Mohammed Atif Siddique

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Mohammed Atif Siddique

Mohammed Atif Siddique is a Scottish prisoner who was found guilty of "collecting terrorist-related information, setting up websites...and circulating inflammatory terrorist publications", resulting in a sentence of eight years' imprisonment. His defence has consistently been that he was a curious 20-year old youth, still living with his parents, who was "looking for answers on the internet".[1]

Siddique's parents, of South Asian descent[1], run a general store in Alva, Clackmannanshire which their son believed should stop serving alcohol as an off-licence.[2] Arguments with his parents led to him running away from home once, before returning.[2]

Siddique attended Alva Academy where he was a "model student", before enrolling as a Computing Technician student at Glasgow Metropolitan College.[3][4]

Contents

[edit] Arrests

On April 12 2006, Siddique was accompanying his 40-year old paternal uncle Mohammed Rafiq on a trip to his farm in the Punjab region, when officials at Glasgow International Airport informed the pair that they would not be allowed to fly. The laptop computer that Siddique was carrying was confiscated,[5] and agents DC Murray and Leigh Graham opened the computers files, against police protocol.[6] His cell phone was also seized, after a photograph of Islamic protestors of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons was discovered.[3]

At 7am the following morning, local police officers, MI5 and Special Branch stormed the Siddique house with a battering ram,[7] arresting Siddique, his older brother Asif, their uncles Rafiq and Mohammed Niaz, 46 - the latter of whom was a 26-year resident of Stirlingshire.[8]

The uncles were released from Govan police station after thirteen days imprisonment.[9] Siddique was charged the next day under Section 58(1b) of the Terrorism Act 2000, collecting information that would "likely be useful" to a terrorist.[1]

Asif, who was a 25-year old law student, was released the day after Siddique's charges were laid, after he was questioned about his feelings towards the September 11th attacks after police found postcards sent from friends he maintained in New York.[8]

[edit] Trial

During the four-week trial under judge Lord Carloway, Siddique was accused of having shown photographs of suicide bombers to students at Glasgow Metropolitan College,[1] classmate Kyle Ramsey stated that Siddique had encouraged him to watch an online video of a beheading, and classmate Fozia Begum testified that he had claimed Osama bin Laden was his god, and he was a member of al-Qaeda.[10]

He was also accused of carrying on email correspondence with a suspected militant identified only as "The Englishman" in court proceedings.[11] The emails had been discovered after Canadian authorities requested Britain monitor a suspected militant recruiter living in Northern England.[2]

The advocate-deputy was Brian McConnachie, who characterized the material stating "It's clear from that material that the whole idea was to glorify martyrdom operations..."[12]

In June, Evan Kohlmann was given access to the contents of Siddique's laptop by the Central Scotland Police, and he submit an 18-page summary stating that the images, documents and videos that Siddique had downloaded comprised "a formidable archive of authentic Al-Qaida recruitment and technical material that is designed and likely to be used for purposes relating to the commission, perpetration, or instigation of an act of terrorism—most specifically, a suicide or 'martyrdom' operation".[13]

The trial concluded with nine hours of deliberation by the jury of nine women and six men[10], resulting in a Guilty verdict on September 27, 2007.[1]

After the conviction, Kohlmann said that Siddique "apparently lacked in the skills, sophistication, lengthy credentials, and cold-blooded professionalism" associated with actual terrorists and described him as "undoubtedly naive".[13]

After the trial ended, the prosecution alleged that it had been his intention to disappear once in Pakistan to join a Toronto-based group arrested on allegations of wanting to bomb Canadian targets, though his attorneys pointed out that no evidence was ever produced to support the allegation, and referred to it as a "smear".[3][2]

Following the trial, Judge Carloway announced he intended to seek contempt of court charges against Siddique's attorney Aamer Anwar for making "disparaging remarks" about the outcome of the trial, referring to an "atmosphere of hostility".[14] Siddique's other attorney was Donald Findlay.[6]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Man convicted of terror offences
  2. ^ a b c d Elias, Richard The Scotsman, "A Polite Student from a Quiet Scottish Town?"
  3. ^ a b c Cramb, Auslan. Daily Telegraph, Glasgow student 'planned to join Canada plot', 18/09/2007
  4. ^ The Independent, 'Wannabe suicide bomber' faces 15 years in prison, Sep 18, 2007
  5. ^ Briggs, Billy. "Men freed after Terror Act arrests complain of 'trauma'", April 27 2006
  6. ^ a b Terror trial told procedures were not followed, August 28, 2007.
  7. ^ The Scotsman, Scottish Anti-Terror Units Arrest Young Muslim, April 14 2006
  8. ^ a b Sunday Mail, Student probed over postcards, April 30 2006.
  9. ^ Evening Times, "Two are released after terror probe", 26/04/06
  10. ^ a b Edwards, Mike. Terror trial hears Al-Qaeda praise claim 24 August, 2007
  11. ^ Elias, Richard. Grim end awaited terrorist, says MI5, 23 September 2007
  12. ^ The Guardian, Student jailed for promoting terrorism, October 23, 2007
  13. ^ a b CounterTerrorism Blog
  14. ^ Contempt issue after terror case, 23 October 2007