SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
A radical Wahabi Muslim student who aspired to fly the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) over Downing Street, has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of planning to join rebel fighters in Syria.
David Souaan, 20, was accused of preparing for terrorist act in the country around the time he was stopped at Heathrow Airport in May.
The prosecution claimed he was returning to fight the jihadist cause after visiting for the same reason in December last year.
However, Souaan denied the allegations, saying his previous visit was to collect belongings of his grandfather.
Judge Peter Rook ordered pre-sentence reports and adjourned sentencing until Tuesday February 3.
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, the 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 College in London, living in halls of residence in Malet Street.
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.
Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC said one video clip on his phone was “so graphic and so shocking” that it could not be played in court.
It featured a young-looking man kneeling with his head held back as another man cut his throat.
The court heard that Souaan filmed himself attending a demonstration in the UK.
Mrs Whitehouse said that a man – probably Souaan – could be heard in the background saying: “The flag of Tawheed in London, all praise be to Allah the lord of the universe,” in reference to the wish of Muslim extremists to see the black flag fly over Downing Street.
In his defence, 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 82-year-old grandfather’s belongings after he fled to Turkey with just the clothes on his back.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
