The fatwa pronounced by Ayatollah Khomeini seven years ago followed the furore

The fatwa, pronounced by Ayatollah Khomeini seven years ago, followed the furore resulting from Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses. Recent statements from Iran appeared to soften the hardline stance, and last month an unnamed diplomat in London, allegedly speaking with the full authority of the government, reportedly gave an assurance that Iran would not send someone to carry out the order.However,the comments from Dr Siddiqui, will do little to reassure Mr Rushdie that he should be optimistic about resuming a normal life. "The messages make it clear what was being sent," Mr Inman said.The case continues.. The death sentence, or fatwa, on the author Salman Rushdie remains active, the leader of Britain's Muslim parliament said last night. Dr Kalim Siddiqui, quoting from a speech he intends to deliver in London tomorrow, said the fatwa "was and remains an order that must be carried out as and when it becomes possible to do so". Both men deny all the charges.In April 1994, police arrested Mr Fellows at Birmingham University and seized his hard disk. He admitted having pornography in the computer and accepted sole responsibility for the library. In September 1994, police arrested Mr Arnold at his Milton Keynes office and copied files from his computer.Mr Inman said the pictures downloaded by computer by Mr Arnold to Mr Fellows were copies taken from Lolita, a pornographic magazine which included indecent pictures of children.

They sent each other coded E-mail messages to discuss the pictures. Mr Arnold was allowed to become a ticket holder to the library in return for the photographs.Mr Fellows sent Mr Arnold an E-mail in March 1994 after receiving copies of the photographs. He is also accused of possessing two obscene pictures of adults stored on his computer hard disk.Mr Arnold, 24, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, worked as a graphics co-ordinator for Hughes Network Systems Limited in the town.He is charged with distributing three of the indecent pictures of children to Fellows through his computer, between February and April 1994. That was how it worked."Mr Fellows is charged with possessing four indecent pictures of children which he intended to distribute. It wasn't just anyone who could use it, you had to have a library ticket and Mr Fellows was the man from whom you had to get the ticket. You would usually have to have another ticket holder vouch for you. Access to this library was only for those who could be trusted If you provided enough you would see it all.

Mr Fellows clearly was effectively using a system of `what have you before I let you look at my stuff'. He was a skilled computer operator and trusted by the university to install and maintain computers.But, unknown to the authorities, he attached a hard disk memory to the university's main computer where he stored his library of pornography, a collection he namedMelbourne Inman, for the prosecution, told the court: "Mr Fellows had a library, a library of pornography. A university researcher ran a computer library of pornography including indecent pictures of children and allowed others to supply and copy pictures from his collection, a court was told yesterday. In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, Alban Fellows and Stephen Arnold are charged under the Protection of Children Act and the Obscene Publications Act in connection with distributing child pornography from the collection through the Internet. Birmingham Crown Court was told how Fellows, 26, from Moseley in Birmingham, worked as a research assistant in the plasma melting unit at the University of Birmingham where he had access to the main computer.

The two titles have already announced job cuts, but there may be additional redundancies following Mr Hutton's arrival. "But this is the price to be paid for having appointed two editors who failed to turn the newspaper around." Mr Jaspan was preceded in the job by Jonathan Fenby.The Guardian Media Group denied there was any intention of turning the two newspapers into a 7-day operation, by effectively merging the titles. It is understood that Mr Jaspan's deputy, John Price, has already resigned. Mr Hutton's deputy will be Paul Webster, formerly the home news editor of the Guardian.In a statement yesterday, Mr Hutton said: "My aim is to accelerate the pace at which the title recovers its prestige and honoured place in British national life.". We believe that, under an inspirational editor, the Observer will make great strides."Yesterday's developments marked a further rise in the influence of Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, who will assist Mr Hutton in the management of the Observer.Peter Preston, former editor of the Guardian and until yesterday editor in chief of both titles, will now be left with a non-executive position as editorial director of the Guardian Media Group, and a Scott trustee."This clearly is a setback for Peter," one senior journalist at the Guardian said.