Suspect married four days before failed London bombs

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) One of six Muslim men accused of planning suicide attacks in London on July 21, 2005 got married with unusual haste just four days earlier, an imam told his trial today.

The imam, Sayed Bukhari, said Yassin Hassin Omar came to him on July 17 and said he wanted to get married that afternoon.

Bukhari said he carried out the request even though it was unusual. ''It happens, but it's not that frequent,'' he told the London court.

Appearing as a witness, Bukhari also described how an agitated Omar had once accosted him after he delivered a sermon condemning Palestinian suicide bombings as a violation of Islamic law.

''He shouted at me: 'Don't mislead the people','' Bukhari said, adding Omar had later apologised for the outburst.

He was giving evidence as the prosecution attempted to build up its case that the six defendants were engaged in an ''extremist Muslim plot'' to bomb London in July 2005, exactly two weeks after four young British Islamists killed 52 people in suicide attacks on underground trains and a bus.

Prosecutors say the alleged plot was not a hastily assembled ''copycat'' attempt to replicate the carnage of the first attacks on July 7 -- as many people suspected at the time -- but a conspiracy dating back at least several months.

RADICAL PREACHER In earlier evidence, Steven Bentley, a friend of Omar and co-defendant Adel Yahya, described them as regular worshippers at London's Finsbury Park mosque and followers of radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was jailed last year for inciting murder of Jews and non-believers.

Bentley, 26, said the pair began to take a strong interest in religion from the age of about 18. Omar had taken to wearing traditional Muslim robes and headgear, and had spoken approvingly of the purist Afghan Islamic militia, the Taliban.

A police witness told the court that a third defendant, Muktah Said Ibrahim, raised suspicions when flying from London's Heathrow airport to Pakistan in December 2004.

Detective constable Louis Chryssathis said that when Ibrahim was stopped at Heathrow with two friends, he said he was going to Pakistan to attend the wedding of one of them. But he did not know the name of the bride nor how the betrothal had come about.

Chryssathis said that when asked about religion, Ibrahim ''stated he was a Muslim by birth but not a regular worshipper.

He stated he was not able to worship as often as he would like.

He said he didn't have enough time.'' Chryssathis also said Ibrahim had shown a ''sensitive streak'' about Muslims being stopped and questioned for security reasons.

Two other police witnesses confirmed earlier evidence to the court that five of the defendants were under police surveillance 14 months before the alleged bombing attempts.

Mark Stevens and Philip Marshall said the men were observed and photographed for about four hours at a camp site in northern England's scenic Lake District in May 2004.

The jury was shown pictures of five of the suspects at the camp: Ibrahim, Omar, Yahya, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussein Osman.

The court has not been told why they were under police surveillance at that time.

Together with a sixth man, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, they all deny the charges of conspiracy to murder.

REUTERS AB RAI2349