Iraqi Doc Absolved of Brit Terror Plot Links, Can Return to NHS

After being acquitted of all links to the failed 2007 London and Glasgow car bomb attacks, alleged mastermind and neurosurgeon Mohammed Asha has been granted bail and can return to work for the NHS, a tribunal has said.

The 28-year-old was cleared of terrorism charges brought against him last month. The Special Immigration Appeal Commission in London granted him bail on Friday.

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Dr Asha, 28, admitted to being friends with both of the bombers and meeting them at key points in the build up to the plot, but said he only realised they were involved after the attack on the Glasgow Airport, The Telegraph reported.

He was cleared of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions at the end of a trial last month, but has been held in custody pending a move to deport him to his native Jordan.

A hearing of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission decided he was not a threat to national security and released him on bail after hearing secret information behind closed doors.

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The panel decided that he did not need to be electronically tagged and ordered only that he should report to a police station in Birmingham once a week and that an unspecified sureity should be paid, The Telegraph reported.

Justice Mitting said: "I do not impose any of the conditions customary. We express the view that it is not in the public interest that Dr Asha should be prevented by immigration considerations from resuming work in the National Health Service."

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No date was set for Dr Asha’s deportation hearing, but it is not likely to be before October, the tribunal said.

Earlier a colleague had told the hearing in central London that Dr Asha, who was working as a neurologist in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs when he was arrested, had the potential to be one of the country’s leading neurosurgeons.

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Dr Mark Jeffries said: "I think that Mohammed is one of the most decent and disciplined people I know. He is a man of integrity.

"He has fantastic dedication to his career and patients obviously remember him. He is without doubt one of the brightest doctors I have ever met and could go on to be one of the top neurosurgeons in the country," the paper quoted Dr Jeffries, as saying.

Source-ANI
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