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Despite accusations that the UK is going to hell in a handcart following the release of “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe”, Abu Qatada, and the delightful Jordanian’s subsequent renewal of the call to violent jihad, there are signs that the British judiciary at least retains a semblance of common sense.

On Tuesday 17 June 2008, the UK Court of Appeal quashed the conviction of Samina Malik, the “lyrical terrorist”, for possession of information useful for terrorist purposes under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Originally convicted on 6 December 2007, Malik was handed a nine-month suspended sentence, partly one suspects because the judge felt under obligation to do something. Judge Peter Beaumont confessed that Malik was an “enigma” to him and that her offence was “on the margins of what this crime concerns.”

The Crown Prosecution Service will not seek a further retrial despite their obvious feeling that she’s guilty as charged, so Samina Malik can return to her life in West London an innocent person under the law. This being Britain, the press will probably hound her until her dying day - this is the country in which paediatricians are harassed for being child molesters, lest we forget. Apparently, the perpetrators of this act of staggering ignorance thought her ‘job title’ was paedophile. They should just have googled her:

I digress, and flippantly at that. The judiciary is evidently having some problems enforcing recent ‘terror’ legislation, at the appeal stage at least. In February 2008, five Muslim students’ convictions for possession of extremist material were also overturned. The ruling in both cases determined that prosecution must show intent to commit terrorism arising from possession of extremist literature. Malik owned a service manual for a 7.62mm semi-automatic Dragunov sniper rifle, but no weapon. Nor had she shown any attempt to obtain one. Ergo, not guilty on that charge. You can download the manual as a PDF if you wish, or indeed the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook [PDF], Essential Provision of the Mujahid [PDF, h/t Marisa], OBL’s “Declaration of War” (take your pick), or any number of other seditious documents in Malik’s house.

Malik may have been heading down an undesirable path, but she had to be acquitted. It might be true that her arrest and subsequent remand halted her progress along the track of radicalisation, but there is the problem of evidence, which in her case and others simply did not qualify as such. Of more concern should have been her relationship with Sohail Qureshi, who at least admitted preparing for terrorism under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act. Intelligence apparently showed that Qureshi had ‘previous’, through his attendance at jihadist training camps, and seemed to be actively gearing up to commit a terrorist offence. Malik allegedly supplied information about Heathrow Airport security procedures to Qureshi, although I’ve seen nothing in this vein that wasn’t publicly available. Qureshi is currently serving a 4½-year sentence in a British prison.

Malik’s acquittal is a mixed bag. Her defence’s argument that her (dreadful) poetry was akin to Wilfred Owen’s WWI complex horrors seems not to have been challenged by the Appeal judge as a spurious legal tactic, let alone a gross miscarriage of literary criticism. Her release helps curtail frivolous and desperate uses of the 2006 legislation, and may strengthen the central provisions of the Act. It also avoids the creation of another martyr, and the British legal system avoids another accusation of being a recruiting sergeant for violent extremists. Will it deter further abuses? Undoubtedly not, but as long as the Appeals Court continues to do its job, hopefully this will create in time a body of sensible applications of the law. If the evidence does not exist, drop the charges, and ramp up your intelligence and policing activities. Don’t bully the judiciary to cover up evidential inadequacies.

Proper commentary on Regina vs. Malik can be found at the following:

NEFA: TerrorWatch on Fatah al-Islam and Samina Malik Powerpoint - Evan Kohlmann at CT Blog

R v Malik [2008] All ER (D) 201 (Jun) - CyberLaw Blog

CPS Response to Salima Malik Appeal - Crown Prosecution Service press

Is It Safe to Download Al Qaeda Manuals Yet? - The Register

‘Lyrical terrorist’ wins appeal - BBC Online