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Scramble to find secrets of plane bomb plot

Officials investigate British link to Nigerian's plan to destroy US airliner Investigators on both sides of the Atlantic were last night urgently investigating the background of the would-be plane bomber, as international attention turned to al-Qaida's stronghold in Yemen. Scotland Yard and MI5 want to establish how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was radicalised and by whom, and whether he had accomplices in the UK or the Arabian peninsula. He has told US officials that he met al-Qaida operatives in Yemen who gave him the device which almost brought down Northwest Airlines flight 253 to Detroit and taught him how to use it. Yesterday it emerged that after attending university in London, the 23-year-old had dropped out of a postgraduate business course in Dubai, telling his family he had gone to Yemen to study Islam. He then cut off contact with them. Repercussions from the failed Christmas Day plot continued yesterday, with Barack Obama ordering a review of US security as politicians demanded to know how the British-educated Nigerian was able to get on the plane after his father, a wealthy banker, had been concerned enough to warn US diplomats that his son might be a security risk. Obama's spokesman said he was seeking answers to why Abdulmutallab was placed on the least urgent of three US watchlists of possible terrorism suspects, rather than a higher category which would have prevented him flying. Robert Gibbs told ABC News: "The president has asked that a review be undertaken to ensure that any information gets to where it needs to go, to the people making the decisions. The president wants to review some of these procedures and see if they need to be updated." Passengers on transatlantic flights faced delays of several hours at the weekend as extra security checks were rushed through, with people heading for the US being frisked and having hand luggage searched. Some reported having Christmas presents unwrapped. The heightened state of security was underlined last night when the crew of another Amsterdam to Detroit flight, with the same flight number, reported an emergency incident after an "unruly" Nigerian man raised concerns by spending an unusually long time in the plane's bathroom. He was detained by the FBI after the plane landed, but turned out to have a "legitimate illness," officials from the department of homeland security said. Some new details about Abdulmutallab became clear yesterday. ? Whitehall officials confirmed that in May they had turned down his application to return to the UK to study, although this was because his chosen college was considered a bogus institution, rather than due to fears that he might be a terrorist. ? They said he did not come to MI5's attention during his three years studying engineering at University College London, though police were continuing yesterday to search his luxury apartment in a central London mansion block. ? Abdulmutallab's father, a former government minister who recently retired as chairman of the First Bank group in Nigeria, was yesterday still speaking to investigators. He had been so concerned at his son's views that several months ago he reported his fears to the Nigerian security services and the US embassy. ? Al-Qaida activists in Yemen referred in a video recorded on 21 December to "a bomb to hit the enemies of God". It was not known if this was a general warning, or indicated a clear Yemeni link. Abdulmutalab, who has been charged with trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines plane, was transferred to a federal prison near Detroit, his lawyer said. In the US, Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate's homeland security committee, said he believed that the fact Abdulmutallab was even allowed to board a flight from Lagos to the US, via Amsterdam, amounted to an intelligence failure. "I am troubled by several aspects of this case, including how the suspect escaped the attention of the state department and law enforcers when his father apparently reported concerns about his son's extremist behaviour to the US embassy in Nigeria, how the suspect managed to retain a US visa after such complaints, and why he was not recognised as someone who reportedly was named in the terrorist database," he said. The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said: "How does a person on a terrorism watchlist get a US visa? It's amazing to me that an individual like this, who's sending out so many signals, could end up getting on a plane going to the US." The homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, said that while Abdulmutallab was on a general watchlist, there had not been sufficient information to move him to a much shorter list of those barred from flying. "The issue [is], was there enough information to move him to the more specific list which would require additional examination, or indeed being on no-fly status?" she said. "You need information that is specific and credible if you're going to bar someone from air travel. He was on a general list of over half a million people, but there was not the kind of credible information that would move him up that list. Now one of the things we'll be doing is looking at those watchlist procedures." Napolitano said there was no indication that Abdulmutallab was "part of anything larger" in terms of impending attacks. More details emerged yesterday about the apparent radicalisation of a young man born into privilege in the Muslim-dominated north of Nigeria. He attended an elite British-curriculum boarding school in the capital of Togo, Lomé. A former teacher of his recalled the then-teenager expressing sympathy for the Taliban after the September 11 attacks in 2001. However, a friend from that time, James Ticknell, told the Guardian that, while Abdulmutallab had been a devout Muslim, he was not in the least militant. "He was very decent and gentle, in fact a pacifist. His views on religion were very mainstream. When I realised the man on the plane was him, I felt disbelief." Nigeria's civil aviation authority