Outside Bristol Crown Court he was hugged and kissed by nearly 30 relatives and friends who had supported him throughout the nine-day trial.
Omer, 19, said: "I'm very happy about this. I knew myself, and the people around me knew, that I was innocent. Everyone knew.
"It has been a very difficult time for my family and I am very pleased with the way they conducted themselves."
The prosecution claimed Omer was aware of Ibrahim's indoctrination into Muslim extremism, and knew he was hatching a bomb plot, but did not report him.
In July, Ibrahim, 20, of Comb Paddock, Westbury-on-Trym, was convicted of explosives and terrorism charges and sent to prison for a minimum of 10 years.
Omer, 19, of Eldridge House, St Jude's, told the jury that he formed the view that Ibrahim was "immature and childish" but not dangerous and saw it as his duty to guide him to the right religious path.
He was interviewed over six days after he was arrested.
In summing up the case Judge Neil Butterfield told the jury that the police had found nothing to suggest that Omer himself was radical in his thinking or extremist in his views.
But he said the student was aware that Ibrahim held passionate extremist views, he knew he agreed with bombing as a tactic and that he idolised the 7/7 bombers.
He also knew that Ibrahim had been buying electrical components and had seen a suicide vest in his flat.
The defence had argued that Omer, as a devout Muslim, would have spoken up immediately had he really believed that Ibrahim was a terrorist.
They said he was only 18 at the time and older people who knew Ibrahim didn't think he was a terrorist either.
The judge said: "As the defendant saw it, this was all talk, big talk from a teenager whose primary interest in life was playing computer games.
"He was all talk and no trousers."
After the case, Kayse Maxamed, editor of the Somali Voice newspaper in Bristol, said a cloud had been hanging over the whole Somali community in Bristol for the past few months.
He said: "People have been looking at us with suspicion in the street but the majority of people understand that we not terrorists, that we are against terrorism.
"It was Somali people who alerted the police about Isa Ibrahim.
"We also want to thank the police whose job it is to protect our security. There is no bad feeling against them. We understand they have to do their job.
"Everyone feels very relieved - Eid has come early."
Source: This is Bristol, Sept 19, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009