A High Court judge has given police another seven days to detain without charge, five suspects in connection with the alleged plot to blow up airplanes.
The five suspects still being held without charge have spent 21 days in police custody.
Anti-Terrorist Branch officers were granted warrants on Wednesday night that bring the five’s detention to the new legal limit of 28 days.
One of the men’s lawyers, Khalid Elahi, has criticised the conditions his client, Muhammed Usman Siddique, 24, has been held in since his arrest three weeks ago.
Elahi said his client had been subjected to daily strip-searches and his physical and mental well-being had suffered.
He said the decision to hold Muhammed Siddique for a further seven days was not justified.
Speaking outside Paddington Green police station, the lawyer told journalists: ‘As you can appreciate my client has had a very difficult 21 days in police custody.
‘During this time he has been questioned continuously on a regular basis under extremely difficult conditions.’
Elahi added that, if Siddique was eventually released without charge, the memory of Paddington Green was ‘likely to haunt him for the remainder of his life’.
