Assali, Hassan

Hasan Assali was convicted in May 1985 of making an explosive device and received a sentence of nine years’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in April 1998.

At trial, expert evidence was given rebutting Mr Assali’s claim that timer devices found by police were designed for innocent purposes (Mr Assali owned and managed an electronics factory).

The defence was unable to contest this evidence as the only expert they were able to find deferred to the prosecution’s expert.

Subsequently, the prosecution expert’s evidence and approach was discredited in a separate case.

The expert’s methods in Mr Assali’s case were also criticised in new expert reports obtained by the CCRC.

The CCRC referred the conviction in February 2003.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in July 2005.