London student faces jail over Isis bid

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/17/london-student-jail-isis-syria

Version 0 of 1.

A student who wanted the black flag of Isis to fly over Downing Street is facing jail after being found guilty of planning to join rebel forces in Syria.

David Souaan, 20, wept in the dock as he was convicted of preparing for terrorist acts in the war-hit country after a trial at the Old Bailey in London.

The prosecution said he had visited Syria in December last year and was on his way back to fight the jihadi cause when he was arrested at Heathrow airport in May.

The Birkbeck College student, who comes from a wealthy family in Serbia, denied the charge and insisted his previous visit to Syria was to collect his grandfather’s belongings.

Judge Peter Rook ordered pre-sentence reports and adjourned sentencing until 3 February. Remanding Souaan in custody, he said: “You have been convicted of a very serious offence indeed. You must understand that you will be receiving a custodial sentence in this case.”

Souaan, son of a Serbian Christian mother and Syrian Muslim father, grew up in his mother’s country but had close family ties to Syria and had adopted his father’s religion. He came to the UK last year on a three-year visa to study global politics and international relations at Birkbeck, living in halls of residence in Malet Street, central London.

He was arrested after fellow students became concerned at his radical views on Islam and he showed off pictures of himself posing with guns.

Police seized his laptop and phone and found pictures, videos and documents revealing his “extremist sympathies” and that he had not only been fighting in Syria before but was intending to return, the Old Bailey heard.

Sarah Whitehouse QC, prosecuting, said one videoclip on his phone was “so graphic and so shocking” that it could not be played in court. It featured a man kneeling with his head held back as another man cut his throat.

The court heard that Souaan filmed had also himself attending a demonstration in the UK. Whitehouse said a man – probably Souaan – could be heard saying: “The flag of Tawheed in London, all praise be to Allah, the lord of the universe.”

Souaan told jurors he had accompanied his father to his home town of Deir ez-Zor in Syria for two nights in December last year. He said he went to help retrieve his grandfather’s belongings after he fled to Turkey.

He said he posed for pictures with guns because he wanted to look cool, adding: “At the time when I was there I felt something like I wanted some trophy - the photos. As the teenagers say nowadays, it looks ‘cool’. So that was the reason.”

Souaan, whose father made a fortune in the construction business in Serbia, insisted that, while he was in the town held by the Free Syrian Army, he never had a weapon. He said he had been lonely in London after arriving for his first term of university on 6 October last year.

He kept in contact by text with his Christian Serbian girlfriend who had gone to Miami to study. She called him “little panda” and he replied that he loved “little sweetie … more than anything in the world”.

The jury took nine hours to find Souaan guilty.