A pilot wrongly accused of training the 9/11 hijackers is entitled to claim damages, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Judges said evidence suggested “serious defaults” in the decision to detain Lotfi Raissi in prison for nearly five months after a US extradition request. The ruling means the government has to reconsider the 33-year-old’s claim for compensation, which it had refused.

Speaking after the judgement, Mr Raissi, of west London, said he had suffered a miscarriage of justice, and had now been “completely exonerated. I am very glad. I always had faith in British justice. Surely I can expect to hear from the home secretary with the long-awaited apology very soon.”

He said his wrongful arrest had left him blacklisted as a pilot and unable to work. “They destroyed my life, they destroyed my career. For this I will never, ever forgive them,” he said.

BBC News, 14 February 2008

The convictions of five young Muslim men jailed over extremist literature have been quashed by the Appeal Court.

Freeing the men, the Lord Chief Justice said there was no proof of terrorist intent. The lawyer for one said they had been jailed for a “thought crime”.

A jury convicted them in 2007 after hearing the men, of Bradford University and Ilford, London, became obsessed with jihadi websites and literature.

Irfan Raja, Awaab Iqbal, Aitzaz Zafar, Usman Malik and Akbar Butt were jailed for between two and three years each by the Old Bailey for downloading and sharing extremist terrorism-related material, in what was one of the first cases of its kind.

But at the Court of Appeal, Lord Phillips said that while the men had downloaded such material, he doubted if there was evidence this was in relation to planning terrorist acts. He said the prosecution had attempted to use the law for a purpose for which it was not intended.

Lawyers for the men say the decision to restrict how the law on extremist literature works has huge implications for counter terrorism prosecutions.

Critics inside the Muslim community and civil liberty campaigners say section 57 of the 2000 Terrorism Act has been used as a blunt instrument to prosecute young Muslim men where there is no proof of genuine links to terrorism.

The BBC understands there have been three other convictions under this legislation – more cases are expected before the courts this year.

Imran Khan, solicitor for Mr Zafar, said the five had been prosecuted for “thought crime” and that the ruling would have an significant impact.

He told BBC News: “Young Muslim men before this judgement could have been prosecuted simply for simply looking at any material on the basis that it might be connected in some way to terrorist purposes.”

He said section 57 of the 2000 Terrorism Act had been written in such wide terms that “effectively, anybody could have been caught in it” but prosecutors would now have to prove such material was intended for terrorist purposes.

BBC News, 13 February 2008

LGBT Muslims concerned that ban on scholar could contribute to Islamophobia

Imaan, the LGBT Muslim support group, joins those in the Muslim community who are concerned at the Home Office decision to ban Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. The Home Office is reported to have refused a visa for medical treatment on the grounds that: “the UK will not tolerate the presence of those who seek to justify any acts of terrorist violence or express views that could foster inter-community violence.”

This flies in the face of advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which states that acting “against Qaradawi would alienate significant and influential members of the global Muslim community … (and) give grist to Al-Qaeda propaganda of a western vendetta against Muslims…”

This advice, given in 2005 by its Islamic Affairs Advisor, clearly outlines that Qaradawi has made authoritative statements condemning the London bombings, the 9-11 attacks and other acts of terrorism, which he has stated are against the beliefs of Islam (see editor’s notes below for link).

Regarding his views on homosexuality, Imaan makes clear its disagreements with all faiths that are regressive on this issue.

However, we believe that all religious leaders should be treated equally and just as we would not support a ban on the Pope, so we are concerned that by banning Qaradawi, the Home Office is contributing to a climate of Islamophobia, which impacts on all Muslims, including our LGBT members.

Continue reading →

Peace and justice campaigners told the police to stop playing “silly buggers” on Monday following revelations that the anti-terrorism squad phone-tapped a senior Muslim MP while visiting a constituent in prison.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw told the Commons that a “fact-finding” investigation into the alleged police surveillance of Labour whip Sadiq Khan would report back within two weeks. Critics demanded to know who authorised the alleged bugging of the Tooting MP – an act banned under the so-called Wilson doctrine. Mr Straw replied that this was a matter for the inquiry, but he insisted that “no ministers played any part in these authorisations.”

According to BBC sources, a Thames Valley police officer made the decision to bug private conversations between Mr Khan and Babar Ahmad at Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes, in 2005 and 2006, using a microphone hidden in a table.

Mr Ahmad, who has never been charged with a crime, is awaiting extradition to the US for trial over allegedly running a website to raise funds for Chechen separatists and Afghanistan’s Taliban.

In a strongly worded statement, Mr Ahmad’s family condemned the alleged affair but they insisted that they were not surprised. “After Babar’s abuse at the hands of the police and the subsequent cover-up by the authorities, it does not surprise us that ‘dirty dealings’ like this were being authorised in the prison,” it said. “It seems as though they were clutching at straws and desperate to find something to pin on him as they have been unsuccessful in doing so.”

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said that it was a “frightening state of affairs that the surveillance of an MP was authorised by one Thames Valley police officer and no elected politicians knew about it.

“It raises questions about the issue of surveillance and the state of our democracy,” she insisted. “I have had many conversations with Mr Ahamad’s family. Does this mean that those meetings were bugged? This kind of police control will make any grass-roots campaign very difficult and threaten democracy.” Ms German added: “The government and the police should stop playing silly buggers and get to the bottom of this.”

Morning Star, 5 February 2008

See also Star Comment: “Risk of a police state“.