said last night that he bought his round-trip ticket from Lagos to Detroit via Amsterdam at a KLM office in Ghana's capital, Accra, on 16 December, with a planned return of 8 January. He paid the £1,775 fare in cash. Before the flight departed on Thursday, he checked in as normal, taking only a carry-on bag. Security at Lagos had been found adequate by US authorities. Under EU rules, Abdulmutallab would have been checked again as a transfer passenger at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. Dutch officials say these checks took place and were "well performed". Aviation security experts said that scanners designed to pick up explosives rather than metal exist, but are not in widespread use. The transport secretary, Lord Adonis, said last night that he wanted to thank air passengers for their patience. "I am sure they will understand the extra precautions are being taken for their own protection," he added. Abdulmutallab is being treated in hospital for serious burns to his leg. He is due to make his first formal court appearance in Michigan this afternoon local time. Global terrorismAir transportUnited StatesNigeriaYemenAl-QaidaTalibanBarack ObamaUK security and terrorismPeter WalkerChris McGreal guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Nine dead in fresh Iran protests

? Security forces open fire on protesters in Tehran ? Mir Hossein Mousavi's nephew Ali Mousavi killed Iran was plunged deeper into crisis on a day of religious mourning yesterday as political tensions erupted into violence that left at least nine dead, including a nephew of the main opposition leader. Mayhem unfolded in Tehran after a brutal crackdown in which security forces fired on protesters gathered on Ashura, one of the holiest days in the Shia calendar. The shootings killed at least four people, with another said to have died from head injuries after being beaten by police. Among the dead was Ali Mousavi, a nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi, leader of the reformist movement. He was reported to have been shot through the heart. Demonstrators ? many chanting slogans against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ? retaliated by attacking members of the security forces, in some cases beating them with their own batons. Police cars were set on fire and photographs appeared to show riot officers retreating under a hail of stones. A further four people were killed and many others injured in the northern city of Tabriz, according to reformist websites. Clashes were also reported in several other cities, including Isfahan, Shiraz, Arak, Mashhad, Babol and Najafabad. The accounts could not be confirmed because of restrictions on the foreign media in Iran. The state broadcaster Irib quoted a senior police official as saying 300 people had been arrested. Last night opposition websites reported that clashes were continuing in central Tehran. It was Iran's worst outbreak of violence since last June's disputed election, which the opposition claims President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole through mass fraud. But yesterday's events differed from previous clashes in a way that seemed to herald further turmoil to come. Last night an opposition leader and cleric, Mehdi Karoubi, criticised the country's rulers over the deaths. "What has happened to this religious system that it orders the killing of innocent people during the holy day of Ashura?", Karoubi, who came fourth in the election, said in a statement, the Jaras website reported. By using lethal force on a day meant to honour one of Shia Islam's holiest figures, Imam Hossein ? seen as a martyr in the fight against oppression ? the regime may have undermined its claim to uphold Iran's religious traditions. The violent response of the protesters to the security forces was also unprecedented and suggested that many are becoming fearless in the face of state repression. While many demonstrators in the post-election protests covered their faces, footage from videos shown yesterday on YouTube showed most people with their faces exposed. IranProtestRobert Tait guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Briton to get day's notice of execution

Two cousins of Londoner Akmal Shaikh due to arrive in Urumqi to make final plea for clemency A British man condemned to die in China on Tuesday morning may not be told the time of his execution until 24 hours beforehand, campaigners claimed today. Two cousins of Akmal Shaikh were due to arrive in Urumqi, north-west China, today to make a final plea to the authorities for clemency towards the former minicab operator from north London. Gordon Brown and the foreign secretary, David Miliband, are among those who have made more than 10 formal British appeals to China not to execute Shaikh, who campaigners say has severe mental illness. Failure to prevent the execution may have a significant impact on relations with China. It was not clear whether Shaikh faced death by bullet to the head or by lethal injection. The Chinese have said knowledge of his execution is being withheld from the prisoner on "humanitarian grounds", according to the human rights campaign group Reprieve. Clive Stafford-Smith, director of Reprieve, said: "The timing of Akmal's notice of his own execution raises obvious concerns. We hope that the Chinese authorities have kept him in the dark that his execution is only hours away because they are intending to show clemency. Only then would it be truly humanitarian for him to be the only person in the world not allowed to know. "I have been in constant contact with Akmal's family, and they are simply praying for a reprieve, fearing for the health of his mother, who is very frail." Efforts to save the life of Shaikh, 53, have mounted over the last few days after last week's decision by the Chinese supreme court to reject his appeal. His brother Akbar and daughter Leilla have both begged for him to be spared, and his first cousins Soohail and Nasir Shaikh hope to see him tomorrow and deliver a petition to the court in Urumqi. The petition says: "We plead for his life, asking that a full mental health evaluation be conducted to assess the impact of his mental illness, and that recognition be made that he is not as culpable as those who might, under Chinese law, be eligible for the death penalty." Shaikh's family and campaigners say he showed signs of mental illness before he moved to Poland several years ago and his mental condition, most likely bipolar disorder, deteriorated. He had been duped into carrying drugs by a gang who exploited his delusions that he was going to China to be a pop star, they say. Reprieve has located a recording of a song Shaikh wrote in English, Polish and Arabic and says it helps illustrate his long history of strange behaviour. Urumqi is capital of the far western region of Xinjiang, where 22 people have so far been sentenced to death ? with at least nine executions already carried out ? over ethnic rioting earlier this year. