Author: Sean O'Neill
Publication: The Times
Date: November 8, 2006
URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,29389-2442918.html
Introduction: "You've devoted most of
your adult life to seeking means to bring death and destruction to the Western
world"
Judge says he doubts if a determined and dedicated
al-Qaeda terrorist can ever be released
The most significant al-Qaeda terrorist to be captured in Britain was sentenced
to life imprisonment yesterday and ordered to serve a minimum of 40 years.
Dhiren Barot, 34, a Hindu convert to Islam,
admitted planning terrorist bomb outrages that could have caused "carnage,
bloodshed and butchery" on both sides of the Atlantic.
Passing sentence at Woolwich Crown Court, Mr Justice Butterfield told Barot
that he was a "determined and dedicated terrorist, a highly intelligent
and very dangerous man".
The judge said that Barot had begun his "intensive
training in the black arts of terrorism" in 1995. He said: "You
have devoted most of your adult life to seeking means to bring death and destruction
to the Western world. For reasons which I do not begin to understand you decided
that you should use the life that you have been given in order to end the
lives of others."
Barot, the judge continued, would pose a threat
to the public for many years: "I cannot know if it would ever be safe
to release you."
Barot stared impassively at the judge as he
spoke. Then, on hearing the 40-year tariff, he gathered up his papers and
walked from the dock, casting an angry backward glance at the Bench.
His conviction and long sentence are regarded
as a legal landmark by agencies engaged in the fight against Islamist terrorism.
Barot, a Briton from a middle-class background,
became one of Osama bin Laden's most experienced and elusive operatives. He
embraced holy war against the West long before 9/11 or the invasions of Afghanistan
or Iraq, writing a book in 1999 in which he advocated "worldwide jihad"
to bring nations "to their knees".
"Terror works," he told his readers.
"That is why the believers are commanded to enforce it by Allah."
The book, The Army of Madinah in Kashmir by Esa al-Hindi, is still on sale
today. Under another alias, Esa al-Britani, Barot featured in the official
report of the 9/11 Commission. It said that he had been sent by bin Laden
and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the atrocities, "to the
United States to case potential economic and 'Jewish' targets in New York
City".
Barot travelled extensively carrying out reconnaissance
missions and setting up "sleeper cells" for al-Qaeda which, despite
claims to the contrary, were clearly intact and operational in Pakistan.
His existence was known to security agencies
around the world but they did not know his true identity until the summer
of 2004.
An intelligence warning in June put Scotland
Yard and MI5 on his tail. The discovery of his bombing plans in a police raid
in Pakistan convinced the British authorities that they had to arrest him
before he could strike.
Barot, always conscious of his neat appearance,
was apprehended at gunpoint as he waited in line for a haircut at the Golden
Touch barber's shop in Willesden, northwest London, on August 3, 2004.
There then followed a desperate race against
time to find the concrete evidence, much of it hidden in encrypted computer
files, to charge Barot.
As a direct result of the case police campaigned
for a change in the law to allow them to hold terrorist suspects for longer
than 14 days before charge.
The complexity of the case also convinced
police and security services of the need to expand and improve high-tech investigative
capabilities. During the case, 300 computers were seized and examined and
1,800 items of data storage equipment were checked.
Peter Clarke, Deputy Assistant Commissioner and head of the Metroplitan Police's
counter-terrorist command, said that Barot had been "a formidable opponent"
who may have been weeks away from an attack. "We think that he had received
permission to carry out the attack during a visit to Pakistan early in 2004,"
Mr Clarke said. "Our best estimate is that the autumn of 2004 is when
he was planning to carry out his attacks."
Barot, who refused to answer questions during 19 police interviews, pleaded
guilty last month only weeks before he was to stand trial on a 23-count indictment.
It is believed that he admitted his guilt in Britain because he feared extradition
to the US.
The single charge of conspiracy to murder
that Barot admitted encompassed a series of terrorist plots. He had prepared
detailed reports for attacks in the US, which included the World Bank and
the New York Stock Exchange.
In London he conducted meticulous research
into making a radioactive dirty bomb, blowing up buildings with limousines
packed with gas and bombing trains.
The judge said: "I am satisfied that
unless you were stopped it was only a matter of time before the grim reality
of your plans took effect.
"In this country, thousands and thousands
of ordinary, decent, law-abiding Muslims, British citizens just like you,
have to live their lives under a cloud of mistrust and suspicion because of
the activities of you and your cohorts.
"This was no noble cause. Your plans
were to cause indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery first in Washington,
New York and Newark, then in the United Kingdom."
The proposals for the attacks were "set
out like business plans going to head office" for the consideration and
approval of his "al-Qaeda overlords".
Seven other men accused of taking part in
the conspiracy are to stand trial in April. They deny the allegations.
