Cleared man says he was scapegoat for terror attack

The first Briton to be charged with terrorism offences after the attacks of 11 September was cleared by a jury at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Sulayman Zain-ul-abidin, a chef from south-east London, was accused of setting up a website to recruit Islamist terrorists but claimed he had been made a "trophy" scapegoat.

After the verdict his solicitor, Muddassar Arani, said her client now had to try to rebuild his life. She said his house had been repossessed since the start of the trial. "He has nothing now – yet he is a totally innocent man," added Ms Arani.

The court was told that Mr Zain-ul-abidin's website, called the Ultimate Jihad Challenge, offered courses in America and was launched to "assist or prepare for terrorism".

A Muslim convert, Mr Zain-ul-abidin, was arrested three weeks after the 11 September atrocities and two weeks after going to a London police station to complain that he did not feel safe after a newspaper article exposed his advertisement. The website offered live firearms training on a £3,000, two-week course in the United States. "Live firearm training in particular is something you will have to give careful consideration to when considering what message he was choosing to convey," Mr Ellison, for the prosecution, told the court.

But during interviews with police and throughout his trial Mr Zain-ul-abidin denied that the website had anything to do with terrorism. He said its purpose was to train people working in the security industry and that the only person to have taken a course in the past two years was a security guard from a Sainsbury's store in south-east London.

The prosecution also said that police officers had found a laptop in Mr Zain-ul-abidin's locker containing articles about Osama bin Laden and his terror organisation, al-Qa'ida. He was subsequently charged under the Terrorism Act 2000.

However, Mr Zain-ul-abidin, whose service was advertised as "Britain's first Islamic threat-assessment unit", told the jury that he was a trophy scapegoat for the 11 September attacks. He described his prosecution as a joke, adding: "11 September happened and they have got to show the public they are fighting Islamic terrorism.

"It's a joke – the bottom line is that if 11 September never happened I wouldn't be standing here and trying to justify trying to make a business. I'm their trophy, I'm their prize. They have got to convict me."

He told the court he was running a security service and disregarded any inquiries from recruits who told him they wanted to join a holy war.

His lawyer said later they were considering whether to sue for false arrest.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Officers from the Anti-Terrorist Branch believe the prosecution was properly brought before the court."

Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, first brought the case to the public's attention. "I think it is a very disappointing verdict," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. The MP insisted he was right to alert the police to the case.