Strasbourg: Four men who attempted to set off a series of explosives in London in 2005 did not have their right to a fair trial breached, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday.
Three of the men argued that they did not have access to a lawyer during questioning and the fourth said the proper procedure was not followed when he gave testimony.
The Strasbourg-based European court however ruled -- by six judges to one -- there had been "no violation" to their right to a fair trial.
"The Court found that no undue prejudice had been caused to the applicants` right to a fair trial," the ECHR said.
On July 21, 2005, there were four separate attempted attacks on London`s public transport system. Witnesses reported small-scale explosions from rucksacks.
Their detonators exploded but did not ignite the main charges, meaning the bombs did not cause significant damage.
Testing showed there was not enough hydrogen peroxide in the devices to spark an explosion.
The attempted attacks were a chilling echo of two weeks previously, on July 7, when bombers targeted three underground trains and a double-decker bus, killing 56 and injuring more than 700.
The four plaintiffs -- Muktar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed, Yassin Omar and Hussain Osman -- were each jailed for at least 40 years in July 2007 after being convicted.
All four hail from the Horn of Africa. Omar and Mohammed were born in Somalia, Ibrahim in Eritrea and Osman in Ethiopia. They all fled or went into hiding after the attempted attacks.
