Bomb Suspect Lodges Extradition Appeal

Lawyers for suspected would-be suicide bomber Hussein Osman today challenged his extradition to Britain.

His lawyer, Antonietta Sonnessa, lodged appeal papers today with the court of cassation, Italy's supreme court, which will make a ruling within 15 days.

Italy's court of appeal ruled last week that the 27-year-old, who is alleged to have tried to bomb a tube train at Shepherd's Bush, west London, on July 21, could be sent back to the UK.

Ms Sonnessa argued at the time that the public mood in Britain following the bombings would make it impossible for him to get a fair trial.

The three-judge appeal panel granted a request by Italian prosecutors to delay the transfer for 35 days, as they continue their own investigations into his alleged terror links.

Mr Osman, born Hamdi Issac in Ethiopia, was arrested in his brother's flat in Rome eight days after the alleged attempted bombings on three Tube trains and a bus on July 21.

He is believed to have assumed the identity of a Somalian refugee in Britain, and to have slipped out of the country on Eurostar five days after the attacks, using his out-of-date Ethiopian passport.

In interviews with Italian investigators and Scotland Yard officers who flew to Italy to talk to him, Mr Osman has admitted being at Shepherd's Bush tube station and taking part in the attacks. But he says he did not intend to kill anyone, only to scare, and denies being part of a wider terrorist cell.

Three other alleged would-be suicide bombers have been charged in the UK over the failed bombings.

Muktar Said-Ibrahim, 27, of Stoke Newington, north London, Ramzi Mohamed, 23, of North Kensington, west London, and Yassin Hassan Omar, 24, of New Southgate, north London, appeared before Bow Street magistrates court at Belmarsh, south-east London, two weeks ago.

They are charged with conspiracy to murder, and making or possessing an explosive with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury on July 21.

Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, of Finsbury Park, north London, was also charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

They have been remanded in custody until their next court appearance before a judge at the Old Bailey on November 14.

The July 21 incidents came exactly two weeks after four suicide bombers killed 52 people in four bombings on public transport in London.