A teacher encouraged her brother to become one of Britain's first suicide bombers by taking part in an attack that killed three people in an Israeli nightclub, a London court was told on Thursday.

Parveen Sharif, 37, is accused of encouraging her brother Omar Sharif to blow himself up with another Briton, Asif Hanif, in a Hamas-sponsored attack at Mike's Place club in Tel Aviv in April, 2003.

Hanif's bomb killed three people and wounded 65, while Sharif, 27, fled after failing to set off his bomb. His mangled and decomposed body was found floating in the Mediterranean almost two weeks later.

The bombing was the first of its kind by foreigners -- rather than Palestinians -- in Israel since the beginning of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.

"Asif Hanif and Omar Sharif had become the first British Muslims to give up their lives in a suicide bombing," said prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw.

He told the court that Parveen, a primary school teacher, and her brother Zahid Sharif, 38, had been aware of Omar's intention to carry out the attack and failed to tell the authorities.

Parveen, who believed her brother's reward would be a place in paradise for himself and his family, had actively encouraged him to go ahead with the bombing, the court heard.

A week before the bombing she sent him an email telling him to stay "focussed and determined" and saying that she would look after his widow and children in the future.

The email continued: "May Allah take care of use all and join us all soon".

"It's clear that Parveen was encouraging her brother to go through with the bombing," Laidlaw said.

The court heard that days before he was due to blow himself up, Omar Sharif wrote a farewell message to Zahid, warning him to destroy any "problematic" material he might have.

The teacher denies inciting her brother to commit an act of terrorism outside Britain, a new charge brought in by Britain after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Parveen and Zahid Sharif, both from Derby, central England, also deny failing to disclose information relating to an act of terrorism.

The trial continues.
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