Trial of Swedish terror suspect collapses after allegations aimed at UK Intelligence Agencies

Swedish terror suspect Bherlin Gildo, 37, has been formerly cleared after his lawyers argued British intelligence agencies were supporting the same Syrian opposition groups he was.

Gildo was accused of attending a terrorist training camp and receiving weapons training in 2012 and 2013, as well as possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. He was arrested at Heathrow airport under Schedule 7 of the 2000 Terrorism Act when was travelling from Copenhagen to Manilla to meet his wife.

The trial collapsed at the Old Bailey after the government refused to disclose sensitive information. Gildo’s lawyers argued that British intelligence agencies were supporting the same Syrian opposition as Gildo from 2012-13. They also claimed the agencies were party to a secret operation providing weapons and non-lethal help to Syrian groups, including the Free Syrian Army.

After the collapse of the case, Gildo’s solicitor Gareth Pierce said:“There is a fair amount of documentation that arms were being taken out of Libya via Qatar and Turkey and trucked through into Syria to the resistance and the same from Croatia and taken through Jordan.

"Given that there is a reasonable basis for believing that the British were themselves involved in the supply of arms, if that's so, it would be an utter hypocrisy to prosecute someone who has been involved in the armed resistance."

Henry Blaxland QC, of the defence counsel, said: “If it is the case that HM government was actively involved in supporting armed resistance to the Assad regime at a time when the defendant was present in Syria and himself participating in such resistance it would be unconscionable to allow the prosecution to continue.”

He told the court: “If government agencies, of which the prosecution is a part, are themselves involved in the use of force, in whatever way, it is our submission that would be an affront to justice to allow the prosecution to continue.”