[JURIST] Three men convicted [JURIST report] of attempting to smuggle liquid explosives onto airplanes to blow them up were sentenced [Metropolitan Police press release] to life in prison Monday by the Woolwich Crown Court in London. Abdulla Ahmed Ali [GlobalSecurity profile], the ring leader, was sentenced [Guardian report] to a minimum of 40 years in prison, while Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain [GlobalSecurity profiles] were sentenced to a minimum of 36 and 32 years, respectively, for the airline plot and conspiracy to murder. A fourth man, Umar Islam [Global Security profile], had been previously found guilty of conspiracy to murder and was also sentenced Monday to life in prison with a minimum sentence of 22 years.

The Crown initially charged eight men with conspiracy to blow up the airlines and conspiracy to murder. Three of them, Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan, Waheed Zahman [GlobalSecurity profiles] were found not guilty [AP report] of the conspiracy to murder charges, and had been previously been found not guilty of the conspiracy to blow up airlines, which the Crown has vowed to appeal. The eighth man, Mohammad Galzar [GlobalSecurity profile], was found not guilty of all charges. Both Savant and Islam had previously pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to "conspiring to create a public nuisance" by releasing videos about planned attacks.