JOHN ASTON

A terrorist suspect believed by intelligence services to be "a leading figure in Islamist extremist circles"

is considering appealing against the Home Secretary's ban on him taking AS-level courses in chemistry and human biology at an English college.

Mr Justice Silber, sitting in London, ruled it was likely the Iraqi national, known as "AE", was motivated to take the courses for terrorist purposes.

The judge ruled the human rights of AE had not been infringed, and said the Home Secretary's decision was "necessary and proportionate" because of the risk AE, who cannot be named for legal reasons, posed a terrorist threat.

AE's alleged stated purpose for doing the courses was to continue his medical studies.

Mohammed Ayub, AE's solicitor, said his client denied the accusations made against him.

He said: "We are absolutely gobsmacked at the judgment. We are considering an appeal."

On Monday the judge dismissed AE's appeal against Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's decision last September to refuse to permit him to undertake the AS-level courses at a regional college.

In his ruling, the judge said that, in March, he had upheld renewed control orders made against AE.

Mr Justice Silber said he acted on the basis that the Home Secretary had reasonable grounds to believe AE had received terrorist training and had taken part in terrorist activities.

He added there were also reasonable grounds for believing that AE was involved in providing support for the Jihadist insurgency in Iraq and in radicalising individuals in the UK.

The judge said he was a well-known figure in the Iraqi Kurdish community and it was reasonable to believe that he had expressed extremist views, had extremist connections and, since arriving in the UK, was a leading figure in Islamist extremist circles in the town in which he lived.

The judge said he considered AE's likely motive for his studies "would be a wish to use the information gained on such courses for some form of terrorist purposes which might be to teach others how to produce explosives or pathogens or to do so himself, especially in the light of the call for help from al Qaeda in Iraq".

In September 2006, an audio statement from Abu Ayyub al Masri, otherwise known as Abu Hamz al Muhajir, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was posted on the internet, and focused on support for the jihad.

It announced interest in and sought experts with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.

Al Masri had called for scientists and explosive experts to travel to Iraq to experiment with unconventional "dirty" and "biological" weapons against US troops based there.

He had said that the Mujahidin in Iraq was in "dire need" of chemists and physicists, experts in electronics, nuclear scientists and explosive experts and invited them to join the jihad against the West.

The judge said: "In my view, this call for scientific information to be used in the holy war against the West is significant."