Men jailed for planning to visit terror camp

Two men who planned to attend a training camp for terrorists have been jailed for seven years each. Waheed Ali, 25, Mohammed Shakil, 32, and Sadeer Saleem, 28, were cleared at Kingston Crown Court of helping the July 7 bombers to select their targets. But Ali and Shakil were found guilty of conspiracy to attend a training camp for terrorists after they were arrested before boarding a flight for Pakistan in 2007. Both Ali and Shakil had admitted attending terrorist training camps in the past, before it had been made an offence.

Ali, Shakil, and Mr Saleem, all of Beeston, Leeds, were accused of visiting London to identify potential targets seven months before the atrocity. Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain and Germaine Lindsay detonated rucksack devices packed with explosives on three Tube trains and a bus.

The trial heard that the three defendants travelled from Leeds to London on December 16 2004 with Hussain, who went on to detonate his bomb on the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square, claiming 13 lives. They also met Lindsay, who killed 26 people on a Piccadilly Line underground train. The three defendants admitted making the visit but claimed it was an entirely innocent social outing.