Trio in court charged with London bombings

The first three people to be charged over the 7/7 London terror attacks appeared in court today.

Mohammed Shakil (aged 30), Sadeer Saleem (aged 26), and Waheed Ali (aged 23) appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court charged with conspiring with the July 7 suicide bombers to target London’s tourist attractions and its transport network.

They are accused of conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

The three accused are all from Leeds. However, Ali has been living in east London.

They are the first people to be charged over the 7/7 terror attacks – 21 months after the four blasts which killed 52 people. Their alleged co-conspirators are the four men who detonated rucksack bombs on three London Tube trains and a bus on the morning of July 7, 2005 – Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shezhad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussein.

The alleged targets of the conspiracy were the Transport for London system “and/or tourist attractions in London”. The attractions were not specified in the details of the charge.

The three defendants today spoke only to confirm their names and dates of birth.

Senior District Judge Timothy Workman remanded all three men in custody to appear for a preliminary hearing at The Old Bailey on April 20.

The charge against them alleges that between November 1, 2004, and June 29, 2005, they “unlawfully and maliciously” conspired with the four 7/7 bombers - Khan, Tanweer, Lindsay and Hussein – to cause “by explosive substance, explosions on the Transport for London system and/or tourist attractions in London of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property”.

The alleged offence is contrary to Section 3 (1) (a) of the UK's Explosives Substances Act 1883.