Suleiman Abu Ghaith (file)
Suleiman Abu Ghaith (file)Reuters

A former British Al Qaeda terrorist turned witness will testify on Monday in London, pointing the finger at Osama bin Laden's son-in-law.

Saajid Badat, who was jailed in 2005 after planning a shoe-bomb attack, will appear by video link as a witness in the New York trial of Suleiman Abu Ghaith. He will not be made to fly from his native England to testify in the American case, as upon entering the country he would be subject to criminal charges in Boston for past crimes.

In court on Monday, Badat's admission that he and British 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid planned shoe bombings on airplanes in late 2001 will be used to establish that Ghaith's statement after September 11 that "the storm of airplanes will not stop" indicated involvement in specific plots.

Ghaith also appeared with his father-in-law Bin Laden, who was assassinated by the US in 2011, in propaganda videos to recruit new terrorists, reports The Guardian.

The terrorist turncoat is expected to testify in the US cases of terror-inciting cleric Abu Hamza, who was deported from London, as well as two British terrorists who pleaded guilty to terror in Connecticut, Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan.

Badat may also testify in the military tribunal of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US.

In 2001, Badat trained at an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. Testifying after his 2003 arrest, the former terrorist admitted that he backed out of a shoe-bombing plot after booking a flight from Amsterdam to the US. He was released after six years in jail upon agreeing to testify in court against his former organization.

Opposition to Badat's testimony cites the benefits he has received by testifying; in court proceedings in 2012 Badat let it be known he had received public funds from the British government to re-establish his life.

Ghaith's lawyer Stanley Cohen attacked Badat for giving testimony to shorten his own sentence. The lawyer claimed Sunday that "not a person in that courtroom will believe anything the guy says."

On Sunday, a jihadist leader warned that several thousand Al Qaeda terrorists are active in Gaza, threatening both Israel and the terror group Hamas governing Gaza.