As'salaamu 'alaykum,

Quote:

Teenage bomb plot accused cleared

Two teenagers who were accused of discussing a plot to blow up British National Party (BNP) members have been cleared of terror charges.

Waris Ali, 18, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was found not guilty of three counts of possession of an article for a terrorist purpose.

His school friend Dabeer Hussain, 18, was acquitted of one count of the same charge at Leeds Crown Court.

After the 13-day trial Mr Ali said he was "extremely relieved".

Friends and family of the two men hugged in the public gallery as the jury returned their verdicts after deliberating for two and a half hours.

"I believe that if I was not from a Muslim background, I would not have been prosecuted
Waris Ali

During the trial, the court heard that the two men had discussed a plan to spy on and blow up members of the BNP.

They were both accused of possessing a terrorist manual on their computers, called the Anarchists' Cookbook, and researching bomb-making techniques from "recipes" on the internet.

Mr Ali, of Dearnley Street, Dewsbury, was also accused of buying and storing significant amounts of potassium nitrate and calcium chloride, chemicals which can be used in the preparation of a bomb.

But the teenager said he was a "prankster" who was interested in experimenting with fireworks and making smoke bombs.

Teenage chat

Mr Hussain, of Clarkson Street, Dewsbury, said he had been sent a copy of the Anarchists' Cookbook but had not read it and was not interested in politics.

Speaking outside the court after the verdicts, Mr Ali said he was "extremely relieved" that he had been cleared of the charges but was angry about how he had been treated.

"I believe that if I was not from a Muslim background, I would not have been prosecuted," he said.

"I have had to live in fear of being branded a terrorist.

"I feel it was completely obvious once the police looked up the evidence that I had nothing to do with terrorism at all.

"Silly teenage chat and things I said at school were taken out of context and presented as if it was evidence that I was an extremist."

Sometimes us Muslims suffer from chronic victim mentality - its a disease that stops us from introspective insights and positive development of ourselves and our community.

I am sure that we're all aware of the pervasive misconceptions about Islam, and the deeply held anti-muslim beliefs and sentiments of some. I know from personal experience the wide-spread islamophobic beliefs/high level of ignorance of others.

The above news story paints a picture of typical teenagers getting up to mischief, like thousands of others up and down the country. Does the teenager have a point - did he get prosecuted because of his muslim background? Would a non-muslim teenager be prosecuted under terror charges? How much of this is playing the martyr and paranoia, and how much of it is true?