Ananova:

A man convicted of terrorism has been freed early from jail because of the prison overcrowding crisis.

Yassin Nassari - who was arrested at Luton airport with blueprints for a rocket in his luggage - served just over seven months of a three and a half year sentence handed down.

The maximum-security prisoner, who is 28 and from Ealing, west London, was released from Wakefield jail last month, 17 days before his official release date, the Ministry of Justice confirmed.

Emergency measures brought in last year allow "non-dangerous" inmates to be freed up to 18 days early to make space in the jails.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said that early release was valid for some convicted terrorists.

"ECL is only available to prisoners whose offences are not considered serious enough by the court to justify a long term of imprisonment," she said

"Therefore only those serving less than four years are eligible for ECL. Terrorism-related offences involving serious violence - such as using explosives to commit grievous bodily harm or hijacking - are excluded from ECL."

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "The Government's perverse approach to security defies common sense.

"On the one hand, they are trying to pass a new law extending the period for holding innocent people - convicted of nothing - when we already have the longest period of pre-charge detention in the free world.

"On the other hand, they are releasing a terrorist we have managed to bring to justice, a dangerous man convicted in our courts for researching how to deploy military weapons in this country."