The wife of the leader of a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners kept a diary in which she pledged support for his cause and hoped that he became a martyr, a court has heard. Cossor Ali wrote about making herself slimmer for his return from Pakistan and added that she was becoming “more and more attached to the cause for which you are striving.' She added: “I hope and pray Allah grants your wish and gives you the highest level of shahada' – a word which is said to refer to martyrdom. In another entry she said: “I hope that when you attain shahada, I will have at least one small child and will be pregnant with another or at least be pregnant with a healthy baby at the least inshallah [god willing.]'
Mrs Ali, who married her husband in July 2003, gave birth to their first child prematurely nine months later but the baby had died shortly afterwards. By the time her husband, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, was arrested in August 2006, they had an eight month old baby boy.
Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told Inner London Crown Court: “It is the prosecution case that she knew her husband intended to commit an act of terrorism that involved his own death.' She is accused of failing to disclose information that she knew or believed might have been of material assistance in preventing the commission of an act of terrorism between March 2004 and August 2006.
Ali and two other men were convicted in September last year of conspiracy to murder by detonating improvised explosive devices on board passenger aircraft. The devices were to be disguised in soft drinks bottles and Mrs Ali admitted in a statement to police that her husband had brought bags of a soft drink powder back from Pakistan with him but she thought that he was developing a drink to sell with his friends.
The court heard that Mrs Ali, 28, was born in Britain and lived with her husband in a one bedroom flat in Walthamstow, East London. When police searched the couple's flat they found a completed passport application for their baby in the cot in the bedroom.
In a Rizvi notebook found in the bedroom, Mrs Ali had allegedly written: “I think I am going to make myself slimmer inshallah [god willing] as it will be good for me and I think you will be happier. I am going to start doing exercises on a daily basis and when we are together, I want you to do fighting training with me.'
In the notes, allegedly written while Ali was away in Pakistan in early 2005, she had added: “I am really looking forward to you coming home now. I have been thinking about all the housework I have to do in the flat. I will clean everything properly. She continued: “I desperately miss my soulmate, husband, lover, comforter and companion.'
A further entry asked Ali to choose her “over the hoors' - women in paradise - and wait for her to join him. She said she had read a “beautiful and inspiring' book and added: “I am even happier with what you are doing. It makes me eager to join you on your quest.'
In another Pukka notepad found in the bedroom cupboard, she wrote “preparation list for Ahmed's return' and the entry “straighten hair on 08/02/04.' In the same notepad Ali had allegedly written a will in March 2004 in which he wrote: “We know with full certainty that we are going to die so let us aim high and strive for the best death ie shahada and let us do the most pleasing deed to Allah and make the greatest sacrifice, fight with life, tongue and wealth in the path of Allah.'
Ali had made a suicide video in which he said that Allah had promised those who became martyred with a guarantee of janna [paradise] for himself, his family and his friends. He referred to Osama bin Laden and said he planned to “punish the kufr [non-believers] and teach them a lesson they will never forget,' Mr Whittam told the court.
Mrs Ali denies the charges and the trial continues.