'Al-Qaeda graffiti' found in cell

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A 21 July bombing suspect wrote graffiti in Arabic on his cell wall praising al-Qaeda and referring to "a promised paradise", a jury has heard.

Ramzi Mohammed scribbled the messages on the walls of his holding cell at Woolwich Crown Court in the first few days of his trial, prosecutors said.

On one wall he had scribbled "al-Qaeda - the book that will guide you to victory," the jury was told.

Mr Mohammed and five other defendants deny charges of conspiracy to murder.

On a facing wall he had written: "Be patient... as you have been promised paradise", the court heard.

The jury was told that the defendants are taken daily by prison officers from Belmarsh Prison to the neighbouring court's cells where they are strip searched.

Arabic writing

Prison officer Stephen Leonard told the court that on 17 January - the first day of the trial - he had noticed the graffiti.

"Just as Mohammed was getting dressed, just behind him - probably about hip height - there was a passage of writing in Arabic," he said.

"On seeing that I began to look around the cell a bit further.

"High up on the right there was some more writing."

Earlier in Friday's proceedings, a policeman said Mr Mohammed's fellow accused Muktar Said Ibrahim had told him he understood where the bombers were coming from.

Det Con Stuart Sowerby told the court that - during an interview at high-security Paddington Green police station on 29 July last year - he had asked Mr Ibrahim if he supported people who had tried to cause disruption to London's transport system.

The detective said Mr Ibrahim had replied: "I can understand where they are coming from."

Six men are accused of plotting to carry out a series of explosions on the London transport system using home-made hydrogen peroxide and chapatti flour rucksack devices.

They are Mr Mohammed, 25, of North Kensington, west London; Mr Ibrahim, 29, of Stoke Newington, north London; Yassin Omar, 26, of New Southgate, north London; Hussein Osman, 28, formally of no fixed address; Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address; and Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London.