Woman Jailed

by **Sabre** 8/12/2012, 16:40

Woman Jailed After Terrorist Material Found On Phone

Date: Friday, December 07, 2012
Source: Guardian Unlimited

A woman who had al-Qaida terrorist material in her mobile phone was jailed for a year on Thursday. Ruksana Begum (22) who has a first-class accountancy degree, had been married for a month when anti-terrorist officers raided an address where she was staying in east London in July.

The Old Bailey heard today that her brothers, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah, pleaded guilty to a plot to blow up the Stock Exchange and were sentenced this year to 12 and 16 years jail in February. Mohammed Chowdhury, who was jailed for 13 years for the same December 2010 plot, asked to marry her but she had never met him. She married in June and moved to London with her new husband.

Begum, who lived in Cardiff next door to Miah, pleaded guilty last month to having material that was likely to be useful to someone committing or preparing an act of terrorism. This was two editions of al-Qaida's Inspire magazine on a micro SD memory card in her mobile.Begum, of Islington, north London, appeared with only her eyes visible beneath a black veil to be sentenced after being remanded in Holloway prison.

Kate Wilkinson, prosecuting, said: "These items contained both instructional and ideological material." The terrorist material included instructions on remote control detonation, handgun training and how to ignite forest fires.

Hossein Zahir, defending, said Begum downloaded the material a few weeks before because she wanted to understand why her brothers had taken the path they had. He said: "She was confident that her brothers were innocent and they would be acquitted. Then they pleaded guilty. She accessed this material, which is easily accessible, before coming to London to understand the background and ideology which led to her brothers' incarceration. She is an intelligent and articulate young woman who does not share the views of others who do not care."

After taking into account time spent in custody it is likely Begum will be released in a month after serving half her sentence. The judge, Mr Justice Fulford, said there was nothing to suggest that Begum was herself involved in terrorist activity. He added: "Instead, this defendant, with other members of her family, was devastated by the arrest and later imprisonment of her brothers for serious terrorist offences.

"The family, which was previously respected in the community where they lived in Cardiff, were ostracised.

"She is of good behaviour and a good Muslim. Against this background, I accept on the evidence before me that this defendant gathered together the contents of the SD card in order to explore and understand the charges which her brothers faced. There is no evidence that she was motivated by their ideology or was preparing to follow them. She damaged what could have been a potentially blossoming future by committing these offences."

But, said the judge, the material could have aided a terrorist, and such serious offences would always carry a prison sentence.

Metropolitan deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Osborne, senior national co-ordinator of counter-terrorism, said: "The public should be in no doubt that Inspire is a terrorist publication with the ultimate aim of encouraging attacks. Today's sentencing reflects the fact that possessing a copy of a terrorist publication is a serious offence. Anyone caught in possession of this, or any other terrorist material, can expect to be brought before the courts."