Click here to view Mohammed Irfan Raja's letter to his parents

The Court of Appeal has today issued a landmark ruling on freedom of thought, by quashing the convictions of five young men jailed over the possession of extremist literature.

The judge at the men's original trial said that they had become “intoxicated” by terrorist propaganda. Today Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips, sitting with two other judges, said that there was insufficient evidence that the men had ever meant to take action on the extremist material, and ordered their release.

The five — four Bradford University students and an Essex schoolboy — were arrested after Mohammed Irfan Raja ran away from his home in Ilford, East London, in February 2006 to join his four friends, after getting to know them through online chatrooms used by extremist recruiters.

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This is a major setback for the police

Sean O'Neill, Crime editor

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He left a note for his parents saying that he was going to fight abroad and that they would meet again in heaven, the Old Bailey heard last year.

Within days he realised his mistake and returned home, only to find that his shocked parents had already alerted the police. Mr Raja co-operated with detectives, leading to the arrest of all five of the group and the collection of the extremist material. This included publications popular among extreme Islamist organisations, encouraging Muslims to fight. One of the five had also used a computer to superimpose his own face on a montage of the 9/11 hijackers.

At their trial, all denied having articles for terrorism and said that the material, downloaded from various internet sites, was not intended to encourage terrorism or martyrdom. They denied having extremist views and some said that they were researching ideology and other matters. They said that they were being prosecuted for what they had read, not for anything they had done.

On July 24 last year Mohammed Irfan Raja, now 20, of Ilford, East London, and students Awaab Iqbal, 20, and Usman Ahmed Malik, 22, both of Bradford, West Yorkshire; Aitzaz Zafar, 21, of Rochdale, Lancashire; and Akbar Butt, 21, of Southall, West London, were convicted of offences of possessing articles for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism, contrary to section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Section 57 provides that “a person commits an offence if he possesses an article in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that his possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism”.

It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that his possession of the article was not for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

Mr Raja was sentenced to two years' youth detention, Mr Zafar and Mr Iqbal had been given three years' detention, Mr Malik was sent to prison for three years and Mr Butt was given 27 months' detention.

When sentencing, the Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont, said that the men were preparing to train in Pakistan and then fight in Afghanistan against its allies, which included British soldiers.

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