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Eight Suspected Terrorists Appear in British Court
Eight suspected terrorists appeared in a London court yesterday on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit a public nuisance by using radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals or explosives to cause “disruption, fear or injury,” the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Aug. 18). The eight men, included a suspected al-Qaeda operative linked to a possible terrorist plot in the United States, did not enter pleas and were ordered held until their next scheduled court appearance on Aug. 25, according to AP. Prosecutor Sue Hammond said the suspects had been prepared to commit “extreme acts” for their “strong and deeply held beliefs.” None of the defense lawyers sought bail for their clients, AP reported. One of the lawyers, Kirsten Johnson, said that the charges “will be fully contested” (Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, Aug. 18). Meanwhile, intelligence experts have said that the Aug. 1 announcement by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge of possible terrorist plots against U.S. targets could have jeopardized the arrest of the eight suspects, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Ridge named the New York Stock Exchange and International Monetary Fund in Washington among the potential targets. Suspected al-Qaeda operative Dhiren Barot has been charged in the United Kingdom with possessing plans for potential attacks on those and other sites. “For reasons not so far satisfactorily explained, the U.S. authorities decided to broadcast specific intelligence material upon which they must have known a vitally important future U.K. arrest operation would be based,” said Charles Shoebridge, a former British counterterrorism intelligence officer. “The broadcast would have inevitably compromised that operation and by implication the actual security of the United States itself,” he added. Barot and the other suspects were arrested on Aug. 3. British police acknowledged that the raids occurred earlier than planned, according to the Monitor. A British police spokesman, though, said that Ridge’s announcement did not affect the arrest operation. “The operation was in place well before that weekend,” the spokesman said. “There was an operational decision on when to move,” he added (Mark Rice-Oxley, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 19).
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