London teenager Brusthom Ziamani guilty of plotting to behead soldier
Nineteen-year-old was believed to be on his way to carry out plan when he was arrested in east London last August carrying 12in knife and a hammer
Court artist sketch of Brusthom Ziamani.
Court artist sketch of Brusthom Ziamani. Illustration: Elizabeth Cook/PA
Haroon Siddique and agencies
Thursday 19 February 2015 17.46 GMT Last modified on Friday 20 February 2015 00.06 GMT
A teenager who converted to Islam less than a year ago and idolised the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby is facing a lengthy jail term after being found guilty of plotting to behead a British soldier.
Brusthom Ziamani, 19, was believed to be on his way to carry out his plan when he was arrested in east London in August last year carrying a 12in knife and a hammer in a rucksack.
He had previously researched the location of army cadet bases in the south-east of the capital. His arrest came after he showed his ex-girlfriend his weapons, described Rigby’s killer Michael Adebolajo as a legend and told her he would kill soldiers.
A jury of seven women and four men at the Old Bailey, in London, convicted him on Thursday of preparing an act of terrorism on or before 20 August last year after deliberating for a day and a half.
Speaking after the verdict, Commander Richard Walton, from the counter terrorism command, said his officers supported by MI5 had “probably prevented a horrific terrorist attack taking place on the streets of London”.
He said: “This case starkly illustrates one of the threats we currently face in the UK. Ziamani was an impressionable young man who became radicalised then rapidly developed an extremist, violent mindset. Over a series of months he ultimately developed a desire to carry out a terrorist attack on British soldiers.”
The defendant, dressed in a grey and blue tracksuit, made no reaction to the conviction and sat impassively in the dock before being led away.
Prosecutor Anabel Darlow said Ziamani had told a security officer he had been on his way to kill a British soldier at an army barracks when he had been arrested.
Social media picture of teenager Brusthom Ziamani issued by the Metropolitan police
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A picture taken from the Facebook page of Brusthom Ziamani. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA
“He said that he was going to behead the soldier and hold that soldier’s head up in the air so that a friend could take a photograph with the severed head of the soldier,” Darlow told the court.
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Ziamani, of Camberwell, south London, was born to Congolese parents. His mother worked as a nursery nurse and his father was a psychiatric nurse.
He said he first became interested in Islam at the age of 15 through rap music and decided to convert in the months before he was first arrested. He turned to extremists in the Muslim group al-Muhajiroun after being kicked out of his home when when his Jehovah’s Witness parents discovered his newfound religion.
Ziamani was given money, clothes and a place to stay by the group, attended their talks in the basement of a Halal sweet shop in Whitechapel and bought a black flag to take on their demonstrations.
His Facebook posts charted a rapid descent into extremism after his “reversion”, which is believed to have taken place in April last year. He posted comments saying that he was “willing to die in the cause of Allah” and: “Sharia law on its way on our streets. We will implement it, it’s part of our religion.”
Ziamani was first arrested on an unrelated matter in June last year, when police found a ripped-up letter in his jeans pocket in which he wrote about mounting an attack on a British soldier and expressed the desire to die a martyr.
He expressed his anger at the situations in Syria and Iraq and wrote that because he did not have the means to get to these countries, he would wage war against the British government instead. In another part of the letter he stated that “we should do a 9/11, 7/7 and a Woolwich all in one day”.
Ziamani admitted writing the letter and was arrested on suspicion of committing an offence contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 before being bailed under strict conditions.
But he claimed in court he had been “ranting and raging about the situation in Muslim countries which was described in these talks. I did not believe it at all.” And he said his Facebook postings were designed to fit in with al-Muhajiroun because it had provided him with a place to stay, describing the group’s views on sharia law as “extreme what they would do to someone when they steal or commit a sin”.
He told the jury that he did not disagree with what happened to Rigby but that he had told police that he would not do it himself.
Scotland Yard said that while Ziamani was on bail, officers from the Prevent programme, who support individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism, arranged a meeting with him on three occasions to offer appropriate advice and support. Ziamani refused each time to engage with the programme.
Ziamani’s lawyer, Naeem Mian, told Judge Timothy Pontius after the verdict: “Of course the sentence will be one of considerable length but nevertheless he is a young man who has no previous convictions at all.”
The judge adjourned sentencing until 10am on 20 March in order to consider all aspects of the case before deciding on Ziamani’s jail term.
During the trial, Mian told the jury that there was no evidence that Ziamani had carried out reconnaissance for a terror attack and that his client could not be convicted merely for having “undoubtedly repulsive” views.
“We all have the right to have an interest in gore and grisly stuff,” said Mian. “We have the right to have undoubtedly repulsive views, some of which he has expressed. He is not on trial for his views.”
