Building Global Jihad in Prison

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.

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."

Two weeks ago, Al-Daour, born in the United Arab Emirates, and two fellow extremists were jailed for six-and-a-half-years for inciting terrorist murder using the internet.

They ran a series of jihad websites containing films of beheadings and bomb-making tips. The cyber jihadis were the first to be convicted in the UK of inciting terror online.

Al-Daour's laptop was seized at the South London jail in May. He refused to hand it over, sparking a vicious riot in which four officers were battered with pool cues by Al-Daour and other al-Qaeda prisoners.

The Ministry for Justice denied a mobile phone had been found, but refused to discuss how illegal material found its way on to the laptop.

28 LAPTOPS worth £1,000 each were given to terror suspects at Belmarsh to access legal papers, the Mirror revealed last year.

Under the Access to Justice scheme, prisoners get laptops to prepare their court cases. Internet access can be obtained using a mobile phone.

It is not the first time a mobile has been found on the High Security Unit. Earlier this year, a prisoner was caught chatting on one on the unit. It is understood he was moved to a new prison after being convicted.

There are around 125 Muslim terror suspects in the jail.