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Three men found guilty of helping teenage jihadi travel from UK to Syria
Three men found guilty of helping teenage jihadi travel from UK to Syria
(about 3 hours later)
Three men have been found guilty of helping a teenager who followed his older brother from Cardiff to Syria to join Islamic State fighters.
Three young British men have been found guilty of encouraging and helping a 17-year-old boy to join Islamic State by supplying him with money, equipment, expertise and contacts.
Kristen Brekke, Adeel Ulhaq and Forhad Rahman were on trial at the Old Bailey accused of assisting a 17-year-old jihadi in travelling to Syria from the UK.
Aseel Muthana, from Cardiff, followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Nasser, and their friend Reyaad Khan, when he slipped out of the UK and travelled to Syria to join Isis in February 2014.
Aseel Muthana left home in Cardiff on 21 February 2014 to join Isis and has not returned. His older brother, Nasser Muthana, whom he idolised, had travelled there with four others from Cardiff three months before, the court heard.
Nasser Muthana and Khan achieved notoriety when they appeared in an Isis recruitment video called There is no life without jihad, and Khan was killed last year in a RAF drone strike.
Nasser later helped make an Isis propaganda video called There Is No life Without Jihad, which was released in June 2014.
A trial at the Old Bailey in London has given an insight into how young men like the Muthana brothers and Khan are able to reach Syria.
Prosecutor Annabel Darlow QC had told jurors that all three defendants shared the same “highly radical ideology” and support for waging war in Syria.
The jury was told that Kristen Brekke, from Cardiff, Adeel Ulhaq, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, and Forhad Rahman, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, all helped Muthana in different ways.
Two of the defendants, Rahman and Ulhaq, were part of a network of friends online who were committed to the Isis ideology, the court heard. That group also included two brothers from Portsmouth, Tuhin Shahensha and Mustaqim Jaman. A third related man, Ifthekar Jaman, was killed while fighting in Syria for Isis, in December 2013. All three defendants played different roles in their mission to help Muthana reach Syria and all but Brekke expressed a desire to follow suit, the court heard.
Aseel Muthana got to know Brekke, 20, when they both worked at an ice-cream parlour, Ice Cream Passion, in Cardiff. Brekke bought combat clothes for Muthana from eBay and allowed him to use his computer for research.
Rahman was key in funding Muthana’s trip. Ulhaq had good contacts in Syria and gave practical advice, while Brekke helped purchase equipment and let the teenager use his computer.
An extraordinary video released by police after the trial shows Brekke and Muthana brandishing a replica handgun in the dark on a hill overlooking Cardiff. At one point Muthana says: “If you’re watching this I’m probably dead or probably, like, a legend or something.”
Muslim convert Brekke, 20, had been good friends with Muthana since they worked together at an ice cream parlour in Cardiff. The prosecution said he was well aware of his aim, and cited the evidence of a home-made video of the pair posing with an imitation gun on Asda Hill above Cardiff.
Later he says: “Are you depressed? Are you stressed? Do you have no friends? Then come join us at Cardiff Hill, aka Asda Hill [so called because it is close to a branch of the supermarket]. This is the fake jihadi life.” Muthana then spots smoke from a factory and imagines he has just blown up “a checkpoint or something”.
Brekke, who did not know his co-defendants before, gave a variety of explanations for his stash of equipment, including claims they were impulse buys and he was preparing for a camping trip to the Brecon Beacons.
Rahman and Ulhaq, both 21, were part of a network of online friends who were committed to violent struggle. The network also included two brothers from Portsmouth, Tuhin Shahensha and Mustaqim Jaman.
Muthana became friends with Rahman online and sent him the video clip from Asda Hill in which he proclaimed: “If you are watching this, I’m probably dead or I’m probably a legend or something.”
They are serving six years each for helping people travel to Syria. A third Jaman brother, Ifthekar, was killed while fighting in Syria in December 2013. Police found that Ifthekar had spoken to Rahman via Skype.
The pair met up in London, where Rahman was working for Addison Lee, and exchanged affectionate messages referring to each other as “cutie”, “honey” and “babe”, the court heard. He knew at the time he helped Muthana that it was dangerous in Syria as two months before, his acquaintance Iftekhar Jaman was killed in battle.
Muthana became very friendly with Rahman, a call-centre worker. They met in London and exchanged affectionate messages.
In his defence, Rahman, 21, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, admitted allowing the teenager to use his credit card but insisted he thought he was going to Syria to help people by joining a local militia. He said: “When we discussed this, Isis was not the plan”.
Rahman used contacts in Syria to help Muthana get there – and allowed him to use his credit card to pay for a passport, coach trip to Gatwick and flight from the UK to Cyprus. The day after Muthana left he and Rahman spoke on Skype.
Rahman introduced his friend to Ulhaq who gave practical help online and called on his contacts within Syria to smooth his entry into the country. However, Ulhaq never met Muthana in person.
Rahman introduced Muthana to Ulhaq, who gave practical help online and called on his contacts within Syria to smooth his entry into the country. However, Ulhaq never met Muthana in person.
The 21-year-old from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, told the jury that he had considered going to Syria himself to bring home his ex-girlfriend, Aqsa Mahmood, from Glasgow, who was already in the country and proceeded to tweet Isis propaganda. He insisted that he believed Muthana was going for humanitarian reasons and not to fight for Isis, the court heard.
Prosecuting, Annabel Darlow QC told jurors that all three defendants shared the same “highly radical ideology”.
The jury was not told that the first Old Bailey trial of the three men collapsed last year due to publicity around tweets from Mahmood.
The three were found guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism. Ulhaq was further convicted of funding terrorism.
Brekke, Rahman and Ulhaq were found guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism. Ulhaq was further convicted of terror funding.
