From The TimesDecember 19, 2008
British Muslim, Rangzieb Ahmed, convicted of being al-Qaeda mastermind in landmark trial
Rangzieb Ahmed claimed that British agents conspired in his torture by Pakistani officers
Russell Jenkins
A British Muslim described by police as an al-Qaeda mastermind who considered mass murder to be part of his duty became the first person to be convicted of the charge of directing terrorism yesterday.
Rangzieb Ahmed, 33, was part of a three-man cell on an unknown terrorist operation in Dubai and Saudi Arabia in December 2005 that was aborted. He was regarded as so important that a second man, Habib Ahmed, 28, was recruited to carry on his behalf incriminating documents in invisible ink that amounted to a “terrorist’s contacts book”. Among the names and numbers in the three books was that of Hamza Rabia, No 3 in al-Qaeda’s chain of command.
Rangzieb Ahmed, of Rochdale, was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of directing terrorism - an offence introduced by the Terrorism Act 2000 – after an 11-week trial.
Habib Ahmed, a Manchester taxi driver who is unrelated to Rangzieb Ahmed, was found guilty of being an al-Qaeda member but cleared of attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in 2006. Mehreen Haji, 28, Habib Ahmed’s wife, was cleared of arranging funding for terrorism.
