GLASGOW, Scotland, July 21 (UPI) -- A man who lived for more than a year in Scotland as an asylum-seeker was convicted Friday of using illegally obtained benefits to finance terrorism.
A jury in Glasgow found Nasserdine Menni guilty of sending money to Taimour Abdulwahab, who died in a bungled suicide bombing in Stockholm Dec. 11, 2010, The Herald of Glasgow reported. The verdict after an 11-week trial was "not proven" -- a verdict unique to Scotland that is legally the same as not guilty -- on a charge that Menni conspired to kill Swedish citizens.
Menni, who was also convicted of benefit fraud, is scheduled to be sentenced in August.
"Thank you very much, my Lord, for the justice in Scotland," he said as he was led out of the courtroom, addressing the judge.
Menni, an Algerian, and Abdulwahab, a Swedish citizen born in Iraq, got to know each other while working in an auto parts plant in Bedfordshire. Menni was living under an assumed name with false papers that identified him as French, investigators say.
In 2009, he applied for asylum in Liverpool, presenting himself as a Bedouin from Kuwait. He was relocated to Glasgow while his asylum claim was being decided.
Swedish investigators and the FBI linked Abdulwahab and Menni through cellphone calls. Abdulwahab died and two people were injured in the Stockholm bombing attempt.
