The Daily Mail reports an interesting story,under the headline "Lessons in Jihad as secret terror manual translated by MI5 is made public by America"
The amazing series of events that led to an Al Qaeda terrorist manual becoming freely available on the internet can be revealed today.
Through a combination of the rules of evidence discovery and the US Freedom of Information Act, a "terrorist manual" found in a British operation and subsequently translated into English is now available from the website of the US Department of Justice. I was a bit sceptical when I read this, but if you do a google search for "DOJ Al Qaeda Manual" then it's the top link. Some elements of the manual have been redacted, particularly relating to explosives, but apparently a full version is available via the US website "The Smoking Gun"
Now this is not actually news, in the sense of being, you know, "New". The manual is at least ten years old, was discovered eight years ago and has been online for at least three years. But there is a newsworthy element - last week Khalid Khaliq was jailed for 16 months for possesion of this manual. (arrested in May '07, so with time served and automatic parole at halfway point, he's probably due for release next week)
Judge James Stewart QC, on sentencing, said:
"Our society, unlike many others, allows freedom of expression of religious and political views.
"But you overstepped the boundary, possessing material capable of training those bent on the destruction of the democracy and society whose benefits you have so readily accepted."
I can't comment further on the content of the manual, since I don't have it. According to the Crown Prosecution Service:
possession of the document [is] a serious crime under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act.
but through secondary sources, and reference to official documentation, I have identified an alternate source of much of the same information that is legal to possess.
I do wonder what benefit society has gained from Khaliq's conviction - much of the information in the "manual" is false, or ridiculous and bits are likely cribbed from Tom Clancy technothrillers. Yet simply through its possession, we are now paying around £100 per day for the privilege of imprisoning an unemployed layabout with no history of terrorist activity, unless "being from Leeds" is considered circumstantial evidence.
For comparison, Judge Stewart recently ruled in another case: two people who beat a man to death received six and seven year sentences, and thus will both be out in less than four years.
