(ANSA) - Ethiopian-born Hamdi Issac, who has confessed to taking part in the failed July 21 London bombings, was on Tuesday cleared for extradition to Britain.
Italy's highest appeals court rejected Issac's appeal against the extradition, which was decided by a lower court on August 17.
According to Paolo Iorio, who represented British authorities in the case, judges rejected the appeal "in its entirety" and ordered Issac to be handed over to Scotland Yard within ten days.
The defendant's lawyer, Antonietta Sonnessa, had argued that Britain's extradition request was incomplete and also that her client was unlikely to have a fair trial in London. The 27-year-old British citizen, who was arrested in Rome on July 29, is expected to stand trial in London on November 11, along with four others arrested for the July 21 incidents.
The incidents caused no deaths or injuries but threw London into panic, in part because they came two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 people in the British capital. Issac, who has been in Rome's Rebibbia jail since his arrest, is believed to have been responsible for an attempted bombing at the Shepherds Bush underground station.
He claims he intended to kill no one, saying he and his accomplices wished only to scare passengers with a loud noise. He told British and Italian investigators his action was a protest against anti-Muslim feeling in Britain after the July 7 bombings.
Issac said he was given a backpack by another of the bombers, who acted as a group leader in the action. He said he was aware it contained explosives and nails. According to evidence presented in the first extradition hearing, the rucksacks used in the attacks contained gunpowder, corn flour and two homemade explosives.
Issac said the idea was to set off the device and then leave the rucksack with the bag of nails for police to find, as a demonstration of the inability of authorities to guarantee security.
Issac, who is also known as Osman Hussain, was arrested on July 29 in Rome, at the home of his brother, Ramzi, who runs an Ethiopian clothing shop in the capital.
His decision to flee to Rome was initially seen by Italian investigators as possibly indicating a web of
terrorist contacts in Italy and even a plan to organise terrorist attacks here.
But Rome prosecutors said they intend to ask for their enquiry to be shelved at the end of the week because no evidence has been found that shows subversive activity by Issac or his Italian contacts.
