Trial begins in Glasgow Airport terrorist attack

Two NHS doctors are expected to go on trial on Monday, 6 October, on charges that they plotted the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport last year.

The two physicians, Mohammed Jamil Asha, a Jordanian national and Bilal Abdullah, an Iraqi, stand accused of ramming a blazing Jeep Cherokee, which was loaded with petrol and canisters of gas, into the security barriers in front of the main terminal at Glasgow Airport.

Thousands of air travellers and airport staff were inside the terminal at the time of the attack, which occurred on 30 June 2007.

Although the actual start date for the trial is 6 October, it is anticipated that preliminary legal arguments may take up to a week, before the prosecution begins its case. It is expected that the trial will last 12 weeks or more.

The two doctors, appearing in London at Woolwich Crown Court, have also been accused of planning an attack in London the day before the Glasgow attack. They are charged with leaving two Mercedes loaded with cylinders of gas and nails outside a Haymarket nightclub.

The London bombs failed to detonate.

Abdullah, associated with the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, and Asha, resident in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, stand accused of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause explosions, during the period between 1 January 2006 and 1 July 1 2007.

Both of the accused deny the charges against them.

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