I blogged about the socalled “lyrical terrorist”last year, who was arrested an prosecuted for writing bad jihadi poetry as well as having some dodgy books on her bookshelves. Eventually she was convicted under the 2000 terrorism act, but appealed and now she has had her conviction quashed:
Samina Malik, 24, was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence at the Old Bailey last December after she became the first woman to be found guilty of storing material likely to be of use for terrorism.
Malik, of Southall, west London, adopted her nickname because of extremist lyrics she wrote on till receipts, but was never prosecuted over her poetry.
The lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, sitting in the court of appeal with Mr Justice Goldring and Mr Justice Plender, quashed the conviction after the Crown conceded that it was unsafe. In his judgment, Lord Phillips said the court decided that an offence would only be committed if the material concerned was likely to have provided practical assistance to a person either committing or preparing for terrorism. Propagandist or theological material did not fall within the legislation, he said.
“We consider that there is a very real danger that the jury became confused and that the prosecution have rightly conceded that this conviction is unsafe.”
In other words, once again it’s the judges that have to clean up the mess New Labour made passing badly drafted laws.