Four London Suspects Plead Not Guilty

Four top suspects in the attempted attacks on the London transit system July 21, including a previously unidentified man linked to a knapsack bomb found in a park, pleaded not guilty Monday in an appearance at a high-security court.

Also in court was an alleged Al Qaeda operative extradited a day earlier from Zambia, where he had been questioned by British counter-terrorism agents about the July 7 bombings. Those attacks killed 52 people and the four bombers.

But British authorities did not pursue charges Monday against the man, Haroon Rashid Aswat, a Briton of Indian descent. Instead they deferred to a U.S. extradition request based on allegations that Aswat, 30, had conspired in late 1999 and early 2000 to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon

Aswat, who wore a traditional black robe, said through his lawyer that he was “baffled” by the allegations against him. Asked if he would consent to extradition, Aswat replied, “At the moment, no.”

The proceedings suggested that British investigators no longer regarded Aswat as a potential suspect in the July 7 attacks. Their interest in him was based largely on a number of phone calls between at least one of the dead bombers and a cellphone associated with Aswat. However, officials had cautioned that it was not clear whether Aswat had been using the phone or whether the calls were related to the plot.

As police helicopters circled overhead, the courtroom at Belmarsh Prison also became the stage for the first appearance by three suspects, all East African refugees or immigrants, since their arrest. Police say security cameras filmed the three after the bombs in their knapsacks failed to fully detonate, and their faces became known across the world as a manhunt unfolded last month.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, an Eritrean-born Briton who frequented the radical Finsbury Park Mosque, has been identified as the ringleader in a confession by a fourth suspect captured in Rome, say Italian investigators. Ibrahim pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and using explosives in connection with the attempted attack on a double-decker bus.

The same charges have been filed against Ramzi Mohammed, 23, captured with Ibrahim in a raid on a housing project in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood July 29, and Yassin Hassan Omar, arrested in Birmingham two days earlier. Mohammed and Omar denied trying to bomb the subway.

Mohammed’s brother, Wharbi, and two Ethiopian-born men were also arraigned. The three are accused of helping the fugitives.

Monday’s hearing also gave a first glimpse of Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, who was arrested July 26 in North London. He has allegedly been linked to a knapsack bomb that was found abandoned in Little Wormwood Scrubs park in West London two days after the failed attacks.

The discovery led to the theory that the original plot included a fifth bomber who did not reach his intended target. Prosecutors did not specify Monday why the fifth bomb was not used or explain Asiedu’s alleged role.

Asiedu, 32, looked worried and perplexed in court. He pleaded innocent to charges of conspiring to murder passengers using explosives.

Asiedu was accompanied by an interpreter of the Twi language of Ghana. Police did not disclose his birthplace but said he has lived in the Finsbury Park area. All the suspects worshiped at the mosque in that North London neighborhood, Italian investigators say.

In keeping with strict rules about disclosing evidence, prosecutors provided few details to the media.

Questions persist about the bomb maker and mastermind of the attacks. Authorities said nothing about whether the July 21 suspects had ties to the bombings two weeks earlier.

The suspect held in Rome, Hussain Osman, who is also known as Hamdi Isaac, has told Italian interrogators that his group hatched a separate, copycat plot to emulate the July 7 bombers.

The accused are to return to court in September. U.S. prosecutors have 65 days to provide evidence in the extradition case against Aswat.

On Monday, Hugo Keith, a British lawyer representing the U.S. government, cited an arrest warrant alleging that Aswat had traveled to Oregon in November 1999 to develop the planned training camp near the town of Bly.