Muslim student released after terror conviction overturned
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Feb 9, IRNA -- A Muslim student is to be released from custody in Scotland after prosecutors decided Tuesday he should not face retrial for an overturned terrorism conviction.
Mohammed Atif Siddique was jailed in 2007 for eight years on terrorism charges, but last month, Appeal Court judges ruled that he had suffered a "miscarriage of justice" on the main charge and quashed the conviction.
The most serious charge related to the possession of articles that gave rise to "reasonable suspicion" they were connected to terrorism, but the judges criticised the directions given to the jury at the original trial as a "material misdirection."
Following the conviction, his lawyer Amaer Anwar was threatened with disciplinary action after describing the jury's guilty verdict in October 2007 as a "tragedy for justice."
In its statement, the Crown Office said that prosecutors had decided against seeking authority for a retrial of the 23 year old student.
"The fact that Mr Siddique has already served the majority of his sentence for charge one, and has de facto served his sentence in full for the other terrorist offences, of which he remains convicted, means that a retrial would have little practical effect,” it said.
Anwar maintained that his client did not receive a fair trial and that it was heard in an "atmosphere of hostility".
The prosecution was "driven by the State" and Siddique was found guilty of "doing what millions of young people do every day - looking for answers on the internet," he said.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 953290
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