CTindex - Christian Today UK Interactive Catalogue
World

July 21 bomb plot fiancée jailed

Posted: Friday, July 11, 2008, 16:35 (BST)
Font Scale:A A A

A woman engaged to one of the failed July 21 London suicide bombers was jailed for three years on Friday for helping him escape the capital dressed in her mother's burqa.

Fardosa Abdullahi, 20, had given Yassin Hassan Omar the head-to-toe covering to help him flee to Birmingham the day after he tried with three others to detonate rucksack bombs on underground trains and a bus in 2005.

The plot was a copy of the suicide attacks in London two weeks earlier that killed 52 people but their home-made explosives failed to detonate properly.

Each was subsequently jailed for a minimum of 40 years.

Abdullahi, who was 18 at the time, had only become engaged to Omar four days before the attack.

CCTV cameras had captured her 6 foot 2 inch (1.88 metre) fiancé at a north London coach station covered in the burqa and carrying a handbag.

To aide his disguise he had also shaved his arms, but was arrested in Birmingham five days later.

Sentencing Abdullahi at the Old Bailey, Judge Paul Worsley rejected her plea not be jailed on the grounds that she was now pregnant, was vulnerable at the time of the offence and had a long history of mental illness.

"The message must go out that this court will not go soft on those who assist terrorists even those who are young, vulnerable and under pressure, as you undoubtedly were," Worsley said.

Abdullahi had pleaded guilty on June 5 to a charge of assisting an offender.

Her sentencing closes a series of cases in which 16 people have either been convicted of or admitted charges linked to the July 21, 2005 attacks.



© Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Have your say on this article
Christian Aid
Google Advertisement
Externally generated - Report offensive links here
Mandate Men's Ministries
World Headline
Chinese Christians persecuted but still patriotic, says Open Doors head

Chinese Christians persecuted but still patriotic, says Open Doors head

Chinese house church Christians have a paradoxical view of their country, says the head of Open Doors USA who recently...
Sponsored Features
For holidays and retreats in the Scottish Borders. 01450 377477 INSPIRING BOOKS BY PRESTON TAYLOR, former Argentina missionary. A thrilling "Safari" into God's Word. Click this web site: Order through any Bookstore. Ideal gifts for anyone, any occasion. Tell a friend, please. The original Anglican resources shop your only independent one-stop-shop.
Google Advertisement
Externally generated - Report offensive links here