Failed London Bombers: Hey, We Were Just Kidding

Zany prankster was just sending political message

It was all an elaborate hoax designed to send a political statement.

Yeah, that's it.

Four men jailed for life for trying to bomb London's transport system in 2005 have launched an appeal, saying their bomb plot was a hoax designed to send a political statement about the war in Iraq.

The four were convicted last year of a plan to replicate the London suicide bombings of July 7, which had killed 52 commuters just two weeks earlier.

They are serving at least 40 years in jail for trying to detonate hydrogen peroxide-based bombs on three underground trains and at a bus station.

Although the detonators on their makeshift bombs fired, the main charges failed to explode and no one was killed.

Muktah Said Ibrahim, Yassin Hassan Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman were found guilty of conspiracy to murder after a trial lasting almost six months. They are appealing against their conviction.

Well, that's certainly taking the clever hoax to extremes, no?

George Carter-Stephenson, for Ibrahim, told the court the failed bombings were designed to send a political message.

"The applicant's case is that the events of July 21 were an elaborate hoax designed to protest against and draw attention to Britain's role in the attack on Iraq," he said.

"The devices were made to look realistic but included flaws to ensure the main charge would not detonate."

Nothing like a zany hoax two weeks after the 7/7 bombings killed more than 52 people.

Those wacky Islamists.

Ace notes this is similar to the satire defense so often deployed by the left.