Published: Wednesday, 30th July, 2008 12:00
'Terror' student could be freed pending appeal
By Court Reporter
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Mohammed Atif Siddique could be freed from prison pending his appeal.
AN ALVA student who became Scotland’s first convicted Islamist terrorist could be free within weeks.
Mohammed Atif Siddique (22) – who has always protested his innocence – succeeded in putting his appeal against the guilty verdict back on track last Wednesday.
The ruling in his favour at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh opens the way for him to ask judges to release him – pending a final decision.
Siddique is serving sentences totalling eight years after a trial last year which branded him a would-be suicide bomber.
But because his grounds of appeal are complicated and could take two weeks or more to argue in court, it may prove impossible to arrange an early hearing.
Defence QC Donald Findlay is expected to argue that it is unfair for Siddique to face a long wait while still in jail.
The trial in Glasgow last September heard that Siddique told fellow students that he sympathised with Al-Quaida, wanted to become a suicide bomber and that his target would be central Glasgow.
And it was said that he shocked classmates at the city’s Metropolitan College with horror pictures of terrorist beheadings.
The trial was also told that Siddique set up websites urging others to commit terror acts, and showing how to make and use explosives.
His apparent activities were halted by a police dawn raid on the Siddique family home in Myretoungate, in April 2006.
Siddique was eventually 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.
He has always claimed that material came from websites which could be accessed by anyone and that his only motive was curiosity.
When Siddique launched his appeal against conviction he claimed that trial judge Lord Carloway had misdirected the jury.
The judge had failed to explain properly that to be guilty, Siddique had to intend to use material in his possession to commit or prepare for an act of terrorism, it was claimed.
There was a legal difference between propaganda and material directly connected to intended acts of terrorism which was not made clear.
Lord Carloway was also criticised, in the grounds of appeal, for inviting jurors to speculate about the extent to which a young Scottish Muslim would be interested in Middle Eastern affairs.
Evidence of a key witness, terrorism expert Evan Kholman, is also attacked.
Siddique’s legal team will also argue that Lord Carloway did not fairly explain to the jury that the 2000 Terrorism Act gives an accused a chance to put forward a “reasonable excuse” for possessing material allegedly linked to terrorism.
The grounds of appeal had been rejected by a single judge, sitting in chambers, under a procedure designed to weed out hopeless appeals which would otherwise waste court time.
But at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh last Wednesday, Mr Findlay successfully challenged the decision, saying Siddique’s trial had been the first of its kind.
Lord Eassie, sitting with Lords Clarke and Mackay of Drumadoon, agreed the legislation was “quite complicated” and novel and deserved to be examined in detail.
The rejected grounds of appeal were re-instated.
Siddique is due back in court in about six weeks for discussions about any further preparations which may be needed before his appeal proper gets underway.
At that hearing Mr Findlay is expected to ask for his client’s freedom.
Outside the courtroom, Siddique’s solicitor Aamer Anwar said, “Mr Siddique, since the beginning, has maintained his innocence. I hope Mr Siddique and his family are satisfied with the outcome today.
“However as proceedings are still live it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Mr Anwar faced contempt of court allegations over comments he made at the end of Siddique’s trial but he was cleared after an investigation by judges.
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