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We have made representations at the highest possible levels. The prime minister wrote to the Chinese government on 21 December and the foreign secretary has also written. We have made our position to the Chinese authorities quite clear. The prime minister, ministers and other officials have been and remain closely engaged." A spokesman for the British embassy in Beijing said: "We deeply regret that mental health concerns had no bearing on the final judgment despite requests by Mr Shaikh's lawyers and repeated calls by the prime minister, ministers, members of the opposition as well as the European Union. "This is obviously distressing for the family. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. We continue to provide them with support." ChinaCapital punishmentForeign policyJames MeikleJonathan Watts guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Straw to review Britain's libel laws

Ministry of Justice says wide-ranging review will look at the issue of libel tourism, and whether British courts are being exploited The lord chancellor, Jack Straw, is to order a comprehensive review of Britain's much-criticised libel laws, the Ministry of Justice revealed today. Straw has previously promised to act against libel tourism, fearing Britain's restrictive libel laws are being exploited by plaintiffs with few real links to the UK. But the justice ministry said the review, to be conducted by academics, lawyers and newspaper editors, will go much further. The formal terms of reference will be to "consider whether the law of libel, including the law relating to libel tourism, in England and Wales needs reform, and if so to make recommendations as to solutions". The review will look at whether a specialist libel tribunal should be established to resolve defamation cases out of court. The issue of whether academics and scientists can defend their remarks on the basis of fair comment or in the public interest will also be examined. The wide terms of reference will also allow the working party to look into whether the burden of proof should be shifted from defendant to plaintiff, as is the case in countries such as the US. Other issues for examination include whether large and medium-sized corporations would have to prove malicious falsehood for a libel claim to succeed. It may also look at the implications of the internet for libel.The only issue that will be excluded are the costs of defamation proceedings because they are already the subject of a separate justice ministry consultation led by the court of appeal judge Lord Justice Jackson. Despite the scale of the review, Straw said he hopes the working party will report by mid-March in time for any reforms to be implemented before the general election. It is not clear whether large-scale reforms could be implemented by secondary legislation, as Straw suggested at the weekend. Straw has referred to his plan for a working party previously, but his latest remarks suggests he is willing to go further and faster than previously thought. The timescale suggests Straw is determined to leave office with a reputation as a reforming secretary of state. Straw is likely to set out the details of the working party formally after a report on privacy and press freedom from the Commons culture committee due next month. The working party will also address issues raised in a joint report prepared in November by Index on Censorship and English PEN, a charity that supports persecuted writers. John Kampfner, chief executive of Index, warned at the time that if the government did not reform the laws "we're at risk of becoming a global pariah". The new panel will also look at considering the case for capping the level of damages that courts can award. The Index/PEN joint report recommended a libel damages cap of £10,000. The inquiry originally looked as if it would be confined to the important issue of libel tourism, but it seems officials believed it would not be possible to restrict the inquiry in this way. It is likely to recommend that libel cases can only be brought if the overseas litigant has no close connection with England. There have been repeated claims that wealthy businessmen, medical companies and even suspected terrorists have been using the English courts to suppress stories that would have been printed in other countries. The issue has been exercising US newspapers, the culture committee and the UK judiciary. Straw, speaking to the culture committee last spring, did not seem overly concerned by the issue of libel tourism, but since then there has been growing evidence that lawyers are seeking out cases to bring to trial in the UK. The New York Times and the Washington Post have said they may be forced to stop selling copies in the UK because of the risk of being sued. In one case, a wealthy Saudi businessman successfully sued a US academic whose book on funding terrorism sold 23 copies in Britain over the internet. He was awarded £130,000 damages and costs by London courts. In another case, a British consultant cardiologist, Dr Peter Wilmshurst, is being sued by an American company, NMT Medical, for questioning the effectiveness of a new heart implant device. Wilmshurst raised his criticism at an American conference and his comments were posted on a US website for three says, but he is being pursued at the high court because a number of cardiologists read the article in Britain. Jack StrawLawPatrick Wintour guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hamas's rhetoric masks new stance

