A neurologist accused of plotting car-bomb attacks in London and Glasgow was described in court yesterday as "a pacifist, a decent man".
A neurologist accused of plotting car-bomb attacks in London and Glasgow was described in court yesterday as "a pacifist, a decent man".
Dr Mohammad Asha, 28, also declared from the dock that he would not jeopardise his family for terrorism.
Dr Asha is said to have been part of terrorist cell and offered "spiritual and practical guidance" to co-defendant Dr Bilal Abdulla, 29, and a third man, 28-year-old Kafeel Ahmed.
But the doctor, who was hoping to become a neurosurgeon, said he was more interested in poetry and his medical career.
Beginning his evidence at Woolwich Crown Court, he said he met his wife, Marwa, at school in Jordan and they married after he graduated from medical school. They have one son, Annas.
His barrister, Stephen Kamlish, QC, said: "The Crown would have us believe you are a terrorist who would throw it all away."
Dr Asha replied: "I would never jeopardise my wife or my family for anything in the world."
The court has heard Dr Abdulla and Ahmed planted car bombs in central London on June 29 last year.
When they failed to detonate, the two men travelled to Scotland and smashed a Jeep Cherokee into the terminal entrance of Glasgow Airport the next day, in an apparent suicide attack, it is claimed.
Dr Abdulla was arrested at the scene, but Ahmed died in hospital from burns he sustained in the Glasgow attack.
All three men are said to have been part of small terrorist cell working in Britain that was seeking revenge for the persecution of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Kamlish asked: "Are you one of the conspirators in this plot?"
"No," replied Dr Asha.
He told the court he moved to England in 2005 after falling in love with the country during a two-month clinical attachment at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge two years earlier.
"I had already a blueprint for my future before coming here, but the experience here - I really touched the greatness of the health system in this country," he said.
"I know people have complaints about the NHS but take it from me, it's a great system. I love the country. I love the way people treat each other here."
He added: "Here respect is the rule and that is something I really picked up on. I made plans that if there was anything in the world I wanted to do, it was to come back to this country and pursue my training."
Dr Asha returned to the UK to sit medical exams in January 2005, and won a short research contract at Addenbrookes, where he met Dr Abdulla for the first time.
He helped Dr Abdulla with his medical exams and the young doctor returned the favour by letting Dr Asha stay in his flat when he struggled for money and accommodation.
It was during this stay that Dr Asha met Ahmed for the first time.
Dr Asha described himself as a "proud Jordanian" who came from an open-minded family with liberal to moderate religious views.
Before his client gave evidence Mr Kamlish said Dr Asha was a "pacifist, a decent man" whose dedication to medicine is "extreme".
"The case against Dr Asha is, we say, pure speculation and not based on hard evidence as the case against Bilal Abdulla. He (Dr Abdulla) was at Glasgow, he did have Neuk Crescent and he made devices and so that is hard evidence. But in the case of Dr Asha it is purely speculative," said the lawyer.
Dr Abdulla has admitted being a terrorist and planting devices in London in order to raise awareness of the Iraq war, but denies he intended to kill.
Dr Asha, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Dr Abdulla, of the Halls of Residence, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life between January 1, 2006 and July 1, 2007.
The trial continues.