Mian accepted that Ziamani, while on remand at HMP Wandsworth, had told prison officer Paul Morris he was on his way to behead a soldier. But he suggested that it was said just in the context of explaining the allegations against him, rather than a confession, as Morris believed it to be.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/19/london-teenager-brusthom-ziamani-guilty-of-plotting-to-behead-soldier
A teenager who converted to Islam less than a year ago and idolised the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby is facing a lengthy jail term after being found guilty of plotting to behead a British soldier.
Brusthom Ziamani, 19, was believed to be on his way to carry out his plan when he was arrested in east London in August last year carrying a 12in knife and a hammer in a rucksack.
He had previously researched the location of army cadet bases in the south-east of the capital. His arrest came after he showed his ex-girlfriend his weapons, described Rigby’s killer Michael Adebolajo as a legend and told her he would kill soldiers.
A jury of seven women and four men at the Old Bailey, in London, convicted him on Thursday of preparing an act of terrorism on or before 20 August last year after deliberating for a day and a half.
Speaking after the verdict, Commander Richard Walton, from the counter terrorism command, said his officers supported by MI5 had “probably prevented a horrific terrorist attack taking place on the streets of London”.
He said: “This case starkly illustrates one of the threats we currently face in the UK. Ziamani was an impressionable young man who became radicalised then rapidly developed an extremist, violent mindset. Over a series of months he ultimately developed a desire to carry out a terrorist attack on British soldiers.”
The defendant, dressed in a grey and blue tracksuit, made no reaction to the conviction and sat impassively in the dock before being led away.
Prosecutor Anabel Darlow said Ziamani had told a security officer he had been on his way to kill a British soldier at an army barracks when he had been arrested.
Social media picture of teenager Brusthom Ziamani issued by the Metropolitan police
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
A picture taken from the Facebook page of Brusthom Ziamani. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA
“He said that he was going to behead the soldier and hold that soldier’s head up in the air so that a friend could take a photograph with the severed head of the soldier,” Darlow told the court.
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Ziamani, of Camberwell, south London, was born to Congolese parents. His mother worked as a nursery nurse and his father was a psychiatric nurse.
He said he first became interested in Islam at the age of 15 through rap music and decided to convert in the months before he was first arrested. He turned to extremists in the Muslim group al-Muhajiroun after being kicked out of his home when when his Jehovah’s Witness parents discovered his newfound religion.
Ziamani was given money, clothes and a place to stay by the group, attended their talks in the basement of a Halal sweet shop in Whitechapel and bought a black flag to take on their demonstrations.
His Facebook posts charted a rapid descent into extremism after his “reversion”, which is believed to have taken place in April last year. He posted comments saying that he was “willing to die in the cause of Allah” and: “Sharia law on its way on our streets. We will implement it, it’s part of our religion.”
Ziamani was first arrested on an unrelated matter in June last year, when police found a ripped-up letter in his jeans pocket in which he wrote about mounting an attack on a British soldier and expressed the desire to die a martyr.
He expressed his anger at the situations in Syria and Iraq and wrote that because he did not have the means to get to these countries, he would wage war against the British government instead. In another part of the letter he stated that “we should do a 9/11, 7/7 and a Woolwich all in one day”.
Ziamani admitted writing the letter and was arrested on suspicion of committing an offence contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 before being bailed under strict conditions.
But he claimed in court he had been “ranting and raging about the situation in Muslim countries which was described in these talks. I did not believe it at all.” And he said his Facebook postings were designed to fit in with al-Muhajiroun because it had provided him with a place to stay, describing the group’s views on sharia law as “extreme what they would do to someone when they steal or commit a sin”.
He told the jury that he did not disagree with what happened to Rigby but that he had told police that he would not do it himself.
Scotland Yard said that while Ziamani was on bail, officers from the Prevent programme, who support individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism, arranged a meeting with him on three occasions to offer appropriate advice and support. Ziamani refused each time to engage with the programme.
Ziamani’s lawyer, Naeem Mian, told Judge Timothy Pontius after the verdict: “Of course the sentence will be one of considerable length but nevertheless he is a young man who has no previous convictions at all.”
The judge adjourned sentencing until 10am on 20 March in order to consider all aspects of the case before deciding on Ziamani’s jail term.
During the trial, Mian told the jury that there was no evidence that Ziamani had carried out reconnaissance for a terror attack and that his client could not be convicted merely for having “undoubtedly repulsive” views.
“We all have the right to have an interest in gore and grisly stuff,” said Mian. “We have the right to have undoubtedly repulsive views, some of which he has expressed. He is not on trial for his views.”
Mian accepted that Ziamani, while on remand at HMP Wandsworth, had told prison officer Paul Morris he was on his way to behead a soldier. But he suggested that it was said just in the context of explaining the allegations against him, rather than a confession, as Morris believed it to be.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/19/london-teenager-brusthom-ziamani-guilty-of-plotting-to-behead-soldier
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