Rashid Rauf, a leading British-Pakistani militant involved with a liquid bomb plot to destroy transatlantic airliners (see August 10, 2006), is reported to have been killed in Pakistan. Rauf is allegedly killed in a US airstrike by a pilotless drone in North Warizistan, a region associated with Pakistani militants. He is allegedly one of five people killed, along with a wanted Egyptian militant named Abu Zubair al-Masri. [BBC, 11/22/2009] However, the reports of his death are unconfirmed, and doubts will persist. [BBC, 11/22/2009; BBC, 11/26/2009] Rauf’s family disbelieve the claim. Speaking through Rauf’s lawyer Hashmat Malik, the family of Rauf’s wife in Pakistan says that the body had not been handed over to them, and the authorities are not responding to their questions. “It’s all a concocted story,” says Malik. “We’re sure that it is not Rashid Rauf.” He adds, “There was no reason for him to be in North Waziristan, he has no link with al-Qaeda or the Taliban.” Malik also comments that if Rauf is dead, then he did not die in this strike, but was murdered by Pakistan’s security services after he escaped from custody in mysterious circumstances the previous year (see December 14, 2007). [Guardian, 11/25/2008]
September 7, 2009: Some Liquid Bomb Plotters Convicted, Others Found Not Guilty
A jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London, England, convicts the three alleged ringleaders of a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners (see August 10, 2006). However, some of their alleged accomplices are acquitted on some or all charges. The three men, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Tanvir Hussain, and Assad Sarwar, are convicted of plotting to kill thousands of people by blowing up planes flying from London to the US with home-made liquid bombs disguised as drinks. This is the second trial on the case. At a previous trial, the three main defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to murder, but the jury was unable to decide whether the plans included detonating the bombs on the planes. One of the accomplices, Umar Islam, is convicted of conspiracy to murder, but the jury fails to reach a verdict on whether he was involved in the plot to blow up aircraft. Three others, Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Khan, and Waheed Zaman, are found not guilty of plotting to bomb aircraft, and the jury fails to reach a verdict on more general conspiracy to murder charges against them. It is unclear whether prosecutors will request another trial for these charges. An eighth man, Donald Stewart-Whyte, is cleared of all charges, and his lawyers call for an inquiry into why he was prosecuted. [BBC, 9/7/2009]
