Bloomberg : Defendant in plot trial sees threat, quits stand

Defendant in plot trial sees threat, quits stand

By Bloomberg News | September 20, 2006

LONDON -- A British Muslim man accused of plotting to carry out a series of deadly bombings refused to resume testifying at his trial yesterday, a day after saying he feared for his family's safety in Pakistan.

Omar Khyam, 24, returned to court in London and responded in one-word answers to Judge Michael Astill. Khyam, who had testified for two days last week, told the court yesterday that the Pakistani security services had contacted his relatives in Pakistan and that he wouldn't return to the witness box.

``Your final decision is you wish to remain in the dock and not come to the witness box?" Astill asked Khyam, who replied ``yes." Astill also asked Khyam whether he understood the consequences of refusing to testify. Khyam replied ``yes."

Khyam, who testified last week that he had ``mixed feelings" about the Sept. 11 attacks and that he joked about blowing up Parliament, is accused with six other men of plotting to blow up possible sites including the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London and the Bluewater shopping mall in Kent. All seven men have pleaded not guilty.

Yesterday, Khyam told the court his family was his priority.

Inter-Services Intelligence ``in Pakistan have had a word with my family in Pakistan regarding what I've been saying about them," Khyam told the court Monday, according to a transcript of the proceedings. ``I think they are worried I may reveal more about them, so right now the priority for me is the safety of my family there."

Khyam and the other men, ages 19 to 34, have been on trial since March at London's Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey. They are charged with conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life or seriously injure property. The prosecutor alleges the men intended to use ammonium nitrate-laced fertilizer in a series of bombings.

The jury was dismissed after hearing Khyam refuse to take the stand. Astill advised them that Khyam had finished giving evidence, which they should consider in ``due course."

The trial, which also involves US and Canadian terror suspects, will resume tomorrow and is expected to continue for several months.