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Mousa Brown acquitted of terrorism charges

One of the men accused of organising terrorist training camps and activities in the Lake District and elsewhere in England, which some of the 21/7 attempted bombers attended before they sought to attack London's transport system in 2005, has been acquitted of all the charges which he faced.

Mousa Brown, 41, of Walthamstow, East London, with four others faced a total of 19 terrorism charges at Woolwich Crown Court in South East London in a case that has lasted four and a half months. Prosecutors had accused Brown of being part of an ‘inner circle' who would take younger men to paintballing sessions where they would be trained in the use of "firearms" for the purposes of terrorism.

Half way through the trial prosecutors withdrew the allegation of providing weapons training but maintained that the available evidence supported their contention that whilst paintballing Mr.Brown had received firearms training for the purposes of terrorism from his co-accused Mohammed Hamid. Although Hamid and others were convicted of various terrorist offences, Brown who had spent 18 months in custody before his release on Wednesday was cleared of receiving such firearms training by the jury.

The four other men tried alongside Brown, as well as other young men who pleaded Guilty to attending a place where terrorism training was provided were sentenced.

Attilla Ahmet, a co-accused, who pleaded guilty to three counts of soliciting to murder before the start of the trial is still also to be sentenced along with Mohamed Hamid next week. Atilla Ahmet had been secretly recorded encouraging members of the group to kill.

The two-year investigation conducted by the anti-terrorist branch involved the bugging of Hamid's home during which thousands of hours of conversation was recorded, the calling to give evidence of security service agents to comment upon what they had witnessed in terms of "training", and the eventual infiltration by an undercover officer into the group. During the trial The Crown admitted that despite Brown and the others having associated with the 21/7 defendants that they had no idea that the attempted bombings of 21/7 were going to take place.

Brown who was born in Clapton, East London had met Hamid whilst playing for a Sunday league football team on the Hackney Marshes. It was through Hamid that he had come to the Muslim faith in the mid-1990's and had met the other co-defendants. He told the jury that he attended the various meetings at Hamid's home as a way of socialising with his Muslim friends, that he had always enjoyed sports, camping and outdoor pursuits with his young family and friends, and that his going paintballing was not in any way sinister let alone for the purposes of preparing to carry out acts of terrorism.

Patrick Upward QC and Daniel Flahive of 15 New Bridge Street Chambers acted on behalf of Brown as instructed by Golden Solicitors. Patrick Upward QC said "Mousa Brown always denied any involvement in terrorist activities and this is now reflected in the jury's verdict".

For further information

• 'Osama bin London' gang guilty of terror training - Times Online
• Top extremist recruiter is jailed - BBC News
• 'MI5 wanted me as an informant' - BBC News
• Jury sees 'Terror Training' video - BBC News

28 February 2008

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