MI5 'is keeping bomber alive'

SEVERELY burned Glasgow Airport attack suspect Kafeel Ahmed is being kept alive on the orders of MI5, senior police sources have told Scotland on Sunday.

Ahmed has third degree burns to 90% of his body and virtually no chance of surviving but insiders claim the security services are keeping him alive to avoid a backlash from radical Muslims.

The 27-year-old doctor is on life support at Glasgow Royal Infirmary but two separate police sources - as well as medical staff - claim the decision to keep him alive has more to do with politics than clinical judgment.

One insider estimated the combined cost of round-the-clock security and medical treatment for Ahmed for the month since the attack had reached £150,000.

On June 30, two men allegedly drove a vehicle packed with petrol and gas cannisters into the main terminal building at the airport, causing a huge fire and widespread panic.

Ahmed, a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, has been in a coma since the incident and most burns experts believe he is already effectively dead. But last week it emerged that special shark skin implants costing £20,000 were being used to treat his injuries.

A senior police source said: "It has been made very clear to the doctors by the 'powers that be' that they are to do anything and everything to keep Ahmed alive."

Another police insider said: "Obviously, MI5 is hoping they will be able to speak to Ahmed but the possibility of him ever being fit for interview is virtually nil. The one thing the authorities do not want is anything to exacerbate the situation and they believe the longer he lives, the calmer things will get."

Ahmed was originally treated at his own hospital but a few days after the incident was transferred to the Royal Infirmary where he remains. A medical source said: "It was MI5 who wanted him moved because, at the time, they did not know if there were more suspects operating in the hospital. They made sure that it was known he was to be kept alive as long as possible."

Glasgow human rights lawyer Amar Anwar said: "It is barbaric that we are stooping to such levels against this individual, no matter how heinous the crimes he is accused of committing."

Another leading human rights lawyer, John Scott, said: "It is quite wrong for anyone to be dealt with differently medically because of who they are or what they are said to have done. It is entirely inappropriate to keep anyone alive for political reasons."

But Paul Martin, Labour's justice spokesman, said: "So many times, people seem to be more interested in the civil liberties of the individual rather than those of the majority. There were hundreds of people at the airport that day, what about their civil liberties?"

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