Britain tells Jordan it arrested Jordanian for questioning in UK plot, top official says

British authorities have informed Jordan that a Jordanian doctor was arrested for questioning in connection with three failed car bomb attacks at a Scotland airport and in London over the weekend, a top Jordanian official said Monday.

The official said the man was identified as Mohammed Jamil Asha, 26, a native Palestinian who carries a Jordanian passport. Asha has not been charged with any crime, the official said. His family in Jordan called for his release and denied he had any links to terrorism.

British police on Monday also said a man by the name of Mohammed Jamil Abdelqader Asha was arrested late Saturday on a highway in central England. According to the British General Medical Council's register, Asha was trained in Jordan, gaining a medical degree in 2004.

The Jordanian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Jordanian Embassy in London was contacted by British authorities who said Asha was a possible suspect.

The official said there were "no specifics yet" and described the information as "very sketchy." He said he was in close contact with the Jordanian Embassy in London, which is pursuing the matter with British authorities. Jordanian security officials said they had no immediate information on Asha.

Asha was one of several people arrested in Britain in connection with three attempted terror attacks this weekend in London and Glasgow, Scotland.

Officials in Britain have also confirmed that one of the people arrested in Glasgow is Bilal Abdulla, identified in British television reports as an Iraqi doctor. A man answering the telephone at the Iraqi Embassy in London said he was not authorized to make any comment about Abdulla's arrest.

In Amman, Asha's father, Jamil, urged British authorities to release his son, calling his arrest "mistaken" because he did not have links to terrorist groups.

"My son is a moderate Muslim and carried out his religious duties, but he never embraced fanaticism," Jamil Asha told The Associated Press.

"My son respected the British people and had no problem with anybody. He used to tell me that they are fair and respect the others," said Jamil Asha, 55. "He adapted to the British lifestyle and was intending to apply for citizenship, because he liked England a lot and he thinks that he has better opportunities there in his specialty."

Asha graduated from the University of Jordan in 2004 with a degree in medicine. He then went to England to pursue higher education, specializing in neurology surgery, family members said.

Jamil Asha said he talked with his son weekly on the phone and was preparing for his visit to Jordan on July 12. He said he even bought presents for his grandson and his daughter-in-law.

Asha's mother, Fawzieh, also urged the British authorities to release her son, saying he was "innocent."

"We are an educated family and we reject all kinds of terrorism," she said.

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Associated Press reporter Shafika Mattar in Amman contributed to this report.