Prosecutor Ties Syria to El Al Bomb Attempt

A prosecutor said today there was “convincing evidence” the Syrian government was behind an attempt in April to blow up an Israeli jetliner with 375 people aboard.

Prosecutor Roy Amlot said Nezar Hindawi, a Jordanian accused of planting a bomb in the suitcase of his pregnant Irish girlfriend, told police he had met the head of Syrian military intelligence in Damascus and had agreed to carry out attacks on Israeli targets for money and preferential treatment at Syrian universities.

Amlot made the claim in an opening statement at Hindawi’s trial in the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court.

Bomb in Hand Luggage

Hindawi, 32, was arrested on April 18, a day after security checks found three pounds of explosives and a timer in the hand luggage carried by Irish hotel maid Anne-Marie Murphy, 32, as she tried to board an El Al plane at Heathrow Airport.

Hindawi has pleaded innocent to charges of attempting to blow up the aircraft and possessing a pistol and ammunition without a license. Murphy has been portrayed as a woman who was duped by Hindawi.

According to the prosecutor, Hindawi told police that the first time he saw the bag and the explosives was in Syria, where he was given $12,000. Hindawi was later given the bag in London and advised to seek out a woman to carry it, Amlot said.

Carried Syrian Passport

“There is convincing evidence he was acting in concert with agents of the Syrian government and acting on behalf of a group calling themselves the Jordanian Revolutionary Movement,” the prosecutor said. He gave no details of the group.

At the time of his arrest, Hindawi possessed a special Syrian passport normally given to government officials, the prosecutor said.

The passport had been issued in Damascus in February under a false name and included documents indicating the bearer was on official government business, Amlot said.