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Terror trial collapses after security services 'refuse to disclose material' Terror trial collapses after security services 'refuse to disclose material'
(about 2 hours later)
The prosecution of a Swedish national accused of a series of terrorism offences dramatically collapsed on Monday after prosecution lawyers struggled to get information from security services. The prosecution of a Swedish national accused of terrorist activities in Syria has collapsed at the Old Bailey after it became clear Britain’s security and intelligence agencies would have been deeply embarrassed had a trial gone ahead, the Guardian can reveal.
His lawyers argued that British intelligence agencies were supporting the same Syrian opposition groups as he was, and were party to a secret operation providing weapons and non-lethal help to the groups, including the Free Syrian Army.
Bherlin Gildo, 37, who was arrested last October on his way from Copenhagen to Manila, was accused of attending a terrorist training camp and receiving weapons training between 31 August 2012 and 1 March 2013 as well as possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist.Bherlin Gildo, 37, who was arrested last October on his way from Copenhagen to Manila, was accused of attending a terrorist training camp and receiving weapons training between 31 August 2012 and 1 March 2013 as well as possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist.
He was impassive when he heard the decision via a link between Belmarsh prison in south-east London and the Old Bailey. Riel Karmy-Jones, for the crown, told the court on Monday that after reviewing the evidence it was decided there was no longer a reasonable prospect of a prosecution. “Many matters were raised we did not know at the outset,” she told the recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard QC, who lifted all reporting restrictions and entered not guilty verdicts.
Riel Karmy-Jones, for the crown, told the court that having reviewed the evidence it was decided there was no longer a reasonable prospect of a prosecution. In earlier court hearings, Gildo’s defence lawyers argued he was helping the same rebel groups the British government were aiding before the emergence of the extreme Islamist group, Isis. His trial would have been an “affront to justice”, his lawyers said.
“Many matters were raised we did not know at the outset,” she told the recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard, who lifted all reporting restrictions. Henry Blaxland QC, the defence counsel, said: “If it is the case that HM government was actively involved in supporting armed resistance to the Assad regime at a time when the defendant was present in Syria and himself participating in such resistance it would be unconscionable to allow the prosecution to continue.”
Gildo was arrested at Heathrow airport while transiting through Heathrow airport. He had not crossed the UK border and had not intended to enter Britain. He was charged with receiving terrorist training and weapons training in 2012 and 2013 and of possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. Blaxland told the court: “If government agencies, of which the prosecution is a part, are themselves involved in the use of force, in whatever way, it is our submission that would be an affront to justice to allow the prosecution to continue.”
The decision to drop the charges – the third time in a Syria-related case in the past six months – is embarrassing for the security and intelligence agencies. It seems they did not want to reveal their activities in Syria and Iraq and their role in helping opponents of the Assad regime.
The attorney general was consulted about Monday’s decision and is likely to have consulted ministers in turn.
At an earlier Old Bailey hearing, Karmy-Jones had said that “third parties” held material that the defence had asked to be disclosed in preparation for the case. Defending, Henry Blaxland QC responded that his material was under the control of government ministers – in effect, the security services .
After Monday’s hearing, Gildo’s solicitor, Gareth Peirce, said his case had exposed a number of “contradictions” – not least that the matters on which he was charged were not offences in Sweden, and that the UK government had expressed support for the Syrian opposition.After Monday’s hearing, Gildo’s solicitor, Gareth Peirce, said his case had exposed a number of “contradictions” – not least that the matters on which he was charged were not offences in Sweden, and that the UK government had expressed support for the Syrian opposition.
“He has been detained in this country although he did not ever intend to enter this country. For him it’s as if he has been abducted by aliens from outer space,” she said.“He has been detained in this country although he did not ever intend to enter this country. For him it’s as if he has been abducted by aliens from outer space,” she said.
“The process is beyond comprehension for a Swedish man who has committed no offence in Sweden who went to Syria to help defend the Syrian people in late 2012. He returned to Sweden, had committed no crime there, lived there for the next twoyears, by an accident of fate, clicked on the cheapest flight to go and join his wife in the Philippines and then had the misfortune to chance it through Heathrow airport.”
Peirce said said said there had been a fair amount of “responsible reporting” over the last two and a half years that all the allied countries that opposed the Assad regime were supplying arms to the resistance.
“Given that there is a reasonable basis for believing that the British were themselves involved in the supply of arms, if that’s so, it would be an utter hypocrisy to prosecute someone who has been involved in the armed resistance.”“Given that there is a reasonable basis for believing that the British were themselves involved in the supply of arms, if that’s so, it would be an utter hypocrisy to prosecute someone who has been involved in the armed resistance.”
She went on to say that the former foreign secretary, William Hague, had described the situation in Syria as the worst humanitarian crisis of this century and the British government stood behind the resistance by sending non-lethal support. Gildo’s defence lawyers quoted a number of press articles referring to the supply of arms to Syrian rebels, including one from the Guardian on 8 March 2013, on the west’s training of Syrian rebels in Jordan. Articles on the New York Times from 24 March and 21 June 2013, gave further details and an article in the London Review of Books from 14 April 12014, implicated MI6 in a “rat line” for the transfer of arms from Libya.
Even if the government was not willing to “own up” to sending arms directly or indirectly, it was wrong to prosecute someone in Gildo’s position under the Terrorism Act, Peirce said. Gildo’s defence team had been seeking disclosure about this to support their argument but nothing came, she said. Gildo was was flying to Manila to join his wife, a Filipina, when he was stopped under schedule 7 of the 2000 Terrorism Act, the same statute used to question David Miranda, partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, in 2013.
The court heard that Gildo had sought the help of the Swedish secret service, Sapo, when he wanted to return to his home country.
It is not the first time a British prosecution relating to allegations of Syrian terrorism has collapsed. Last October Moazzem Begg was released after “new material” was said to have emerged.
The attorney general was consulted about Monday’s decision. Karmy-Jones told the court in pre-trial hearings that Gildo had worked with Jabhat al-Nusra, a “proscribed group considered to be al-Qaida in Syria”. He was photographed standing over dead bodies with his finger pointing to the sky.
The Press Association contributed to this reportThe Press Association contributed to this report