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Al Qaida chief of terror gets life sentence
The first person to be convicted in the UK of directing terrorism was jailed yesterday for a minimum of 10 years.
Rangzieb Ahmed, 33, headed a three-man al Qaida service cell which was preparing to commit mass murder, Manchester Crown Court heard.
The Rochdale-born Muslim was also found guilty of al Qaida membership, along with his associate, Manchester taxi driver Habib Ahmed.
Habib Ahmed, 29, was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison – nine for being a member of the terror group and an additional one year for possessing a document for terror-related purposes.
Handing Rangzieb Ahmed a life sentence, Mr Justice Saunders said: "The prosecution case accepted by the jury was you were not one of the leaders but a recruiter and organiser of smaller terrorist cells throughout the world to work for al Qaida. "You were a not-insignificant member of al Qaida."
He went on: "I am satisfied you are dedicated to the cause of Islamic terrorism."
He ruled that he should serve a minimum of 10 years before he is considered for parole and that would only be when he is no longer considered a danger to the public and has forsaken his radical views.
Mr Justice Saunders told Habib Ahmed: "You assisted Rangzieb Ahmed, a man who you knew to be an active terrorist working for al Qaida."
Habib Ahmed helped by travelling to Dubai when Rangzieb Ahmed was on a terrorist mission and brought important notebooks into Britain.
Rangzieb Ahmed would have not have been able to carry on organising terrorism without them, said the judge.
Counter-terrorism chiefs in Greater Manchester were not sure where Rangzieb Ahmed was planning to strike, but they were convinced an attack was imminent. His scheme was uncovered when he passed three diaries to Habib Ahmed, no relation, to bring into the UK from Dubai.
The diaries appeared largely blank but actually contained details of key al Qaida operatives written in invisible ink. The phone number of the terror group's former No 3, Hamza Rabia, was among the diary entries, a jury at Manchester Crown Court was told. Rabia was blown up in December 2005.
Rangzieb needed to get rid of the diaries and summoned Habib to collect them in Dubai and keep them safe in the UK.
Custom officials at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam searched Habib's luggage and found the diaries, which they photographed and put back.
In August 2006 Rangzieb was arrested by the Pakistani authorities on suspicion of al Qaida links and Habib was apprehended shortly afterwards in Manchester.
Two of the invisible ink diaries were discovered at Habib's home in Elmfield Street, Cheetham Hill, north Manchester. The third book has never been recovered.
Rangzieb and Habib were convicted of the terror offences on Thursday following a 11-week trial.
The jury cleared Habib's wife, Mehreen Haji, 28, of two counts of arranging funding for the purposes of terrorism.
Rangzieb, of Fallowfield, south Manchester, also received concurrent sentences of nine years both for membership of al Qaida and possessing the diaries for the use of terrorism, and six years for membership of terror group Harakat ul-Mujahideen.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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