U.K.: 'Airliner plot' suspects in court

LONDON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Eleven people appeared in a London court Tuesday on charges related to an alleged plot to blow up airliners en route from Britain to the United States.

Eight men have been charged with conspiracy to murder and preparing acts of terrorism. They are Ahmed Abdullah Ali, 25, Tanvir Hussain, 25, Arafat Waheed Khan, 25, Adam Khatib, 19, Ibrahim Savant, 25, Waheed Zaman, 22, all from east London, and Umar Islam, 28, anjd Assad Ali Sarwar, 26, both from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Another man, Mehran Hussain, and Cossar Ali -- a 23-year old mother of an eight-month-old baby from east London -- face charges for failing to disclose information. A 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons is accused of possessing articles useful in the preparation of acts of terrorism.

All eleven were remanded in custody until they appear at the Old Bailey on Sept. 4.

Police are continuing to question a further eleven people in connection with the alleged plot.

The hearing comes amid controversy over the unusual amount of information about the case made public by police.

At a central London press conference Monday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, who is the head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch, described in considerable detail the evidence gathered in the investigation. He said police had discovered bomb-making equipment, martyrdom videos, over 400 computers, 200 cellphones and 8,000 items of removable storage media such as memory sticks, CDs and DVDs. Surveillance material gathered included "highly significant" video and audio recordings, he added.

Legal experts expressed concern that the amount of information released could prejudice a trial. However the Office of the Attorney-General denied that any government agencies had violated legal procedure in the handling of the case.