|
LONDON - THREE men, including a computer expert who dubbed himself 'the jihadist James Bond', were jailed yesterday for using the Internet to incite terrorism.
Yesterday's case is the first prosecution to be based entirely on the distribution of jihadi material on the Internet.
Morocco-born ringleader Younis Tsouli, 23, who used the online ID 'irhabi007' - the Arabic word for 'terrorist' and the codename of fictional British spy James Bond - was given the heaviest sentence of 10 years.
With accomplices Tariq Al-Daour and Waseem Mughal, he offered advice and motivation to would-be terrorists on a myriad of webpages run from their London homes, prosecutors said.
Jurors were told that videos seized from the group gave advice on suicide belts, causing explosions, using rocket-propelled grenades, producing poisons and blowing up gas pipelines.
The trio spent at least 12 months engaged in what the judge called 'cyber jihad', using e-mail and radical websites to incite Muslims to follow the militant ideology of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
According to a Telegraph report, a group of 45 Muslim doctors threatened to use car bombs and rocket grenades in terrorist attacks in the United States during discussions on an Internet chat site run by the trio.
One message, thought to have been sent on Feb 12, 2005, read: 'We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America.
'The first target, which will be penetrated by nine brothers, is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy.'
This is thought to have been a reference to the USS John F. Kennedy, which is often at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida, said the Telegraph report.
Tsouli reportedly replied to the message: 'He needs the recipe for making car bombs', and a 'recipe' was supplied by one contributor, including gas cylinders as one ingredient.
Investigators have found no connection between the Tsouli chatroom and the cluster of doctors held in connection with the recent attempted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.
But one source told the Telegraph it was 'definitely spooky' that the use of doctors for terrorist purposes was discussed in jihadi terrorist circles as far back as three years ago.
Films of hostages and beheadings were found among their possessions, including footage of British contractor Ken Bigley, killed in Iraq in 2004; and US journalist Daniel Pearl, killed in Pakistan in 2002.
Forums on webpages maintained by the group included references to the Sept 11, 2001, attacks and the July 7, 2005, London transit attacks by four suicide bombers.
'From the moment the infidels cry, I laugh,' said one post referring to the London attacks that killed 52 commuters.
Said prosecutor Mark Ellison: 'Each of these three young men firmly believed and supported and set about inciting others to follow an extreme ideology of violent holy war against so-called disbelievers.'
Al-Daour, a 21-year-old biochemistry student, was jailed for six years and Waseem Mughal, a 24-year-old law student, for seven years. All three men had pleaded guilty to inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.
Separately, a man was convicted yesterday in Manchester of possessing terrorist training materials, including instructions on using gas canisters to make car bombs.
Prosecutors said they found material on the computer of Omar Altimimi, 37, which identified nightclubs and airports as 'suitable targets'.
There is no suggestion Altimimi was involved in the failed attempts to bomb the London nightclubs and Glasgow airport, but Greater Manchester Police's counter-terrorism unit chief Tony Porter said he 'appears to have been a 'sleeper'...waiting and preparing for action'.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
|
