Abu Hamza's daughter-in-law jailed (From Your Local Guardian)

Abu Hamza's daughter-in-law jailed over SIM card smuggle

7:40am Friday 25th May 2012 in News

The daughter-in-law of hate cleric Abu Hamza has been jailed after attempting to smuggle a mobile phone SIM card into his high-security prison.

Chaymae Smak, from Wandsworth, visited him at Belmarsh Prison in December 2010 with the SIM card stashed in the coin pocket of her jeans, beneath her Muslim robes.

Security guards discovered the card during a routine search London's Appeal Court heard.

She had previously visited the hook-handed preacher in jail, said Mr Justice Openshaw, and was "well aware" that SIM cards were banned in prison.

Smak, 28, was jailed for 12 months at Blackfriars Crown Court on May 4 after she was convicted of conveying a prohibited article into prison.

She appealed her sentence in the Appeal Court on Wednesday, May 23, claiming she should be released for the sake of her 10-month old son, with whom she was pregnant at the time of the prison visit.

The judge said "It seems highly relevant to the seriousness of the offence that the prisoner she was visiting was Abu Hamza, who was detained as a Category A prisoner following his conviction for inciting murder."

"The particular danger of conveying a telephone SIM card to someone such as Abu Hamza is immediately obvious.

"He could use it to convey messages of support to his followers outside, or use it to encourage or incite the commission of further offences."

Abu Hamza is currently detained as a high risk Category A inmate at the jail following his conviction for inciting murder and pending extradition on terror charges to the United States.

Although the courts had to consider the impact of custody on the child, a deterrent sentence was entirely justified, the judge ruled.