Questions over 7/7 jihadist release

"Free after just five years: jihadi who helped train 7/7 bomber,” headlines the Guardian, following the “quiet” release of Mohammed Junaid Babar, an American jihadist, from a US jail. Babar, who set up the terrorist training camp in Pakistan where the leader of the 2005 London suicide bombers learned how to manufacture explosives, was jailed in 2004 after pleading guilty in a New York court to five counts of terrorism. His release only five years into a potential 70-year sentence was due to what a New York judge hinted was "exceptional co-operation" that began even before his arrest. This raises questions over whether Babar “was a US informer at the time he was helping to train the ringleader of the 7 July tube and bus bombings,” the Guardian notes. Talking to the London daily, Babar’s lawyer said, “the [US] government went to bat for him. They used words like 'extraordinary' and 'unprecedented'. Babar's co-operation really was spectacular when you get down to it."