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UK sentences five men for taking part in terrorist training

Five London men were jailed on Tuesday under new anti-terrorist legislation for taking part in al-Qaeda-style training camps and paintballing sessions.

The sentences ranged from between almost five years and three years five months. Their terrorist instructor, who dubbed himself "Osama bin London," and a preacher they recognized as their "amir," or leader, were convicted of soliciting to murder. Both will be sentenced next week.

Three of those jailed yesterday -- Mohammed al-Figari, Kader Ahmed and Kibley da Costa -- attended camps in Cumbria and a paintballing center alongside most of those later convicted over the failed July 21, 2005, attacks on the London transport system. The paintballing outing took place just over two weeks before the abortive bombing in 2005.

The trial at Woolwich crown court was the first to test two new offenses -- introduced under the Terrorism Act of 2006 -- of providing training for terrorism and attending a place for the purpose of terrorist training.

The jury heard no evidence of weapons or explosives, but listened to surveillance tapes and recordings made by a police officer who penetrated the London-based jihadist cell.

The conversations and films showed instructor Mohammed Hamid and his followers -- Figari, Ahmed and Da Costa -- performing what was alleged to be military training over a two-year period, initially at a farm in Cumbria and later at secluded sites in Hampshire and at paintballing centers in Berkshire.

A fifth man, Atilla Ahmet -- their "amir" and a close associate of the imprisoned Finsbury Park mosque preacher Abu Hamza -- pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial to three counts of soliciting murder.

Yassin Mutegombwa, 23, and Mohammed Kyriacou, 19, yesterday pleaded guilty to attending camps in the New Forest in Hampshire and paintballing centers in Berkshire for the purpose of terrorism training.

Kyriacou also pleaded guilty to possessing information likely to be useful to terrorism.

The jury acquitted another man, Mousa Brown, 41.

None were found guilty of taking part in terrorist training at the Cumbria camps; those charges had been brought under older legislation. The verdicts returned last week could not be reported immediately until reporting restrictions were lifted.

Scores of potentially incriminating statements recorded by police were played to the jury, including Hamid's reference to the death toll in the July 7 attacks on London in 2005, when he said of the fatalities: "Fifty-two? That's not even a breakfast to me."

Hamid, a reformed crack addict, was the pivotal figure, the prosecution said, turning young Muslims into jihad extremists.

Attending a place for the purpose of terrorism training carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
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