MI5 spies use web to trap terrorists

MI5 has posted messages to the public forums of Islamic websites to try and track down terrorists and help prevent further attacks.

Arabic language messages containing an appeal for information and a contact number have been posted to the sites in the hope that Muslims shocked by the 11 September atrocities will respond.

A message posted to islah.org, a Saudi opposition website which its administrators claim can be viewed by Saudi Arabian citizens, has attracted 22 messages in reply. The posting had been accessed 1485 times by 1530 BST on Friday.

Dr Saad Alfiagh, director of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), the London-based group behind islah.org, told vnunet.com that MI5 had not contacted MIRA before posting the message, but that it would remain on the website.

"We won't remove it, but we don't adopt it. We look to provide what is not available in our own country: freedom of speech," said Dr Alfiagh. "As long as what is posted is non-violent, does not use bad language and is more or less within British law and meets general Islamic standards, we will not remove it."

The Home Office said the postings were to remind those who might have information about the hijackings that they can speak in confidence to the security services to help prevent further attacks.

Dr Alfiagh told vnunet.com that following 11 September the nature of traffic on the website had changed remarkably to focus on international issues as well as domestic Saudi matters.

The website's logs show that traffic doubled to an average of over 160,000 page requests a day last week.

The MI5 posting, and responses, are available here.

Other sites with MI5 postings include www.qoqaz.com, which is based in Checyna and appears in the government and services category of a listing of Muslim websites.