The Lyrical Terrorist Convicted

Posted on November 8, 2007

I had to post this one, just cause I found it very interesting.

An airport worker who wrote poems about beheadings is the first woman to be found guilty under new terror laws.

Samina Malik, who liked to call herself a “lyrical terrorist”, called for attacks on the West and described “poisoned bullets” capable of killing an entire street in her poetry.

The 23-year-old Muslim wrote of her desire to become a martyr and listed her favourite videos as the “beheading ones”.

Described as a “committed Islamic extremist”, Malik, a shop assistant at Heathrow, hoarded an extensive collection of terrorism manuals, the Old Bailey heard.

She was a member of an extremist group linked to Omar Bakri Mohammed, a hate preacher who fled to Lebanon from Britain two years ago.

Yesterday a jury found her guilty of possessing documents likely to be used for terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000, by a majority of ten to one, after deliberating for 19 hours.

Malik, who wore a black head scarf, wept as the verdict was read out.

Earlier she was cleared of the more serious offence of having articles for a terrorist purpose.

Judge Peter Beaumont told Malik that she was an enigma.

He granted her bail which amounted to a house arrest. But he warned her a custodial sentence was inevitable.