Followers of the ‘Religion of Peace’ convicted of conspiracy to murder

FOLLOWING the conviction today of a group of British-born Muslims on charges of conspiracy to murder, BBC Radio 4 is to broadcast a special investigation of the jihadi network in Britain.

In Jihad UK, due to be broadcast tonight at 8pm, journalist Amardeep Bassey tells the story of a movement that began in Britain over 15 years ago.

Bassy goes beyond the familiar tale of rabble-rousers like Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri Mohammed and reveals the key role played by Kashmiri militant groups in training British Muslims to carry out al Qaeda-inspired attacks.

The programme comes just hours after Tanvir Hussain, Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar were found guilty of a massive terrorist conspiracy to murder involving home-made bombs.

Tanvir Hussain, Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar were found guilty

Radio 4 has a “listen again” online service, so if you missed the programme you can hear it by visiting the BBC site.

Their convictions follow a huge terrorism inquiry, which led to sweeping airport restrictions. The three, on trial with another five men, had pleaded guilty to plotting to cause an explosion. Seven admitted plotting to cause a public nuisance.

The eighth man, Mohammad Gulzar, was cleared at Woolwich Crown Court.

The group had been accused of plotting to bring down transatlantic airliners with home-made liquid explosives, disguised as soft drinks. But after more than 50 hours of deliberations, the jury did not find any of the defendants guilty of conspiring to target aircraft.

The court heard prosecutors allege that the eight men were planning to carry liquid explosives on to planes at Heathrow, knowing the devices would evade airport security checks.

But in their defence, the seven men who had recorded videos denouncing Western foreign policy, said they had only planned to cause a political spectacle and not to kill anyone at all.

The ringleader, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, of Walthamstow, east London, created home-made liquid explosives which prosecutors said were designed to evade airport security.