Doctor denies role in bomb campaign

4:43pm Friday 21st November 2008

A high-flying NHS doctor denied conspiring to kill hundreds of people in a terrorist car bombing campaign.

Mohammed Asha, 28, said he loved England, the health service and was totally committed to his medical training.

Speaking in his defence for the first time at Woolwich Crown Court, Asha said nothing would make him jeopardise his wife and young son. The court heard the neurologist describe his background in Jordan, family life, his love of poetry and his top flight education.

As he took the witness stand, Asha's barrister Stephen Kamlish QC asked him: "Are you one of the conspirators in this plot?" Asha, who has sat in the dock throughout the six week trial silently taking notes, replied loudly: "No."

Later, Mr Kamlish added: "The Crown would have us believe you are a terrorist who would throw it all away."

Asha replied: "I would never jeopardise my family or my wife for anything in the world."

Before he spoke out, Mr Kamlish warned the jury his client would "fight for his life" in the witness box.

He said: "This is the man you are trying, he is a pacifist, he is a decent man and he is a man dedicated in an extreme way. There is the irony, Bilal Abdulla, an extremist, describes Mohammed Asha's dedication to medicine as extreme, and that is why he is not guilty."

Asha and Abdulla are on trial accused of conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions. They deny the offences.

The men were behind car bomb attacks on London's West End and a suicide attack on Glasgow Airport, the court has heard.