Mohammed Atif Siddique is a Scottish prisoner who was found guilty, but later cleared on appeal,[1] of one of his convictions "collecting terrorist-related information, setting up websites...and circulating inflammatory terrorist publications", resulting in a sentence of eight years' imprisonment. His defence has consistently been that he was a curious 20-year-old youth, still living with his parents, who was "looking for answers on the internet".[2] One of his convictions was quashed on appeal on 29 January 2010. He remains a convicted terrorist.
BBC programme maker Peter Taylor reported in his acclaimed three part series "Generation Jihad" that Siddique was linked to extremist Abid Khan, who was later imprisoned for Terrorist offences also.
Siddique's parents, of South Asian descent,[2] run a general store in Alva, Clackmannanshire which their son believed should stop serving alcohol as an off-licence.[3] Arguments with his parents led to his running away from home once, before returning.[3]
Siddique attended Alva Academy where he was a "model student", before enrolling as a Computing Technician student at Glasgow Metropolitan College.[4][5]
- ^ "The Latest News from the UK and Around the World".
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
bbcwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Elias, Richard The Scotsman, "A Polite Student from a Quiet Scottish Town?"
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
canwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ The Independent, 'Wannabe suicide bomber' faces 15 years in prison, Sep 18, 2007