Bomb conviction man loses appeal

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A former chemistry student who was jailed for attempting to make bombs has lost his appeal against conviction.

Hassan Tabbakh, 39, from Birmingham, was jailed in July 2008 for seven years after a case at the city's Crown Court.

But on Tuesday the Court of Appeal rejected his claim that the trial had been legally flawed.

Tabbakh had told his trial he had been making fireworks for a religious festival. He also said that he had been tortured in his home country, Syria.

Police found liquid chemicals at the home of Tabbakh, following his arrest in December 2007.

His trial heard that his MP3 player had included speeches by Osama bin Laden and other violent rhetoric from Jihadist groups in the Middle East.

He faced a single charge of obtaining chemicals and compiling and retaining a document with instructions for making an explosive device

Lord Justice Hughes, sitting with Mr Justice King and Judge Gordon, rejected Tabbakh's appeal that his trial had been flawed. They also refused to give him permission to appeal the length of his sentence.

Lord Justice Hughes said the sentence had not been "manifestly excessive", or outside the range of sentences for someone trying to make a bomb.

The court noted that Tabbakh's attempted bomb was not yet ready for detonation because he had not had a detonator or the right grade of chemicals needed for the device to work.

Prosecutors also told his trial they did not know what the intended target for any final bomb would have been.

During his trial, Tabbakh said he had been tortured in Syria. He had arrived in the UK between 1999 and 2000 and sought asylum. He was given leave to remain in 2005.