A British couple said to be of Pakistan-origin were sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, a day after being found guilty of plotting a massive terror attack in london ahead of the 10th anniversary of the July 7 bombings this year.
Mohammed Rehman, who tweeted on whether to target the london Underground network or Westfield shopping centre of the city under the name “Silent Bomber”, will serve a minimum of 27 years in jail before being considered for parole. His wife Sana Ahmed Khan, who plotted to become Britain’s first woman suicide bomber, will serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.
The Old Bailey court in london heard how the couple, believed to be of Pakistani origin, married in a secret ceremony because her parents did not approve of the drug- taking divorcee Rehman who also had a wife from a previous arranged marriage in Pakistan.
With money from Khan, the 25-year-old stockpiled chemicals needed to make a huge bomb at his family home in Reading, about an hour west of london, and even filmed himself setting off a small explosion in his back garden.
Susan Hemming, head of the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service counter-terrorism, said, “The intention to carry out some form of terrorism attack was clear from the statements made in Rehman’s tweets. It was these tweets that led to his and his wife’s arrest.