3 Britons Admit Plot But Not Intent to Kill

LONDON, July 14 -- Three men accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners in 2006 have pleaded guilty to conspiring to set off bombs, but they deny targeting planes or attempting to cause injuries, prosecutors told a London court Monday as one of Britain's most important terrorism trials neared its end.

The three men -- Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 27 -- and five other British Muslim defendants have pleaded not guilty to the most serious charge against them: conspiracy to murder.

Ali and Sarwar testified during the trial that they intended to set off bombs at Parliament or other high-profile sites. They said the bombs were not intended to cause injury but rather were to be a "publicity stunt" in protest of British participation in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During his final arguments at the Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, prosecutor Peter Wright told jurors that the defendants' explanations were "inherently improbable" and "bogus."

"This was no propaganda video, no documentary, no exercise or stunt -- this was for real," Wright said. "Human beings ready, able and willing to commit carnage for the sake of Islam."

Defense attorneys are to begin their final arguments Tuesday; the jury is likely to commence deliberations next week.

Prosecutors contend that the eight defendants, whose trial began in April, are responsible for the most ambitious terrorist plot ever uncovered in Britain, which led to permanent restrictions on passengers carrying liquids or gels onto commercial flights.

The men planned to smuggle liquid explosives and detonators onto at least seven United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada jets bound for the United States and blow up the planes, causing thousands of deaths, according to prosecutors.

Among the evidence against the defendants are videotapes seized by police shortly after the men were arrested in August 2006. Prosecutors contend the videos were martyrdom messages intended for release after the defendants' suicide attacks.

In one, Ali, the alleged gang leader, invokes Osama bin Laden and threatens to leave "body parts decorating the streets" of Britain. Ali testified last month that the video was meant as a "publicity stunt" to promote a "graphic and shocking" film he planned to make to protest British foreign policies in the Muslim world.

"I never had any intention of murdering anyone or injuring anyone," Ali testified. "At no stage did I ever even think of going on an airplane or causing an explosion there."

Ali, Sarwar and Hussain, along with defendants Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30, also pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to cause public nuisance by planning to distribute their videos.

Wright said Monday that the defendants had assembled enough chemicals and other materials to make at least 20 bombs hidden in soft drink bottles. "It was intended to be an act of terrorism to not only alter aviation history but also to strike a blow on behalf of radicalized Islamists the world over," Wright said, according to the Press Association news service.

The alleged bombers wanted to "achieve immortality and notoriety in equal measure," Wright said, adding that they wanted to "murder as many civilian passengers as possible upon as many civilian aircraft as possible."

Wright said the men were "prepared to kill and to do so on a wholly indiscriminate basis, irrespective of age, belief, sex and to do so without the slightest blink of an eye."