Mohammed Asha

Mohammed Jamil Abdelqader Ashar is a Saudi-born Jordanian doctor resident in the United Kingdom, who was a suspect arrested after the 2007 Glasgow Airport attack. He was falsely charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions, but on 16 December 2008 was found not guilty and acquitted on all charges.

Early life and medical career A Jordanian who was born in Saudi Arabia to a family originating from Palestine, Asha moved to Jordan with his family in 1991. He attended Jubilee School in Amman, a school for gifted children, where he is remembered as a dedicated student who was bookish and introverted. He won prizes for his Arabic poetry and met Queen Noor, King Hussein of Jordan's 4th wife, when she visited his school. In 1998, Asha received a 98.3% overall mark in his school's leaving exams and he later gained the 3rd highest mark Jordan's national medical entrance exam.

Asha entered the University of Jordan's medical school and graduated with a medical degree in 2004. During his medical studies he used his talent for poetry to woo his future wife, Marwah Dana, a laboratory researcher. He married Marwah in 2004. In the same year, Asha competed against 500 medical students and won a place at University of Birmingham, studying neurology. On 20 July 2007, Asha became the fourth suspect to be charged, with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions, in relation to the attack. A month earlier, it is believed that he had been offered the only ST1 training post in neurosurgery available in the West Midlands, one of a handful available throughout the country in the British government's MTAS system for junior doctor selection.

Trial and acquittal At his trial, the jury was told that Asha lent his friend, Bilal Abdullah, £1,500. However, Asha insisted that he felt disturbed at Abdulla's growing fascination with Islamist terrorism, and that he disliked Kafeel Ahmed, the deceased conspirator. In a police interview, Asha described how he attempted to encourage Abdulla to 'settle down, concentrate on his career and abandon such silly thoughts'. where he awaited deportation to his home of country of Jordan on the grounds that his presence in the UK was "not conducive to the national good". Asha contested deportation and in January 2009 he was released on bail after the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) concluded it was not in the public interest to prevent him from returning to work. On 7 August 2009 the UK Immigration Service dropped its attempt to have Asha deported and he applied for leave to remain.

Aftermath Asha returned to the NHS, which was covered by The Sun, leading to a libel case, resulting in an apology by the newspaper.