Conviction of Scottish terror suspect is overturned; miscarriage of justice cited

Scottish man’s terror conviction overturned

LONDON — The conviction of a man accused of wanting to become a suicide bomber was overturned Tuesday after a court in Scotland ruled that the trial judge did not properly instruct the jury.

Prosecutors indicated they will not seek new charges against Mohammed Atif Siddique, 24, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2007.

Prosecutors had said during the four-week trial that the Scottish college student had scoured Islamic extremist Web sites for information about bomb-making and other tactics. He was reported to have told other students he intended to become a suicide bomber.

Siddique’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, read a statement from the former prisoner as they left the court Tuesday.

“I have always maintained my innocence, but they took my liberty, destroyed my family’s reputation and labeled me a terrorist, but I never had any bombs or plans to hurt anyone,” Siddique said through his lawyer.

“In court it was said I was a wannabe suicide bomber, but I have always said I was simply looking for answers on the Internet.”

Senior judges at Scotland’s Criminal Court of Appeal described the trial judge’s instruction as a miscarriage of justice.

The appeals court found the trial judge had not properly explained the provisions of Britain’s anti-terrorism laws when instructing the jury about how to assess whether Siddique was guilty of the main charge against him.

That charge dealt with the prosecutions claim that he possessed materials that could give rise to a “reasonable suspicion” that they were to be used in the planning of a terrorist attack.

Siddique’s convictions on two lesser terrorism charges were not affected by the Appeal Court judgment and he has served his sentence for them.

Prosecutors also said during the trial that Siddique was watched by security agents for several months before he was arrested in April 2006 as he tried to board a flight from Glasgow to Lahore, Pakistan.

Siddique, from the town of Clackmannanshire in central Scotland, had stored and posted guides to bomb-making, guns and explosives on a network of Web sites, prosecutors said.

He was found guilty of four offenses under British terrorism laws and a separate offense of breaching the peace, carried out between March 1, 2003, and April 13, 2006.

Police and prosecutors did not claim that Siddique was connected to a failed terror attack on Glasgow Airport in June, 2007.