UK woman first to be guilty under new terrorism laws

LONDON - A British-born woman, who liked to use the name the "Lyrical Terrorist", became the first woman to be convicted in Britain under new security laws after being found guilty of possessing terrorism-related documents.

Samina Malik, 23, wrote a series of poems calling for "Jihad" (holy war) and collected a library of material for terrorist purposes including the Al Qaeda manual and the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook, the Old Bailey heard.

"Malik liked to be known to some people as the Lyrical Terrorist, or Stranger Awaiting Martyrdom," said prosecutor Jonathan Sharp.

"She had a library of material she had collected for terrorist purposes ... It may have been culled from the Internet but it has not just been idly viewed, it has been searched for, downloaded, saved and preserved," he added.

Malik, from Southall, west London, used to work at a newspaper shop at Heathrow airport until her arrest.

During the trial, the court heard one of Malik's militant poems "How to Behead," describing in detail how to slice off a hostage's head.

The prosecution also told the court that Malik wore a bracelet with the word "Jihad" inscribed on it and had Osama bin Laden's "Declaration of War" on her computer.

Other material on her computer referred to car bombs, her hatred of all non-Muslims and bomb-making.

Police said she had tried to join extremist subscription-only Web sites and had attempted to donate money to the Mujahideen.

"Malik held violent extremist views which she shared with other like-minded people over the Internet. She also tried to donate money to a terrorist group," said Peter Clarke, head of Britain's Counter Terrorism Command.

Malik was found guilty of possessing documents likely to be useful to a terrorist, an offence brought in under the Terrorism Act passed in 2000.

Judge Peter Beaumont however granted her strict conditional bail -- in effect house arrest -- until early December, after calling for more information into her family background.

He said Malik remained an "enigma" to him, and called for more information into "her family circumstances and in particular the influence her brother has had in the family".

Beaumont warned Malik, who sobbed in the dock, that "all sentencing options remain open".