Published: Wednesday, 24th October, 2007 12:30
Alva 'terrorist' jailed for 8 years
By Alloa News Room
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Mohammed Atif Siddique at Glasgow High Court
A WOULD-BE suicide bomber who became Scotland’s first convicted Islamist terrorist was jailed for eight years on Tuesday.
Mohammed Siddique (21), of Alva, told fellow students that he sympathised with Al-Qaeda, wanted to become a suicide bomber and that his target would be central Glasgow.
He also shocked classmates at the city’s Metropolitan College with horror pictures of terrorist beheadings.
Computer whizz-kid Siddique also set up websites urging others to commit terror acts and showing how to make and use explosives.
The trial heard that much of the chilling propaganda was aimed at English speakers.
He was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh after an almost unprecedented row between judge Lord Carloway and defence QC Donald Findlay about what had been heard during an earlier four week trial.
The lawyer claimed Siddique was a curious young man who had found material on websites which could be accessed by anyone.
The judge slapped him down saying, “I don’t accept that. That is not the evidence.”
And another member of Siddique’s legal team, solicitor Aamer Anwar also faces possible action for contempt of court as a result of statements made at the end of the trial in Glasgow last month, implying that Siddique did not get a fair trial.
Sentencing Siddique, Lord Carloway told him, “It is clear from the evidence you did not have this material because of some innocent curiosity.”
The jury were entitled to find him guilty of being a would-be terrorist, he added.
The judge continued, “They were entitled, first, to accept the evidence of your fellow students at college, none of whom considered you were carrying out research and several of whom said you had not only expressed sympathy with terrorist bombings carried out in the name of Al-Qaeda but you had specifically told them you wanted to become a terrorist bomber and one of your targets would be central Glasgow.”
The court heard that Siddique’s activities had been stopped by a police dawn raid on the Siddique family home in Myretoungate, Alva on 13 April last year.
That was also the day that tough new anti-terror laws came into force, upping the maximum sentence from ten to 15 years.
Siddique was found guilty of three breaches of the Terrorism Acts and a breach of the peace. The offences were said to have been committed between March 2003 and the day of the raid.
Lord Carloway said that because of the dates he would fix sentence as though the maximum were ten years.
Five days before the dawn raid detectives had seized Siddique’s lap-top as he boarded a flight to Pakistan.
In those days, the trial heard, Siddique had made desperate efforts to hide other incriminating material which was found in his house and to delete files from his home computer.
Police seized CDs, videos and masses of material depicting terrorist propaganda and training in weapons use and guerilla tactics.
Lord Carloway said some of it had undoubtedly come from contact with other militant jihadists in internet chat rooms – not something you were just likely to come across, he added, but “only available to a small community of extremists”.
Mr Findlay told the court on Tuesday, “I venture to suggest that what Siddique did, in fact, was to collect together in one place, for practical purposes, material from a variety of sources but material which is none the less readily available on the internet.”
There was no evidence of secret passwords or codes, he added.
“Any member of the public wishing to pursue an interest in this topic would have been able to access all the material without going through any secret routes.”
But Lord Carloway told Siddique, “You were planning to play some part in an act of terrorism, possibly as a suicide bomber and you had material in your possession for that purpose.”
He also told the student that he accepted he was vulnerable and impressionable and had no previous criminal record.
Outside the court, Siddique’s family confirmed they intended to appeal.
Brother Asif Siddique said, “This is not a case regarding an individual. This is a show case, this is a show trial.”
He said his brother was not a terrorist or a threat to anyone. “He didn’t receive a fair trial or a fair sentence.”
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