Dhiren Barot
Encyclopedia
Dhiren Barot (born December, 1971) is a convicted terrorist from the United Kingdom
.
, into a Hindu
family. His parents moved to the UK from Kenya in 1973 to escape violence and discrimination, when he was only one year old. In the UK, his father, a banker in Kenya, supported his family by working in a factory.
Barot converted to Islam
at age 20 in the UK.
He attended the Kingsbury High School
in north London
. He worked for a living on a regular basis only during 1991 to 1995 as an airline ticket and reservations agent for Air Malta
, in Piccadilly, central London. It is unclear how he supported himself at other times.
Barot travelled to Pakistan in 1995. He took part in militant campaigns against Indian forces in Kashmir
. Using the pseudonym Esa Al Hindi, he wrote a book, The Army of Madinah in Kashmir, in 1999, discussing his experience and describing ways to kill Indian soldiers. The book was commissioned and published by Maktabah al-Ansar, a bookstore co-owned by Moazzam Begg
. In the late 1990s and early 2000, he served as an agent for al-Qaeda
.
Barot is credited with authoring a 39-page memo that advocated the use of simple explosives composed of materials available from local pharmacies and hardware stores. The memo was created for distribution among al-Qaeda operatives and was discovered in 2004 on a laptop in Pakistan
. He reportedly learned the tactics from observations at al-Qaeda training camps.
He arrived in USA in August 2000 on a student visa along with Nadeem Tarmohamed; however, he never attended any college in the USA. It was during this time that Barot began to do extensive reconnaissance of American targets for al-Qaeda. In a Pakistan arrest of Al-Qaeda operatives agents found some 51 compact discs, dating from 2001, of reports and targeting research allegedly compiled by Barot. On April 8, 2001 Barot returned to the UK.(Title 18, United States Code, Section 2332a(a)(2),)}}
Barot admitted to plotting to bomb the New York Stock Exchange
, the International Monetary Fund
headquarters, and the World Bank
, among other targets. In April 2007 it was revealed that he planned to use limousines packed with explosives and radioactive "dirty" bombs for the attacks.
His co-accused conspirators were: Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 24; Abdul Aziz Jalil, 31; Omar Abdul Rehman, 20; Junade Feroze, 28; Zia ul Haq, 25; Qaisar Shaffi, 25; and Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26; all Britons of Pakistan
i origin, most of Mirpuri descent.
Much of the information about Barot's role in the planning of further al-Qaeda attacks came from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
, a prominent al-Qaeda operative captured by the Pakistani ISI
. A witness stated that he attended Camp Hudaybiyah, run by the Jemaah Islamiyah
group, where he was instructed in small arms training, mortars, basic explosives handling, navigation and jungle patrolling.
The prosecution did not dispute claims from the defence that no funding had been received for the projects, nor any vehicles or bomb-making materials acquired. Nevertheless, it was recognised that it was his intention that hundreds, if not thousands of people should die.
In May 2007 his sentence was reduced to 30 years. The Court of Appeal, headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips, said that the 40 year sentence was for a terrorist who planned murder by "viable" means. It was also stated that Barot's plot did not amount to an actual attempt and it was uncertain whether it would have succeeded and what the consequences might have been. The Court of Appeal did note that Barot's "businesslike" plans would have caused carnage on a "colossal and unprecedented scale" if they had been successful.
. For security reasons a news blackout of the incident was imposed while he was receiving treatment. It was later reported that Barot was treated for burns after two attacks. In the first attack boiling water was poured onto his back and a fight ensued, in the second attack another prisoner poured boiling oil over his head. Such attacks are called 'juggings'.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Background
Barot was born in Baroda, IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, into a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
family. His parents moved to the UK from Kenya in 1973 to escape violence and discrimination, when he was only one year old. In the UK, his father, a banker in Kenya, supported his family by working in a factory.
Barot converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
at age 20 in the UK.
He attended the Kingsbury High School
Kingsbury High School
Kingsbury High School is a large High School in Kingsbury, London, England notable for a number of reasons including its national reputation for Mathematics, its many eminent alumni and for the fact that the Upper School site at Princes Avenue, NW9 London, is recognisable to many British adults...
in north London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. He worked for a living on a regular basis only during 1991 to 1995 as an airline ticket and reservations agent for Air Malta
Air Malta
Air Malta plc is the national airline of Malta, headquartered in Luqa. It operates services to 36 destinations in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. The airline's hub and base is at Malta International Airport.- History :...
