Would-be bomber, Saajid Badat, used sacrifice72 as his e-mail name
A British prisoner who plotted to blow a US passenger plane out of the sky was so determined to die for al-Qaeda that he used the e-mail address [email protected], he admitted in court.
Saajid Badat, 35, told the New York trial of British hate preacher Abu Hamza that he used the Yahoo account while researching Jewish targets in South Africa.
The word sacrifice was a nod to his determination to die in the cause of violent jihad and 72 was a reference to the number of virgins that al-Qaeda preached a "martyr" is entitled to deflower in heaven.
Badat said he went to Pakistan in mid-2001 to use the internet to research Jewish targets, which included a Holocaust museum, synagogues and the diamond industry.
Under cross-examination on Tuesday from Hamza's lawyer Jeremy Schneider, he said he spent two days preparing a "detailed" report for al-Qaeda bosses on the targets.
He admitted he was willing to see women and children killed should the attacks have gone ahead.