Uk: Court Jails Turkish-Born Student For 'Bomb Manual'

A British citizen of Turkish origin has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for possessing an alleged bomb-making manual.



The decision came Wednesday nearly a week after the Old Bailey criminal court had cleared Erol Incedal, a 27-year-old law student, of plotting to target former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and planning alleged terrorist attacks in the U.K.



However, the court found Turkish-born Incedal and another British citizen, Mounir Rarmoul-Bougadjar, guilty of possessing an illegal bomb-making document. Rarmoul-Bougadjar was sentenced to three years for the offense.



At the court hearing, Justice Nicol said: "The potential for such bombs to cause death, injury and destruction are obvious. The fear, panic and terror which explosions also bring are often a deliberate part of the terrorist's ambition."



Tony Blair's home address was also found in Incedal's car when it was pulled over for a traffic offense and searched in September 2014. Rarmoul-Bougadjar was with Incedal when authorities stopped the car. Both were tried on various terrorism charges, including for possessing a secure digital memory card that allegedly could have been used for committing or preparing an act of terrorism.



The prosecution had also claimed that Incedal researched about the Daesh terrorist group and spoke to a suspect abroad over Skype in an attempt to acquire a Kalashnikov assault rifle.



Initially, the trial for the two British suspects was held mostly in secret. This triggered a controversy in the U.K., with rights campaigners and journalists warning that the precedent could damage Britain's tradition of open justice. The British government had argued that the proceedings of the trial needed to be kept secret because of national security concerns. However, the Court of Appeal later rejected the government's argument.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Ankara