UK appeals court rejects challenge by 4 convicted of failed suicide bomb attempts

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of four failed suicide bombers who were convicted last year of conspiring to murder passengers on London subway trains. Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman were convicted of attempting suicide bombings on July 21, 2005 - two weeks after four suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 bus and subway passengers in London. The four men were each sentenced to 40 years in prison in July after being convicted of conspiracy to murder. They argued at their trial that they had not intended to kill anyone, only to cause a scare as a protest against the war in Iraq. "Now that the applicants have been convicted after a fair trial before an impartial tribunal, we are entitled to record, after a lengthy examination of the evidence, that their defenses to the charge of conspiracy to murder were ludicrous," said the Court of Appeal ruling by Sir Igor Judge, Justice John Forbes and Justice Colin Mackay. The judges also rejected bids by Mohammed and Osman to challenges their sentences. "These were merciless and extreme crimes. As they were rightly meant to be, the sentences were severe and extreme," the ruling said. "Beyond doubt, however, they were utterly justified."