Terrorist who plotted to explode a military base and was about to be launched dealing with new parole listening to after evaluation

A terrorist who plotted to blow up a UK army base and was due to be released from prison will now face a new parole hearing after the case was reviewed. 

Zahid Iqbal was a member of a terrorist gang who plotted an attack at a Territorial Army centre in Luton where a remote-controlled toy car would be used to carry a homemade bomb.  

The co-leader of the group planned to make the bomb based on instructions in an Al Qaeda manual called ‘Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom – by the Al Qaeda chef’.

Iqbal and his co-conspirators were jailed in 2013 with the 43-year-old being sentenced to 16 years after he admitted one count of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism.

Earlier this year, the parole board gave Iqbal the all-clear to be released despite two experts who had monitored his progress in prison urging the panel not to.  

Political backlash to his imminent release was swift with the shadow Home Secretary writing to the Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, to express his concerns.

Mr Philip at the time called the decision ‘disgraceful’ and described Iqbal as a ‘dangerous lunatic’.

Mr Lammy, then urged the Parole Board to reconsider its ‘legally irrational’ decision to release the 43-year-old three years early and he formally issued an application to the board asking it to reconsider. 

Zahid Iqbal (pictured) was handed a 16-year prison sentence for his part in a plot to bomb a UK army base. He had been due to be released  but will now face a fresh parole hearing 

Iqbal and his co-conspirators planned an attack at a Territorial Army centre in Luton (pictured) where a remote-controlled toy car would be used to carry a homemade bomb 

Now, reconsideration has been granted and Iqbal will face a fresh review where a new panel of experts will assess the case.

They are likely to go through the relevant paperwork again and assess his behaviour in prison and other factors.

The review will also likely hear testaments from those who have had contact with him.

They are also likely to hear evidence from specialists and officials who have been in contact with them in jail.

Iqbal was jailed in 2013 for 16 years after he admitted one count of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. He had also arranged terrorism training in Pakistan and discussed getting weapons.

On November 2 2021 he was released on the direction of the Parole Board but was recalled in 2023 after a number of concerns were raised. 

In 2023, three members of the terror gang, Umar Arshad, Syed Farhan Hussain and Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, were quietly released from jail.

Arshad was previously jailed for for six years and nine months and Hussain for five years and three months.

Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed (pictured left) was handed an 11 year prison sentence for his role in the terrorist plot in 2013. Farhan Hussain (right) got five years

While Ahmed was handed a 11-year sentence.

In March 2013, at Woolwich Crown Court, the four men admitted one count of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism between January 1, 2011 and April 25, 2012 at a hearing on March 1.

As tapes of them discussing bomb-making were played in court, the four men had sat smiling and giggling in the dock.

Sentencing the men, Mr Justice Wilkie QC said in April 2013 that Iqbal and Ahmed, then 25, posed a continuing risk to the public.

Their extended sentence of 11 years in jail and an additional five years on licence after release reflected their key roles in the plot.

The terms of their sentences mean they could be recalled to prison anytime during their five years on licence.

The judge said: ‘In each of their cases, their persistent commitment to terrorist activity, in a number of different ways, over a significant period of time and, in each case, their willingness to take practical steps to obtain terrorist training abroad, marks them out as particularly dangerous.

‘This, coupled with the fact that, after their houses had been searched, and they were obviously under serious suspicion, they nonetheless continued to access material consistent with the mindset which informed their previous preparatory activities, persuades me that they continue to be ‘dangerous’ to such a degree that I should exercise my discretion to pass an extended sentence.