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Jailed for 15 years for `making notes about bombs'

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Sept 24, IRNA
UK Trial-Terror Suspect
The sentencing of a 34-year-old Muslim convert to 15 years imprisonment on Friday has raised concerns about Britain's anti-terrorism legislation.

According to Black Links news service (Blink), Yusef Abdullah was effectively committed for "making notes about bombs" by a majority jury verdict.

He was found guilty of two charges of "acts preparatory to terrorism" after being tracked by police travelling on a Eurostar train to France in 2003, when he was arrested.

Raids on his home uncovered a handwritten guide to firing battlefield weapons, a coded sheet, videos of the 9/11 atrocities and tapes of Osama bin Laden.

Blink said that Adbullah, whose previous name was Andrew Rowe before his conversion, became obsessed with al-Qaeda, but was jailed "despite a lack of proof that he had any connection with the terrorist network."
"The case is bound to raise questions over whether anyone can be jailed for making notes about terrorist activities using information they can legally obtain through the internet or by purchasing books or videos," it said.

The campaigning news service for ethnic minorities added that the claim by police that Abdullah was hardened terrorist "clashes with evidence that he was a disturbed individual merely caught up in his own fantasies."
It was only alleged that he was "on the verge" of committing terrorism, but the Judge Justice Fulford said "its fulfillment was imminent."
"In the post 9/11 world, it requires no imagination to understand what would have been in your contemplation and what would have been your purpose," he told London's Old Bailey criminal court.

The head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke, described the conviction as "important."
"He is a global terrorist. He has been trained and knows how to use extreme violence.

"We do not know when, what or where he was going to attack, but the public can be reassured that a violent and dangerous man has been brought to justice," he said.

HC/2326/1412