He smiled as he was jailed

1:30pm Thursday 19th July 2007

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THE head of the Islamic Society at the University of Westminster, who tried to smuggle terrorist training manuals into Britain, smiled as he was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Yassin Nassari, from Ealing, was stopped by police with his wife and five month-old son at Luton airport in May last year. In his luggage was a laptop containing blueprints for making rockets and leaflets on becoming a martyr.

The 28-year-old had been in contact with at least one convicted terrorist in the past. It emerged that Nassari had shared grisly extremist videos with cyber-terrorist Tariq Al-Daour, who was recently jailed for six-and-a-half years for incitement to murder using the internet.

Nassari used the name "Mock Turtle" to chat with Al-Daour online after becoming radicalised as a student in 2003.

Nassari married his wife, Bouchra El-Hor, a Dutch national, at Ealing registry office in 2005.

The family were returning from Amsterdam when they were stopped by police, who then raided their home under the Terrorism Act 2000 and recovered dozens of documents, CDs, and DVDs.

The material included documents entitled: "Preparing the fighter who is going for jihad", "How to run a training camp", and "Virtues of martyrdom in the path of Allah".

Police also found detailed instruction on how to construct a Qassam artillery rocket - a home-made steel rocket used by terrorist group Hamas - from the driveshaft of a Peugout 504.

It is believed that Nassari obtained the material while working as an English teacher in Syria in 2006.

Nassari was cleared on Tuesday by a jury at the Old Bailey of possessing an article for the purposes of terrorism, but found guilty of the lesser charge of possession of a document of record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Judge Gerald Gordon, sentencing, accepted that he did not plan to make use of the extremist material.

He said: "I have come to the conclusion that sadly like a number of other young Muslims you have somehow been indoctrinated into beliefs which support the use of terrorism by others.

"Holding such beliefs is not a crime in itself but what is a crime is to possess material of a kind likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing terrorist acts.

Describing Nassari as a Jack the Lad', he added: "I have no doubt that you wished to immerse yourself in this sort of fundamentalist trash but on the material available to me there is nothing to indicate any actual terrorist use would have been made of it by anyone."

Nassari, bearded and wearing a skull cap, smiled and clenched his fists as he turned to look at his wife in court.

He blew her a kiss as he went down to the cells.

His wife, dressed in a full burka with only her eyes showing, had also been on trial for failing to disclose information about an act of terrorism - but was acquitted.

She had been found in possession of a letter that encouraged Nassari to fight non-Muslims and martyr himself.

She later claimed that the letter was a fantasy', written after her and Nassari had split up.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the MPS Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Nassari held the ideology, ability and determination to find and download material which would have been useful to terrorists.

"He communicated with other like-minded people and shared their interest in gruesome extremist material.

"He conducted research into how to construct and deploy weaponry commonly used by terrorists in the Middle-East.

"What he intended to do upon his return to the UK is unclear.

"However, it is possible that his research could have ended up in the hands of individuals or groups willing to put it into practice."