British Jihadist Facing Jail After Being Found Guilty of Plotting a Lee Rigby-Style Terror Attack on Remembrance Day - But His Two Co-Accused Face Re-trials
- Nadir Syed, 22, plotted to launch the attack in November last year
- He was inspired by a speech by ISIS spokesman Muhammad al-Adani
- The propagandist urged jihadists to ‘rig the roads with explosives’, ‘raid their homes’ and ‘cut off their heads’ as well as inviting attacks on police
- Syed showed no reaction when he was found guilty in court last week
Daily Mail UK, 14 December 2015
A British jihadist planned a Lee Rigby-style beheading around Remembrance Day.
Nadir Syed, 22
Nadir Syed, 22, plotted to launch the attack in November last year after listening to a speech by ISIS spokesman Muhammad al-Adani, which also called on fellow extremists to target France.
The propagandist urged jihadists to ‘rig the roads with explosives’, ‘raid their homes’ and ‘cut off their heads’ as well as inviting attacks on ‘police, security and intelligence members’.
The September 2014 fatwa also singled out the ‘spiteful and filthy French’ and told listeners:
‘Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.’
The proclamation, issued through the brutal terror group’s media production centre, Al-Furqan, warned Americans and Europeans ‘you will not feel safe in your bedrooms’.
Dressed in a burgundy sweatshirt and wearing an Islamic skull cap he showed no reaction as he was convicted on Wednesday, December 9, of preparation of terrorist acts after 50 hours and 56 minutes of jury deliberations at Woolwich Crown Court.
Jurors were unable to reach verdicts in the case of his cousin Yousaf Syed, 20, and Saudi-born Haseeb Hamayoon, 29.
Yousaf Syed from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Hamayoon from Hayes, west London, denied planning acts of terrorism. The judge has ordered a retrial.
He was arrested just days before Remembrance Sunday after buying an 11-inch Victorinox knife from Kitchen Ideas, in Ealing, West London moments after he been handed an ASBO for a public order offence.
Police found gruesome ISIS propaganda on his mobile phone glorifying the beheading of Westerners and he even a homemade video of him stamping on a poppy in the street.
His mobile phone PIN number was 77911, in reference to the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 and the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.
In messages on app Telegram he nicknamed himself 'John' after the Jihadi John, who featured in many of ISIS' beheading videos.
He had sought out videos, too graphic to show uncensored in court, and praised the actions of Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who hacked Drummer Rigby to death in Woolwich in May 2013.
Syed denied preparing an act of terror, but a jury of seven women and four men found he had researched, planned and secured weapons in the months leading up to his arrest to attack people in Britain using knives.
Syed's mobile phone PIN number was 77911, in reference to the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 and the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001
He was arrested just days before Remembrance Sunday after buying an 11-inch Victorinox knife from Kitchen Ideas
Police found gruesome ISIS propaganda on his mobile phone glorifying the beheading of Westerners and he even a homemade video of him stamping on a poppy in the street.
The prosecutor described the fatwa, which inspired Syed, as ‘truly chilling’ before passages were read out in court.
One read:
‘O soldiers of the Islamic State, be ready for the final campaign of the crusaders. Yes, by Allah’s will, it will be the final one. Thereafter, we will raid them and they will not raid us.’
Another warned westerners: ‘You will pay the price as you are afraid of travelling to any land. Rather you will pay the price as you walk on your streets, turning left and right, fearing the Muslims.
‘You will not feel secure even in your bedrooms. You will pay the price when this crusade of yours collapses and thereafter we will strike you in your homeland and you will never be able to harm anyone afterwards. You will pay the price and we have prepared for you what will pain you.
The proclamation urged followers: ‘Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads. Do not let them feel secure.’
One passage instructed: ‘Strike their police, security and intelligence members as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves.’
Another read: ‘If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman or any of their allies.
‘Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.'