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March 28, 2008

UK: Islamist Terrorists Freed Early

On Friday afternoon (March 28), it was revealed that two men convicted and jailed in Britain for terrorist offences have been freed early from jail. The news is carried by the Telegraph, Evening Standard, Bloomberg, UPI and the Daily Mail. As a result of public outrage, Jack Straw of the Ministry of Justice promptly issued an order, stating that no person convicted of terrorism would in future be released early. The "u-turn" is reported by the BBC, Reuters, International Herald Tribune and the Times.

The man who was initially named was Yassin Nassari, a drop out from Westminster University. He had been arrested at Luton airport in Bedfordshire when he arrived back in Britain on an Easyjet flight from Amsterdam on May 13, 2006. With him was his Dutch-born wife Bouchra El Hor. In Nassari's luggage was a laptop computer containing a blueprint for the manufacture of an Al Qassam 1.5 missile of the type used by Hamas terrorists against Israel.

At the Old Bailey on May 30, 2007 the jury was told that Nassari's wife had sent him a letter which was retrieved among his luggage at Luton airport. This included the words: "The moment has come where you and I have to separate for the cause of Allah. I am so proud, my husband, and I am happy for you that Allah had granted you this chance to be a Mujihad in the cause of God. I am writing to let you know that you have my support and to remind you to be strong and do not let Satan influence you... to remind you that jihad is now compulsory and we are now obligated to protect Islam, to help our brothers and sisters to fight the kuffar."

"I really wish I could go with you because I too feel obliged to do all this and look to participate in any way I can. God willing, I will do anything in my power to raise our son the best way I can so he can be a righteous Muslim. I will also tell him all about his father so he can be proud of him and follow in his footsteps."

Nassari was charged with "possessing an article for the purposes of terrorism and possession of a document of record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism." His wife Bouchra el Hor was accused of "failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism." The wife was acquitted of terrorism charges, but Nassari was found guilty and sentenced to three and a half years' jail on July 18, 2007.

Nassari, who smiled when sentenced, was the son of a civl engineer from Belize. He had three siblings who were high achievers. Nassari was connected with the online terrorist network set up by Younes Tsouli. Nassari used the name "Mock Turtle" while accessing the At-Tibyan website.

Even considering that those who are convicted in Britain usually serve only half of their sentences if they display, Nassari should have been released until this month (taking into consideration the fact that he had served 13 months in jail prior to his conviction). He was released from Wakefield jail on February 11 this year, 17 days earlier than expected. He is to spend the remainder of his sentence (21 months) on probation.

What makes this more unusual, as stated by the Times and the Standard, is that according to unconfirmed reports, Nassari was moved from Belmarsh prison in southeast London in November last year. This happened after he was suspected of plotting to blow up the jail.

The Ministry of Justice knew about the early release of Nassari, but only publicly admitted that it was aware of this after being approached by a Sunday Times investigative journalist. The ministry said that Nassari had become eligible for early release under the terms of the End of Custody Licence (ECL) scheme as his sentence was less than four years. The ECL terms allow a prisoner to be released 18 days earlier than expected. The ECL measures were introduced in 2007 as an emergency to reduce overcrowding, and were said to only be granted to "non-dangerous" prisoners.

According to a spokeswoman from the Ministry of Justice: "A category A prisoner was released from Wakefield prison on February 11. The prisoner met the criteria for early release under the ... scheme. Where a prisoner satisfies the criteria then release must follow. This individual is subject to licence conditions and multi-agency public protection arrangements. The National Offender Management Service has not been notified of any re-offending by this individual during his period of 17 days on ECL or during his continuing probation supervision since then."

On Friday evening Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, altered the policy of allowing convicted terrorists (even if non-violent) to be part of the ECL scheme. He said: "In the light of this case I have taken action to tackle this issue - no more prisoners convicted under terrorism legislation will be released through the ECL scheme."

On the same evening it was revealed that another convicted terrorist has been released early under the ECL scheme. The BBC named this individual as Abdul Muneem Patel. In August 2006 when he was aged only 17, Patel had been among 20 or so individuals who had been arrested as part of a police anti-terror operation. This measure, called "Operation Overt" had been mounted in conjunction with American and Pakistani authorities. It was believed that individuals had plotted to bring liquid explosives onto airplanes bound from Britain to the United States. This plot was a reworking of the "Operation Bojinka" plot, which had been developed by Ramzi Yousef in 1995 to be enacted on trans-Pacific flights to the US.

Abdul Muneem Patel from Clapton (London E5) was jailed in October last year at the Old Bailey for six months. He had been found guilty of possessing a terrorism-related explosives manual. Patel was released early from Glen Parva prison on January 7 this year.

Reactions to the ECL scheme being allowed for those convicted on terrorism charges - even though the scheme was designed to only include non-violent inmates - have been critical of the government. David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said that the releases "defied common sense". He noted that the revelations come only days before the government is due to try to increase the time that terrorism suspects can be detained without being charged. He said: "Jack Straw must now say when he knew about this, and why he has only just acted."

Harry Fletcher, Assistant General Secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers said: "Clearly, anyone convicted of terrorism should have been ruled out of the scheme."

Nick Herbert, Tory MP for Arundel and South Downs, said: "Releasing terrorists early, having served less than half of their sentence, because the government has failed to provide enough prison places isn't just incompetent - it's a disgrace."

On March 21 this year, it was revealed that two other convicted terrorists, Dhiren Barot and Omar Khyam, had been transferred from Frankland prison because the regime there was consideired to be "too white". Dhiren Barot, who had plotted attacks in the US and UK, including using a radioactive "dirty bomb" (RDD) had been attacked with boiling water in July 2007.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 28, 2008 7:44 PM

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