Mohammed Asha terror trial: Accused doctor 'found talk of bombings offensive'
Mohammed Asha, aged 28, of Sunningdale Grove, Chesterton, said his co-defendant and friend Bilal Abdulla, aged 29, brought up the subject of improvised bombs on "on many occasions".
The neurologist, who worked at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, told Woolwich Crown Court he feared his fellow medic would travel to his native Iraq to join insurgent fighting.
He said: "He would be most offensive about it. He always believed that car bombs in markets or car bombs that targeted civilians, are propaganda."
Abdulla held such strong views on the situation in Iraq that Asha would turn his television off when he visited, the court heard.
Asha said: "I actually got in the habit of stopping turning on the TV when he was there because if there was anything on the news it would turn him on."
After learning Abdulla planned to travel to Baghdad in 2006 to visit his family, Asha said he almost panicked.
He added: "I made him swear on the Koran that he would not do anything foolish. It was the first thing to think of, that he was going to go there to fight. He would vehemently deny it."
The two men are accused of conspiracy to murder and to cause explosions over two car bombs left in London's West End last summer. They deny the offences.
When the bombs failed to detonate, Abdulla joined a desperate suicide attack on Glasgow Airport the next day, the court has heard.
Speaking on his second day in the witness box, Asha said Abdulla returned from Iraq after he was offered an interview for a job in Scotland.
At the time of their arrests, Abdulla worked as a junior doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, while Asha was employed by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.
Describing their friendship, Asha said Abdulla was the "total opposite" of himself as he was obsessed with his work.
Spending time with Abdulla was a way of relaxation for him, the court heard. But Abdulla would criticise his lifestyle and materialism.
He said: "He started to criticise my lifestyle in a very jovial and polite way, making comments like, 'I can't believe you are so stressed about your job'."
Abdulla thought Asha was "too materialistic, too much invested in the excesses of this life", the jury was told.
The case continues.
