9 Sep 2011

Four life sentences for ex-Taliban fighter

Former Taliban fighter Munir Farooqi, who tried to recruit British Muslims for the Afghan Taliban, was today jailed for life after being caught by undercover police.

Four life sentences for ex-Taliban fighter, Munir Farooqi

Farooqi ran a “recruitment centre” for extremist Muslims in Manchester to try and persuade young men to fight and kill British soldiers in Afghanistan.

The 54-year-old, from Longsight, Manchester was arrested with two others after undercover police officers feigned interest in joining the Taliban and infiltrated the group.

Farooqi told the officers that they could become “martyrs” for the jihad cause, and bragged to them about fighting with the Taliban.

After a four month trial, the Pakistani-born British citizen was today given four life sentences for preparing for acts of terrorism, soliciting to murder and distributing terrorist publications. He will serve a minimum of nine years before being considered for parole.

Mr Justice Richard Henriques told Mr Farooqi: “You are in my judgment a very dangerous man, an extremist, a fundamentalist with a determination to fight abroad.”

Former British Army recruit Matthew Newton, 29, was sentenced to six years for preparing for acts of terrorism and distributing terrorist publications.

Israr Malik, 23 was also convicted of preparing for acts of terrorism and two counts of soliciting to murder. The court heard how Malik looked up to Farooqi as a mentor, and was described as a “victim of indoctrination”.

Farooqi’s son, Harris, appeared before the court but was cleared yesterday of a single count of engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorism. He sat in the court’s public gallery as his father was sentenced.

All four defendants pleaded not guilty to the 10 offences allegedly committed between October 2008 and November 2009.

Undercover operation
The court heard how Farooqi went to Afghanistan shortly after the 9/11 attacks and was an “active terrorist”. He returned to the UK in 2002 and tried to recruit people from Islamic bookstalls with the aim of delivering recruits to “training camps and battlefields” abroad.

The two undercover police officers, known as ‘Ray’ and ‘Simon’, approached the book stall in October 2008, pretending to be disengaged with life and interested in Islam.

They wore secret recording devices as Farooqi, Newton and Malik attempted to groom the officers over the course of a year, giving them books and DVDs to persuade them to join the cause. As the video below shows, they filmed Farooqi saying: “you’ll be getting a reward every day for being on the battlefield”.

Proving Ideology
Commenting on the verdict, Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, head of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit, (NWCTU) said this was a challenging case because there was no evidence of an “endgame” or attack plan.

“However, what we were able to prove was their ideology. These men were involved in an organised attempt in Manchester to recruit men to fight, kill and die in either Afghanistan or Pakistan by persuading them it was their religious duty,” he said.

“That is not an expression of religious freedom, but a concerted effort to prepare people to fight against our own forces abroad. In law, that is terrorism.”

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