Terror convictions against three UK Muslims and the lessons to be drawn

Tuesday, 08 September 2009 11:08

Today's newspapers understandably give prominent coverage to the conviction of three British Muslims, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, (pictured) who were convicted of conspiring to activate bombs disguised as drinks in the 'airliner plot'.

All three were also found guilty in an earlier trial of conspiracy to murder involving liquid bombs.

Stories such as these provide a reminder that the terror threat to the UK is real and our security services have an unenviable task in trying to protect this country and its people. All of us, Muslims and non-Muslims, have a shared interest in making sure that the police and security services succeed in their efforts to safeguard the UK and its citizens.

There have been some mischievous efforts by neo-con aligned think tanks like Policy Exchange and the Quilliam Foundation to deliberately blur the distinction between peaceful Muslims engaged in legitimate, democratic political work and violent groups inspired by al-Qaida. It is a frankly McCarthyite approach that regards all politically engaged Muslims as being on a kind of conveyor belt whose end point is violent extremism. The more sensible strategy is surely to view UK Muslims as a valued and essential partner in working towards the goal of a safer and more secure Britain.

The benefits of such an approach were underlined just a couple of months ago when a would-be bomber was successfully prosecuted and convicted following a tip-off from the local Muslim community.

However, as an editorial in the Guardian today argues, the lesson to be learned from these convictions should be that the rule of law works and provided that sufficient resources are deployed and a sensible strategy adopted then the government should not have to resort to highly controversial measures such as control orders. Control orders have been used by the government to deny liberty to a number of foreign nationals against whom the government has not been able to collate sufficient evidence of wrongdoing that would satisfy a court.

At the same time, the trials of a number of convicted terrorists now make abundantly clear that a widespread perception that the UK is involved in killing Muslims overseas have been a key contributory factor in the radicalisation process. The BBC reporter, Dominic Casciani yesterday noted that:

"Ali and Sarwar went to deliver aid to the refugee camps - and their experiences radically altered their world view.

"Abdulla Ahmed Ali, the ringleader of the group, was shocked by the appalling conditions. His anger was compounded by the failure of the 2003 mass protest against the Iraq war.

"The anger felt by men like Ahmed Ali turned him against the UK and America and he turned to radical Islamists who were increasingly calling for attacks on Britain."

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