London: Indian doctor Sabeel Ahmed was on Friday sentenced to 18 months in jail by a court in London in connection with the failed car bombing of Glasgow airport in Scotland last June.

The 26-year-old doctor, who hails from Bangalore, had earlier admitted at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London that he withheld information relating to the attack. His brother Kafeel Ahmed, who drove a blazing jeep at the main entrance of Glasgow airport June 30, 2007, later died of his injuries.

However, taking into account the time Sabeel Ahmed had already served in pre-trial detention, he would be voluntarily repatriated to India, the court ruling said. The court heard that Sabeel received a telephone text message alerting him to an e-mail from his brother in which a reference was made to the impending attack.

But Sabeel, who was working as a doctor in Liverpool at the time, only opened his e-mail account after the attack. He did not contact the police. A court commentator said the relative shortness of the sentence, and Sabeel's immediate release on Friday to enable him to return to India, showed that the judges were convinced that the accused did not know about the terror plan in advance.

A day before the Glasgow attack, police in London were able to prevent the car bombing of a packed nightclub that has been linked by prosecutors to the attempted airport bombing. Kafeel died Aug 2 of the severe burns he received during the failed airport attack. Two of his accomplices, Bilal Abdullah, and Mohammed Asha, also doctors, face trial later this year.

 

Source : IANS