Article Analysis

Islamic Cleric Jailed Again in Britain
By John F. Burns
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/europe/03britain.html?hp

This short piece is part of a story that dates back to 2001. The lede tells the who, what, where, and when but it is not until the second paragraph do we get the why. The article reports that a radical Islamic cleric has been jailed again after a review by a panel of immigration judges.

The nut graf is found in the third and fourth paragraphs and it describes that this cleric has been under investigation for suspected ties with Al Qaeda and the September 11th attacks. Besides illegally immigrating to Britain, the article doesn’t offer any hard evidence of any other wrong doing, though it does mention that he was likely to flee the country.

The article is written in a reverse chronological order, briefly describing the news worthy material of the last seven years associated with this cleric. The story ends rather abruptly with a kicker quote from the British home secretary, Jacqui Smith, stating “He poses a significant threat to our national security and I am pleased that he will be detained pending his deportation, which I’m working hard to secure.”