Mohammed Atif Siddique was jailed under the terrorism act
But he was also a model student
Not everything is black and white...

BY MICHAEL DOTT

(dunkmagazine@hotmail.co.uk)

Mohammed Atif Siddique attended the Metropolitan College in 2003 where
he studied a HND in Information and Communication Technology. He
was a young student who, like the rest of us, ate his lunch in the canteen,
borrowed books from the college library, walked up the stairs because
the lifts took too long, set up the table for another game of pool with his
friends in the union even though there was just five minutes left until the
next class. He was just another student - or so it seemed.
 

But on the 23rd of October 2007 Mohammed was sentenced to eight years in prison and he
was found guilty of terrorism related offences. These included setting up websites showing
how to make and use weapons and explosives, showing students at the college images of
suicide bombers and terrorist beheadings. He was now no longer just another student but
another terror suspect.
 

MODEL STUDENT

It’s hard to imagine that a man who has been imprisoned under the terrorism act, an act that
is intended to protect the public, would be universally described as a “model student” who
was happy to get on with his work.
But that is exactly how tutors throughout the college remembered Mohammed - a young
and polite man who was viewed as being “destined for university” by his course tutor, Alex
Paterson.
However, unbeknown to his tutors Mohammed was breaking the trust of his peers and also
the trust he was given as a student when he signed his declaration form at the beginning of
his studies. This trust was broken by viewing inappropriate material on the internet that was
not so much ‘disruptive’ but more ‘disturbing.’

CLASS FOOTAGE
 

Fozia Begum, one of Mohammed’s class mates, had told the Court during the trial how
Mohammed had allegedly showed her and others footage of a beheading. She said: “He
showed somebody who had their head chopped off. There were three men standing there
and one guy on the floor. A guy walked up and cut his head of”
These allegations from students were described by Judge Lord Carloway as “essentially
evidential in nature” but that specific charge cost Mohammed a six month sentence on top
of other charges.
The most damaging of these for Mohammed was a sentence of six years’ imprisonment for
having in his possession “articles for a purpose connected with terrorism.”
 

CAMP OF THE SWORD THAT CUTS
 

One of those articles was an Arabic magazine called Mu’asker Al Batter or
The Camp of The Sword that Cuts. In the magazine they have regular features on
weapons, survival, religion and Jihad. It’s intended to train the reader to encourage
them to get other people involved. But owning magazines such as The Camp of The
Sword That Cuts proved to be a deep blow to Mohammed’s case. It was not a ‘cut’ but
more like a scar, a scar that slashes across Mohammed’s criminal record - how does
he gain future employment with the word terrorist hanging over his head?
 

WHY ARE YOU GOING TO
PAKISTAN?
 

Another article that proved damning was a disc that was found when the police
searched Mohammed’s home in Alva, a town near Clackmannanshire. It contained
documents showing detailed information on weaponry and how to deal with
interrogations at airports. This included how to answer the specific question, “Why are
you going to Pakistan?”

It’s a question Mohammed himself may not have been ready to answer and a question
that only Special Branch detectives would have known the response to as he was
arrested on the 5th of April 2006 at Glasgow Airport. He was with his uncle Mohammed
Ratik and they planned a visit to Pakistan where they intended to stay for three
months. But neither Mohammed nor his uncle set foot on a plane that day.
 

UNANSWERED
 

But what exactly was Mohammed heading to Pakistan for? Was it just a simple
holiday? Or a mission to plot a terror attack? These questions remain unanswered and
unproven which makes Mohammed’s case a double-edged sword.
 

In the eyes of college tutors and people who knew him Mohammed was the good
character who was highly spoken of. A quiet young man who was on course to complete
his studies and ‘Make It At The Met.’ He probably had career ambitions that matched
those of his brother, Asif Siddique, who is a lawyer. He certainly carried with him the impression
that he wanted to achieve a good job as pointed out by his tutor who saw him
university bound. But any career dreams he had now lie with
him in a Barlinnie prison bed where they are
put to sleep, a place where Mohammed is safe from his fears. But when he wakes he
realises that he was crushed by his curiosity with terrorism.
 

Curiosity that the eyes of the law, eyes that monitored his movements for many months,
eyes that met with Mohammed’s when they stopped him at Glasgow Airport - killed.
Like an abortion, the law didn’t allow Mohammed’s curiosity to grow any more
inside him. Not after the terrorist attacks on the London Underground and certainly not
after the botched attack on Glasgow Airport.
 

For them, it was beyond reasonable doubt; there were too many documents, discs,
websites, propaganda and magazines.The Camp Of The Sword That Cuts,
well, the public had suffered enough cuts from previous terror attacks and although
Mohammed hadn’t committed any - they couldn’t take the risk. The cuts were now
inflicted on Mohammed when the jury took just 9 hours to deliver their verdict, Guilty.
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty - of all five charges made against him.
 

In my eyes Mohammed Atif Siddique is neither a model student nor a danger
to society - he is a prisoner who will be spending 8 years in jail. Was he going to
target Glasgow in a terror attack? Was he just looking into the world of terror with
curiosity and nothing else?
 

In the eyes of Mohammed....only he knows.

–noun, plural -ties. 1. the desire to learn or know about
anything; inquisitiveness.