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Briton 'encouraged' brother on suicide attack
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England (CNN) -- A British woman is on trial, accused of encouraging one of her brothers to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Israel two-and-a-half years ago. A court at the Old Bailey in London was told Thursday that Parveen Sharif sent her brother, Omar Sharif, an e-mail a week before the attack telling him to "stay focused and determined." The e-mail went on: "When we see you again it will be like only half a day has passed. ... Your guarantee is for the eternal ahead." Omar Sharif was one of two British men who launched a suicide bombing mission in Tel Aviv in 2003. Their target was a seafront bar called Mike's Place. Three people were killed and 65 injured when Sharif's accomplice, Asif Hanif, successfully exploded his bomb in the early hours of April 30. Sharif's device failed to go off and his body was later found in the sea off Tel Aviv. He apparently drowned. Parveen Sharif, 37, is also charged along with another of her brothers, Zahid Sharif, 38, with allegedly withholding information about Omar Sharif's mission. Both deny the charges against them. The court was told that Omar Sharif and Hanif had left Britain on April 10 and traveled to Israel via Syria and Jordan. Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said the two then went to Gaza before re-entering Israel on April 29 -- the day before the attack, which, he said, had been commissioned and organized by Hamas. Laidlaw said the suicide attack was the first in which Hamas used volunteers from "outside the local communities." The prosecution alleges the attackers believed that by carrying out their mission and achieving martyrdom they would secure for themselves and their families a place in paradise. The trial continues. CNN Producer Andrew Carey contributed to this report. 
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