Mustapha Taleb is from Algeria, and was born on 28 October 1969.  Taleb was one of several men accused and subsequently acquitted in connection with the so called 'ricin plot.'

Taleb entered the UK in March 2000.  He made an application for asylum but had his request refused in January 2001.  In June 2001, Taleb appealed successfully against being refused asylum. He was granted full refugee status, with indefinite leave to remain in November 2001.

On 7 January 2003, Taleb was arrested as he visited a bank in Wood Green, and on 13 January, was charged with "possession of articles of value to a terrorist" in relation to the ricin plot. 

Scotland Yard had received intelligence reports from the Algerian secret service in January 2003, which gave details of a plot to poison Britons. 

These secret papers led to the ricin raids.  No ricin was actually found at the flat or at any of the addresses of the other men who were alleged to be connected to the ricin plot.

Taleb had worked in the bookshop at the Finsbury Park mosque and was the person who handled requests to use its photocopier. It was through a fingerprint on one of the recipes that had been photocopied at the mosque that he was linked with Kamel Bourgass.

On 22 January 2003, a total of eight people were charged with offences related to developing or producing a chemical weapon contrary to section one of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

In September 2004, Taleb went on trial at the Old Bailey with Kamel Bourgass, David Aissa Khalef, Mouloud Sihali, and Sidali Feddag.

But on 8 April 2005, Taleb, Khalef, Sihali and Feddag were cleared of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.  On 13 April, the trial of four others was abandoned.

Taleb was subsequently released.

Gareth Peirce, who represented Taleb said: "He [Taleb] has never been so frightened in his life."  She said he had decided not to talk to the press after seeing the media coverage, which suggested that a big al-Qaida network had been plotting a poison attack on Britain.

As a result of the alleged ricin plot, eight innocent men were presumed guilty.  They had been held in Belmarsh prison without charge for two years and remained there throughout the trial. According to their lawyers, all suffered from varying degrees of depression.

The Home Office later apologised to the men they had placed under controversial anti-terrorist control orders, claiming it had made a 'clerical error.'