Estranged wife of would-be suicide bomber cleared of knowing about husband's plans for a terror attack to rival 7/7

• Salma Kabal, 23, said she did not listen to husband Ashik Ali's terror plots
• She texted friends while he ranted about plans to 'go jihad' with bombing
• After verdict she said she is 'a proud British woman who is also a Muslim'
  

By Hugo Gye

Published: 12:48 EDT, 19 April 2013 | Updated: 08:15 EDT, 20 April 2013

Cleared: Salma Kabal gave an obscene gesture as she arrived at Woolwich Crown Court today

The wife of an Islamic extremist was today cleared of knowing about his plans to launch a terror attack after she claimed she was busy texting friends when he revealed his desire to 'go jihad'.

Salma Kabal insisted she did not understand her husband Ashik Ali's murderous intentions, and only wanted to rescue her marriage after the couple became estranged.

After being cleared of wrongdoing, the 23-year-old said she was not an extremist, proclaiming: 'I am a proud British woman who is also a Muslim.'

Ali, 28, was one of three terrorists jailed in February for plotting a suicide bomb attack which they intended would be as big as the July 7 Underground bombings.

Prosecutors claimed that Ms Kabal must have known of her husband's intentions, and said she had compared the attacks to Chris Morris comedy Four Lions.

But a jury at Woolwich Crown Court today cleared her of having information about acts of terrorism.

In a statement read out by her lawyer after the verdict was delivered, Ms Kabal said the decision showed she 'is not and never have been an extremist of any kind'.

She continued: 'Today the flood of British freedom still flows from Woolwich Crown Court, the home of the "invincible army" of old.

'The unanimous decision of the jury to acquit me in under four hours amounts to an emphatic rejection of the prosecution's case against me.

'In the trial, it was accepted I am not and never have been an extremist of any kind. I am a proud British woman who is also a Muslim.

'I do have concerns about the way the decision to prosecute me was taken, and the way that decision was kept under review.

'To adopt a phrase, no one seemed to have read Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.'

Ms Kabal concluded: 'I want to thank my family and friends who stood by me - I love them deeply.'

Arrest: The moment that police detained Ms Kabal's estranged wife Ashik Ali in 2011

During the trial, she told jurors she was motivated by love for her husband and had no idea that he was serious about his extremist rhetoric.

She said she thought his threat to 'go jihad' was just a 'load of c**p' designed as an excuse to end their marriage.

Terrorist: Ashik Ali was convicted of plotting an attack with would rival the July 7 Underground bombing

In recordings played to the jury, Ali told Ms Kabal: 'What I am going to do, what my situation is at the moment, we can't be together.

She denied knowing he held terrorist intentions, and said she completely ignored other parts of his rambling speeches.

'How can somebody make a marriage work with someone who is going to be a terrorist?', she said. 'If I had taken him seriously, I would have reported it to the authorities.'

Ms Kabal told the court her attention in the conversations recorded the day before he was arrested had often wandered.

'It was a long conversation, he was going on and on, and my attention was diverted because I was texting someone on my phone', she said.

'I was constantly texting - I can't remember who I was texting, but it must have been my sister at the time or a friend.'

Ali was convicted in February of running a terrorist cell along with Irfan Khalid and Irfan Naseer.

They experimented with making bombs from sports injury treatments, plotted to cook up deadly hand cream, and recruited fellow extremists to their cause.

Ali's home, the cell's makeshift bomb factory, was raided on September 18, 2011, as security services swooped on the would-be bombers.

Ms Kamal married Ali under Islamic law in February 2009, but their relationship soured after a year under cramped living conditions with Ali's family.

At the time of their arrests, the couple were living separately and had verbally divorced, although were still married under British law.