, in Piccadilly, central London. It is unclear how he supported himself at other times.
Barot travelled to Pakistan in 1995. He took part in militant campaigns against Indian forces in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
. Using the pseudonym Esa Al Hindi, he wrote a book, The Army of Madinah in Kashmir, in 1999, discussing his experience and describing ways to kill Indian soldiers. The book was commissioned and published by Maktabah al-Ansar, a bookstore co-owned by Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
. In the late 1990s and early 2000, he served as an agent for al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
Barot is credited with authoring a 39-page memo that advocated the use of simple explosives composed of materials available from local pharmacies and hardware stores. The memo was created for distribution among al-Qaeda operatives and was discovered in 2004 on a laptop in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. He reportedly learned the tactics from observations at al-Qaeda training camps.
He arrived in USA in August 2000 on a student visa along with Nadeem Tarmohamed; however, he never attended any college in the USA. It was during this time that Barot began to do extensive reconnaissance of American targets for al-Qaeda. In a Pakistan arrest of Al-Qaeda operatives agents found some 51 compact discs, dating from 2001, of reports and targeting research allegedly compiled by Barot. On April 8, 2001 Barot returned to the UK.(Title 18, United States Code, Section 2332a(a)(2),)}}
Arrest
Barot was arrested on August 3, 2004. He was charged by the UK authorities with the following offences:- Conspiracy to commit murder.
- Conspiracy to commit a public nuisance by the use of radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals and or explosives.
- Possessing detailed reconnaissance on the PrudentialPrudential FinancialThe Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...
Building in New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. - Possessing detailed reconnaissance of the International Monetary FundInternational Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
headquarters in Washington, the New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock ExchangeThe New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
and CitigroupCitigroupCitigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...
in New York, and two notebooks with information on explosives.
Barot admitted to plotting to bomb the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
, the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
headquarters, and the World Bank
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that makes leveraged loans, generally to poor countries.The Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements, which emerged from the United Nations Monetary...
, among other targets. In April 2007 it was revealed that he planned to use limousines packed with explosives and radioactive "dirty" bombs for the attacks.
His co-accused conspirators were: Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 24; Abdul Aziz Jalil, 31; Omar Abdul Rehman, 20; Junade Feroze, 28; Zia ul Haq, 25; Qaisar Shaffi, 25; and Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26; all Britons of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i origin, most of Mirpuri descent.
Much of the information about Barot's role in the planning of further al-Qaeda attacks came from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a Kuwait-born militant in U.S. custody in Guantánamo Bay for alleged acts of terrorism, including mass murder of civilians....
, a prominent al-Qaeda operative captured by the Pakistani ISI
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
. A witness stated that he attended Camp Hudaybiyah, run by the Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiah , is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei...
group, where he was instructed in small arms training, mortars, basic explosives handling, navigation and jungle patrolling.
The prosecution did not dispute claims from the defence that no funding had been received for the projects, nor any vehicles or bomb-making materials acquired. Nevertheless, it was recognised that it was his intention that hundreds, if not thousands of people should die.
Sentencing
On 7 November 2006, Barot was sentenced to life imprisonment, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to murder; it was recommended that he serve a minimum of 40 years.In May 2007 his sentence was reduced to 30 years. The Court of Appeal, headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips, said that the 40 year sentence was for a terrorist who planned murder by "viable" means. It was also stated that Barot's plot did not amount to an actual attempt and it was uncertain whether it would have succeeded and what the consequences might have been. The Court of Appeal did note that Barot's "businesslike" plans would have caused carnage on a "colossal and unprecedented scale" if they had been successful.
Prison attacks
In July 2007 Barot was admitted to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary for five days after being badly injured by fellow inmates at HMP FranklandFrankland (HM Prison)
HM Prison Frankland is a Category A men's prison located in the village of Brasside in County Durham, England. Frankland is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
. For security reasons a news blackout of the incident was imposed while he was receiving treatment. It was later reported that Barot was treated for burns after two attacks. In the first attack boiling water was poured onto his back and a fight ensued, in the second attack another prisoner poured boiling oil over his head. Such attacks are called 'juggings'.
External links
- Barot's Book -