Web site downloads lead to terror accusations

Mohamed went to court yesterday to have a police search, in which his computer and other belongings were seized, declared illegal. He asked that his property be returned, including his computer, which he said he needed for his work as an Arabic translator. Mohamed’s father, Ghalib Jonker, said his son was ‘not involved with some clandestine organisation. He is not a member of al-Qaeda’. He was responding to accusations that his son had used the Internet to download bomb-making instructions and videos of beheadings by Islamists. Mohamed admitted in court papers that he had downloaded videos of people being beheaded by Islamists, but said this was not illegal. He said he found the images on ‘a host of jihadi Web sites’ during research into the ‘difficulties’ in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. The hearing was postponed to August 20. Full report in The Times