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November 24, 2005
UK: Algerian Islamist Guilty Of Terror Charges
Abbas Boutrab, aged 32, has been found guilty at Belfast Crown Court today of possessing information "for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism." Justice Ronnie Weatherup stated he was "satisfied that ... possession of the material was not out of curiosity but was for terrorist purposes."
Syracuse.com states that Boutrab, an Algerian, had downloaded information on making a hidden bomb which could be used to blow up a commercial airliner onto 25 computer disks. Boutrab had argued he did it out of "curiosity".
Boutrab was also found guilty of possessing a stolen passport. He will be sentenced on December 19. When he had been arrested in 2003, Boutrab was using a passport which belonged to Fabio Parenti, an Italian tourist who had the document stolen at Dublin airport on Sept 1, 2001.
Prosecutors claimed Boutrab had tried to seek asylum in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK, using various aliases.
The trial was held without a jury, in the manner formerly used to try IRA terrorists. An FBI explosives expert, Donald Sachtleben gave evidence for the prosecution during the trial. He said he had built and detonated tree bombs following the method on Boutrab's disks. The mixture could have been disguised in a bottle of baby powder, and could easily be detonated using the battery from a CD player.
He claimed "a person of average intelligence and average mechanical skills" could create the bomb, which "would be likely to cause significant damage to the aircraft and cause injury or death." In a pressurised cabin at high altitude, it would "more than likely...cause catastrophic failure".
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 24, 2005 2:12 PM
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