May 23, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1429

LONDON, May 22: Waheed Ali, who has confessed to having been trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight British troops, has denied any involvement in the July 7, 2005, bomb attacks in London.

He told the Kingston Crown court on Wednesday he was not stupid enough to be part of the terrorist plot and then stay back in the UK. Mr Ali and two others deny scouting for targets in London in December 2004.

He told prosecutor Neil Flewitt QC that he stood by his belief that Muslims were under an obligation to help liberate any occupied Muslim land. He said this included, if necessary, fighting against British and US forces in Afghanistan because they had overthrown the country’s “Islamic regime” in 2001.

Mr Flewitt accused Mr Ali, a close friend of bomber Shehzad Tanweer, of sharing the ideology of killing innocent people. But Mr Ali said he followed the examples set out in the holy Quran, which put limits on what could be considered legitimate acts of warfare.

He disagreed with the views of his friends, he said. “If I agreed with them, I would have been there on 7/7 with the brothers, with a rucksack on my back. If I agreed I would have killed hundreds,” he said angrily.

Mr Ali denounced the prosecution, saying nobody would scout for targets using their own mobile phones and cars. In his area of Leeds he could easily obtain stolen cars and be untraceable, he said.