Journalist Shiv Malik is appearing in court this morning after Greater Manchester Police requested a Production Order for materials relating to his forthcoming book, Leaving Al-Qaeda.
Malik, who is co-writing the book with former Islamist Hassan Butt, received notice of the order last week. Police are requesting copies of the book, along with any notes and audiovisual recordings Malik and Butt may have made. Police say there are ‘reasonable grounds for believing that it is in the public interest that the Greater Manchester Police Counter Terrorism Unit has access to [the] material’, as it may ‘demonstrate Hassan Butt’s role and activities in facilitating support for individuals fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan’.