Topic: Britain: Prison For Would-Be Jihad Fighter

New York Times
January 9, 2008 By John F. Burns
Sohail Qureshi, a London dental technician who was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2006 boarding a flight to Pakistan, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in the first conviction under a new law against planning terrorism. The prosecutor said Mr. Qureshi, originally from Pakistan, planned a ''two- to three-week operation'' either in Pakistan or Afghanistan, possibly against Western troops. He was carrying nearly $18,000, a telescopic night sight and a computer hard drive loaded with militant Islamic tracts, the court was told. Prosecutors said that he had trained with jihadist groups in Pakistan linked to Al Qaeda and that his skills included encrypting e-mail messages. The court was also told of e-mail exchanges he had with Samina Malik, known as the ''lyrical terrorist,'' who received a suspended sentence in November for keeping a library of terrorist material. Ms. Malik, a clerk at a Heathrow newsstand who wrote poetry limning her passion for Islamic militancy, received an e-mail message from Mr. Qureshi asking about security arrangements at Heathrow. According to the prosecution, she replied, ''The airport security is as tight as ever.''