Man: I Wasn't Serious About Blast Remark
AP
| September 15 2006
LONDON -- A man accused of plotting to
detonate bombs in Britain acknowledged talking about blowing up the Houses
of Parliament, but said the suggestion was meant as a joke.
Omar Khyam, 24, who is standing trial along with six
others, denies conspiring to cause an explosion.
He told jurors at London's Central Criminal Court that,
while watching Prime Minister Tony Blair take questions in the House of
Commons in 2003, "we just made a comment 'Can you imagine if you dropped
a bomb right there and then? You would take out all the MPs (members of
Parliament)."
Khyam confirmed it was he who had made the comment,
but when asked by defense lawyer Joel Bennathan if the proposal was serious,
he said "no."
Khyam and the other suspects were arrested in 2004,
during an operation in which police seized 1,300 pounds of ammonium nitrate
fertilizer.
Prosecutors say the men planned to set off bombs, and
had drawn up a list of possible targets that included Britain's electricity
network, one of London's biggest nightclubs and a major shopping mall.
Khyam; Salahuddin Amin, 31; Anthony Garcia, 24; Nabel
Hussain, 20; Jawad Akbar, 22; Waheed Mahmood, 34, and Shujah ud Din Mahmood,
19, deny conspiring to cause an explosion.
Khyam, Garcia and Hussain deny a second charge of possession
of ammonium nitrate fertilizer for possible use in terrorism. Khyam and
Shujah ud Din Mahmood, who are brothers, also deny a charge of possessing
aluminum powder for possible use in terrorism.
On Thursday, Khyam told the jury he was glad when New
York and Washington were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
"I was happy," he said. "America was,
and still is, the greatest enemy of Islam. They put up puppet regimes in
Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.
"I was happy that America had been hit because
of what it represented against the Muslims, but obviously 3,000 people died
so there were mixed feelings."
The trial is continuing.
Prison
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