Accused heard Abu Hamza sermons

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An alleged 21 July bomb plotter has told a court he listened to sermons by radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.

Ramzi Mohammed, 25, said he saw Abu Hamza preach outside north London's Finsbury Park Mosque five or six times.

Woolwich Crown Court was shown photos allegedly showing Mr Mohammed at the sermons in January and August 2004.

He is one of six men who deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions on London's public transport network.

Asked what part he played in the Abu Hamza sermons, Mr Mohammed replied: "I did go there but I didn't have any role there. I go there for my own interest."

'Surprised and scared'

Mr Mohammed denies setting out to kill in July 2005 - and earlier told the court the plan had been to set off a harmless hoax device to highlight the "illegal" Iraq war.

He said he had been "surprised and scared" when his rucksack device exploded on a Northern line train and had not expected people to react in the way they did.

I'm not a fanatic. Fanatics don't go to paradise, they go to hell fire Ramzi Mohammed

"The noise happened so quickly," he said. "All of a sudden I felt my bag light...the (mixture) was on the floor. I never anticipated how I was going to feel."

When asked if he had pointed his rucksack at anyone "as if it were a weapon", he said: "No, no, I never did that."

Mr Mohammed went on to tell the court that when he heard about the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes on July 22, he believed it was co-defendant Hussain Osman who had been killed, because he lived near Stockwell Tube station.

He said he and another co-accused, Muktar Said Ibrahim, who was staying with him, thought they were going to die.

"They killed an innocent man; imagine if they knew it's us that did that," he said. "Both of us got frightened for our lives."

Family note

Mr Mohammed was later questioned about the contents of a note which referred to "paradise", which he says he wrote to his family in case he did get shot.

The prosecution team claims it was a suicide note and that he wrote it before 21 July.

When asked if he believed that killing himself in a suicide bombing would win him "a place in paradise", Mr Mohammed said: "Totally wrong, I'm not a fanatic. Fanatics don't go to paradise, they go to hell fire."

In the dock are Mr Mohammed, of North Kensington, west London; Mr Osman, 28, of no fixed address; Mr Ibrahim, 29, from Stoke Newington, north London; Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London; and Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, of no fixed address.

The trial was adjourned until Wednesday.