Internet Jihad From Behind Bars

AN al-Qaeda fanatic jailed for inciting murder online was caught making a website urging terror attacks - from his cell in Britain's most secure prison.

Tariq Al-Daour, 21, used a smuggled mobile phone and modem lead to access the internet on a laptop issued by the Prison Service to help him prepare his court case.

The laptop was seized after a violent struggle when prison officers suspected he was misusing it and the hate-filled website called Global Jihad was found.
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The Home Office has launched an urgent inquiry to discover how the mobile was smuggled into Belmarsh's High Security Unit, which holds the country's most dangerous inmates.

They fear Al-Daour may have used it to contact other al-Qaeda terrorists and are scrutinising calls he made.

A senior prison source said yesterday: "It is frightening that an al-Qaeda prisoner was able to build an extremist website within Britain's supposedly most secure jail.

"This is a massive security breach. It's a real wake-up call.

"The fact he was inside for building terror websites means he should have been watched like a hawk.

"A mobile phone should never have managed to end up in the High Security Unit in the first place.

"Prisoners are strip-searched when they enter and leave. The fear is a corrupt member of staff got the phone in."

Al-Daour's website - built while he was on trial - was full of al-Qaeda propaganda calling on extremists to wage war on the West.

The source said: "The website was not finished, but it wasn't far off.

"He must have been working on it for some time as there were a lot of pages and text. It is staggering that he was able to work undetected."

Not only was he able to use a government issued laptop meant for aiding his defense, but someone actually provided him with a modem so that he could connect to the Internet and build a jihadi website. This was a massive breach of security.

There have long been suspicions that British law enforcement was penetrated by Islamists. That they've also apparently penetrated the British prison system is quite worrisome as it will enable incarcerated jihadis to continue their deadly ways behind bars - unless they're sprung by their fellow travelers.

For starters, the whole policy of permitting laptops needs to be reevaluated - perhaps blocking all Internet access and regular sweeps of inmate computer files for jihadi texts.