Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing a student convicted of terrorism offences, has been cleared of contempt of court for labelling the imprisonment of his client as "a tragedy for justice and for freedom of speech".
The trial judge referred these comments to senior colleagues, who cleared Mr Anwar of contempt but described the comment as "angry and petulant", saying that they "expected better" of solicitors.
Mr Anwar made the comments outside the High Court in Glasgow in September, following the jury returning a guilty verdict against his client, Mohammed Atif Siddique, who was jailed for eight years.
His client was found guilty of possessing suspicious terrorism-related items, collecting terrorist-related information, setting up websites showing how to make and use weapons and explosives, and circulating inflammatory terrorist publications.
Anwar told gathered supporters outside court that "lawyers still have a responsibility to be the guardians of our liberties and to campaign against injustice". Amongst those gathered on his behalf was Tommy Sheridan, who is being represented by Anwar in his forthcoming perjury trial and is co-convenor of the socialist party Solidarity. Anwar was also the beneficiary of a campaign by Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC), who are affiliated to the Stop the War Coalition.
This is not the first time Anwar has courted controversy. A week after the attempted terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport attack in 2007, he said that while he believed there to be "no justification for the murder of innocent people", the US and Israel were "equal to any 9/11 hijacker" and that "We should not differentiate between a Stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. The effects are exactly the same. They kill innocent people."
