Antonietta Sonnessa said last night: “My client says his action was purely demonstrative. In fact, all four attempts did not result in any injury or damage at all. Moreover, he maintains that he was nothing to do with the events of July 7.

“He has justified his actions as a form of protest against the fact that civilians are suffering in wars at the present time. He has taken part in many peace marches and has never had any contact whatsoever with any terrorist organisation,” she continued.

“He is not at all a violent person and made sure he would not cause any damage, injuries or deaths. There wasn’t a very clearly defined plan, the whole thing was set the day before, in a meeting with this group of friends.”

Italy said that it would extradite Osman “with all speed”. Signora Sonnessa said, after visiting him at the high- security Regina Coeli prison in Rome, that the extradition process could take several months. The Italian authorities acknowledged that the extradition of Osman — who has told his interrogators that he is Ethiopian and that his real name is Hamdi Adus Isaac — will not be immediate.

Britain will give extradition documents to a Rome court today under the European Arrest Warrant procedures, which were introduced to Italian law last week.

Giuseppe Pisanu, the Interior Minister, said that Italy was “closely collaborating” with the British authorities in “our common fight against terror- ism”. Signora Sonnessa said that Osman is in solitary confinement and under constant observation. When not being interviewed, he is said to be praying, reading the Koran and sleeping.

The lawyer said that her client, who appeared at an initial extradition hearing on Saturday, was “calm” but would “prefer to stay in Italy”.

“We are in an early and very delicate phase of the proceedings,” she said. “All I can say is that at the moment there are elements both against and in favour of extradition.”

Osman’s arrest has attracted huge publicity in Italy and made Signora Sonnessa, 40, into a minor celebrity. Her bronzed skin, long black hair and plunging neckline grabbed the attention of Italian newspapers, which carried prominent photographs of her in their coverage of the story.

Born in the poor southern region of Basilicata, she has been practising in Rome since 1992. Most of her experience has been in cases involving unauthorised construction work, but she apparently did not shy away from the latest job to come her way.

“To begin with, I admit, I was a bit perplexed but then I took my oath and that was that. Legal defence is an inviolable right,” Signora Sonnessa said.

Striding past television cameras over the weekend with a copy of the criminal code under her arm, she politely but firmly parried questions from reporters about Britain’s extradition request for Osman.

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