Sajid Badat

Sajid Badat

Badat - Artists Impression

Sajid Badat

Badat - Passport Photo

Sajid Muhammad Badat is 26 years old. He was born in Gloucester maternity hospital on March 28 1979, the first son of Muhammad and Zubeidah Badat. His parents had emigrated to Britain from Malawi, as part of the wave of Asian migrants who left East Africa for Britain in the 1970s.

On 27 November 2003, Badat was arrested as part of a joint anti-terrorism operation between the Metropolitan and Gloucestershire police forces. He was questioned at the high-security Paddington Green police station in west London.

His parents were in a police safe house along with their other son and two daughters after their home on St. James Street was sealed off, and more than 100 homes evacuated.

On 4 December, Badat appeared at Bow Street magistrates court in London, facing three charges related to having explosives with intent to endanger life. All three charges against him were brought under the 1883 Explosive Substances Act, which was amended by the Terrorism Act in 2000. He was remanded in custody.

Badat made several appearances in court between 2003 – 2004. However, on 28 February 2005, Badat pleaded guilty to conspiring to place a device on an aircraft in service.

Sajid Badat was a bright boy who did well at St. James’s Primary School and went on to the city’s Crypt Grammar School where he gained four A-Levels and 10 GCSEs.

While he was growing up, his Muslim faith was always central to his life. He was well known at the Masjid-e-Noor mosque in Ryecroft Street in Gloucester.

After Badat left school, he enrolled at a London University, and continued his religious studies at the same time. However, in 1998, he suddenly quit his degree course and began a three-year world tour, visiting India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Intelligence sources believe it was there that he learnt the basics of explosives at a camp in Khalden before graduating to Daruntag camp to prepare for his suicide mission.

Badat next returned to Europe via Saudi Arabia. On the day of the September 11 attacks, he was at the British embassy in Brussels claiming to have lost his passport and receiving a replacement - without the incriminating stamps from Afghanistan.

At the Old Bailey, the court heard he had received training both in Afghanistan and Pakistan and had been given an explosive device designed to evade airport security and destroy an aircraft in flight.

He had returned to Britain on December 10 2001 with the device in his possession. However, Badat sent an e-mail on 14 December, 2001, four days after his return, "indicating he might withdraw".

Although he had booked a ticket to fly from Manchester to Amsterdam, Badat backed out of the scheme, missing his flight, and dismantling the bomb, which was kept in his home for two years until his arrest.

Badat went on to study at the College of Islamic Knowledge and Guidance in Blackburn, Lancashire. He enrolled on a five-year course but left in the summer of 2003 on his own accord, returning to Gloucester to live with his parents in their terraced house in St James Street.

Forensic tests found the detonation cord on Badat’s device was an exact match for the one carried by Rihard Reid – who was sentenced to life in prison in January 2003 after being found guilty of trying to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in his shoes. Intelligence sources believe that, like Reid, Badat had collected the cord and explosive at a terror training camp in Afghanistan

Asam Hassanjee, a Halal butcher who counts Mrs Badat among his valued customers, said Badat's reversal was genuine - proof that he had not only learnt the Qu'ran by heart but had also taken its message to heart - and urged the judge show him leniency.

'There was no lose of life or limb or property," said Mr Bhaima, echoing widespread feeling in the community. " His strongest belief was that killing is unlawful."

Badat was due to be sentenced on 17 March 2005; however, the hearing was adjourned with no new date set.

Badat is also wanted in the US on seven counts of terrorism. If convicted in the US he could face life and Washington has said it has a "keen interest" in Badat's extradition. The indictment, which was made public in the US in October 2004, could not be reported in Britain because of reporting restrictions on Badat's trial. Those were lifted after he pleaded guilty.