THE first non-jury trial of an Islamist terrorist suspect began yesterday when an Algerian appeared at Belfast Crown Court.

Abbas Boutrab, who is also being prosecuted under three other names he is suspected of using as aliases, is the first Islamist suspect tried under Northern Ireland’s Diplock court system, which until now has been used only in republican and loyalist terrorism trials.

The Government announced last month that it was reviewing the continuing need for the Province’s emergency legislation, which includes the Diplock system, over the next 18 months. But the Home Office is likely to take an interest in this latest prosecution, given recent comments by Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, about non-jury trials in mainland Britain for those suspected of Islamist, terrorist-related crimes after the London bombings.

Mr Boutrab, 27, is accused of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. These include 25 computer disks on to which Islamist instruction manuals on how to construct bombs suitable for smuggling on to airplanes had been downloaded from the internet.

John Creaney, QC, for the prosecution, said that Mr Boutrab had created an elaborate series of aliases “that were used to conceal himself as he carried out his sinister activities” over ten years until his arrest in Belfast in April 2003.

He was initially charged with being an illegal immigrant, but a search of his flat in Whiteabbey was said to have uncovered the disks, as well as precision tools and a circuit board from which four capacitors — used in the construction of detonators — had been removed.

Mr Boutrab denies five charges, claiming that he down- loaded the information from the internet out of curiosity and that he had used three other names in order to facilitate his “drifter lifestyle”.

The court was told also that in police interviews, in reply to the question, “Are you involved in Islamic terrorism?” Mr Boutrab had said: “I am not answering” and made a similar reply to the question: “Are you a member of any organisation connected to the al-Qaeda network?”

The prosecution said that Mr Boutrab had admitted using some of the aliases. He had applied for asylum in the Netherlands in the 1990s using the name Brahmin Abaoui. In 2001 he had applied for asylum in the Republic of Ireland with the name Yocef Djafari. In May 2002, after a road accident in the Republic, he had given police a Dutch passport in the name of Abbas Fawwas. In July that year he had applied for asylum in Northern Ireland.

Mr Creaney said that he also admitted to police that he had used a stolen Italian passport in the name of Fabio Parenti, into which his photograph had been inserted, to seek work in Northern Ireland.

Mr Creaney said that officers had proved that Mr Boutrab downloaded the terrorism instruction manuals at Belfast City Library on January 23, 2003. Among the items downloaded were instructions with diagrams on how to construct a firearm silencer for an assault rifle and how to build a small explosive device, as well as information on the best way to smuggle it on board an aircraft.

“The information is clear, understandably easy to follow and viable,” Mr Creaney said. Among the other items recovered from Mr Boutrab’s flat were a circuit board, a stethoscope, grinding tools, various clamps, grips and spreaders. A stolen Nokia pay-as-you-go phone was also found that had received calls from London.

Mr Creaney said that Mr Boutrab “skilfully endeavoured to disguise his identity as he has gone about his business over a number of years, but particularly in Ireland”.

At his initial arrest and interview by immigration officers in Belfast in April 2003, he had claimed to have entered Northern Ireland by train from the Irish Republic, having previously travelled from Algeria through Morocco and without being interviewed by border officials at Dublin airport. This, Mr Creaney said, was “clearly to disguise whatever he had been up to in the Republic”.

The case was adjourned to next Tuesday. The judge, Mr Justice Weatherup, granted a request for the court to rise five minutes early for lunch and return five minutes late to allow Mr Boutrab to observe Islamic prayer times.

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