Rochdale student found guilty of possession of terrorist materials

Date published: 25/07/2007

Aitzaz Zafar of Bishop Street Rochdale, a 20-year-old student at Bradford Univeristy, is facing a lengthy jail term alongside three fellow conspirators. The quartet are facing jail terms after they were found guilty of possessing materials for terrorist purposes at an Old Bailey court hearing on Tuesday 25 July.

Zafar was one of three Bradford University students involved, with Mohammed Irfan Raja, 18, joining the three when he ran away to join the students from his home in Ilford, east London.

Prosecutors argued that Zafar, Raja, Usman Ahmed Malik, 21 and Akbar Butt, 20 were trying to encourage others to fight abroad and die as martyrs

They were arrested in February last year after Raja left a note for his parents saying he was going to fight overseas and they would meet again in Heaven, the Old Bailey court heard.

Raja had been communicating and exchanging material with the other students on the Internet and went to stay with them. But he returned home three days later on February 26 after a tearful phone call in which his parents begged him to come back. His parents then took him to the police.

Counter-terrorism police arrested the students after their computers, including those at the university, were searched.

The items found included a video encouraging martyrdom, a US military guide giving instructions on how to make explosive devices and a suicide bombing manual.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis said the propaganda on the internet led Raja to try to get to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. "When Raja went to join the jihad, he chose Bradford and the co-defendants as the best way to start.

"He had hidden his purpose from his family who were beside themselves when they found out what he had done," he said.

The court heard how Zafar discussed travel arrangements over the internet with a contact called "Imran" in Lahore, Pakistan.

The students denied plotting to train for jihad.

The defendants, who had spent much of the trial laughing and giggling together, looked shocked as the verdicts were announced.

They face a maximum of ten years in prison when they are sentenced later this week.