sunday were granted an extension by a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to question him without charge until July 21.
The Jordanian-trained Dr. Asha and his wife Marwah Asha, 27, were arrested on the M6 motorway in Cheshire on June 30. Police last week released Marwah Asha, a laboratory technician, without charges. Two other trainee doctors were similarly released on Sunday without charges.
Dr. Asha’s detention extension coincides with yet another call by the Police Federation in the UK for a review of the time they can hold terror suspects without charge. Currently this time limit is 28 days with inbuilt measures of judicial oversight for any extensions. The police argue that given the global nature and specificity of the terrorism threat, inquiries could drag on for weeks and often involve cross-border investigations. As such they would like to see an open-ended system whereby they can hold suspects for as long as the inquiries necessitate, but of course with the inbuilt judicial oversight. They reject any notion that they want to detain suspects indefinitely along the lines of those held by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Civil liberties groups however stress that the police already have ample time to pursue the questioning of terror suspects; and if they wish to get further extensions beyond the 28 days they can always put their case in from of a high court judge as the law permits.
A possible compromise would be to have no ceiling on the number of days, but with the condition that a judge and not the politicians would decide how long police could detain a particular suspect without charge.