Palestinian Islamist movement celebrates 22nd birthday amid drop in rocket attacks and prisoner negotiations but vowing never to recognise Israel When Hamas held its annual anniversary celebrations in the centre of Gaza City it looked like a defiant and celebratory show. There was a male choir in camouflage fatigues singing on the stage, a sea of green flags in the crowd and wave after wave of self-congratulatory chanting: "Far and wide, Hamas is shaking the ground." A year after Israel's devastating three-week war in Gaza, the Palestinian Islamist movement which controls the strip is still very much in charge and unbowed. "No one imagined that after such a crucial war against our people and our resistance that anyone could plan such a proud anniversary as this," Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader and former prime minister, told the crowd. His defiant rhetoric celebrated the movement's 22nd year, pledged never to recognise Israel and claimed the whole of historic Palestine for the Palestinians. "Palestine from the sea to the river, we won't surrender it," he told the crowd. But his words barely captured the reality of Gaza today. Israel launched its war a year ago, saying it was compelled to act to halt militant rocket fire from Gaza. After three weeks, 1,387 Palestinians were dead, most of them civilians, according to the Israeli rights group B'Tselem, although Israel disputes those figures. Thirteen Israelis were killed. Thousands more Palestinians were left homeless and hundreds of factories were destroyed. Israel has kept up its economic blockade, which has prevented imports of reconstruction materials. Earlier this month the UN Relief and Works Agency, the main aid agency in Gaza, presented a family with a new home. It was built from mud bricks. For Hamas, the war itself has brought other changes. Despite Haniyeh's constant talk of resistance, the number of rockets fired out of Gaza has fallen dramatically this year. Hamas has announced that nearly all factions have agreed to halt the rockets and one Israeli paper reported this month that rocket fire from Gaza was down 90% compared to last year. Haniyeh himself hinted at this new stance in his anniversary speech. "The resistance is strong and hitting everywhere, but we are more wise and more managed," he said. Mustapha Sawaf, a former editor of a Hamas newspaper, said this was simply a decision made "in the national interest". Others put it differently. "When Hamas entered the Palestinian legislative elections their slogan was a mix of resistance and politics. It has completely failed," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at al-Azhar University in Gaza. "Hamas knows resistance is going to cost them their regime in the Gaza strip." As Hamas has moderated its militancy so it has faced internal challenges from hardliners in Gaza demanding the movement take a tougher stance and institute a more rigidly Islamic code. Hamas has tried to reimpose control, often earning the rebukes of fellow Gazans. Although Hamas will not recognise Israel, it is deep into indirect negotiations over a prisoner swap that would see an Israeli soldier captured three and a half years ago freed in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. At the same time, while Haniyeh said Hamas would never recognise Israel he also repeated a previous call for a Palestinian state in the occupied territories alone. In Israel, meanwhile, there is a sense that the war was their success, but that another round of conflict is inevitable. Yoav Galant, the general in charge of Israel's southern command, noted recently how the rocket fire has dropped off. "I can say that this has been the quietest year for the south in the past decade," he was reported as saying. "It can last for months or years, but ultimately it is going to be broken." For Israeli analysts the diplomatic fallout for Israel that followed the war, including accusations against both sides of war crimes by Judge Richard Goldstone's UN report, is manageable and has not affected Israel's most important international relationship, with the US. Still, many Israelis are frustrated that their military was singled out for criticism, even as civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan are dying at the hands of western armies. Others worry that Israel's strategy towards Gaza is still unclear and undetermined. "What will happen is that we will muddle through as usual," said Shlomo Brom, a retired general and an analyst at the Institute for National Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv. "Eventually it is going to explode. Nobody will do anything, but when there will be a crisis we will deal with the crisis." For those living in Gaza today, the strip is already in crisis as a result of Israel's siege. Hamas has allowed a tunnel smuggling economy under the Egyptian border to develop, skimming a profit off for itself and preventing outright economic collapse. But it has brought de-development: most of the strip's factories are still empty and unused, the population is increasingly aid dependent and there are barely any long-term development projects. Nearly $5bn(£3.13bn) was pledged by the world for the Palestinians after the Gaza war. On the ground here there is little evidence of it. "We are moving backwards. Now we depend completely on what we receive from Egypt," said Amjad Shawa, a Palestinian aid agency co-ordinator. He talks about the hidden traumatic cost of the blockade and the sense of powerlessness many Gazans now feel. At the same time he fears the growing detachment from the West Bank and the disintegration of the Palestinian national movement. "The issue for Gazans is not only humanitarian," he said. "It's not that we need food only. Gazans are looking for their freedom." IsraelHamasPalestinian territoriesUS foreign policyRory McCarthy guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds