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Civil liberties - in brief (13)

01 August 2008

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UK: "Lyrical Terrorist" conviction overturned

In June 2008, Samina Malik, who wrote poetry under the pen name "Lyrical Terrorist", had her terrorism conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal. She had been convicted in November 2007 for possessing documents that could provide practical assistance to terrorists, under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and given a nine-month sentence suspended for 18 months (over which time she would be under supervision) and 100 hours of community service. Giving judgment at her appeal, Lord Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice, said that "there was scope for the jury to have become confused" because a large number of the documents they had been asked to consider clearly were not "capable of being of practical utility for a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism". Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's counter terrorism division, acknowledged that 21 documents used in the trial did not fall under Section 58 and said a retrial would not be sought. She maintained, however, that other material in Malik's possession such as the al-Qaeda Manual, the Terrorist's Handbook and the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook were relevant. All of these documents are widely available over the internet and indeed the al-Qaeda Manual is available for download from the US Department of Justice's website.

BBC News Online 17/6/08; The Register 18/6/08

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