Shabazz Suleman, 27, pleaded responsible final month to making ready acts of terrorism
By:
Pramod Thomas
A UK courtroom jailed a person for all times for travelling to Syria to hitch Daesh (the Islamic State group) practically a decade in the past.
Decide Mark Lucraft handed Shabazz Suleman, from Excessive Wycombe northwest of London, the jail time period on Friday (26) for making his strategy to Syria to enlist within the terror group, which is prohibited underneath English legislation.
“You went to Syria with the intention to be part of Daesh. You understood Daesh was a proscribed organisation in English legislation,” the choose stated as he handed sentence at London’s Previous Bailey prison courtroom.
“Your ambition was to change into a sniper,” he famous.
Suleman, 27, pleaded responsible final month to making ready acts of terrorism by travelling from the UK to Turkey in August 2014, when he was aged 18, with the intention to be part of Daesh in Syria.
He disappeared whereas on a household vacation to Turkey, which borders Syria and has lengthy been a gateway to the war-ravaged nation for Western wannabe jihadists.
Suleman was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September 2021 and charged with varied terror offences, together with receiving coaching in using firearms in addition to belonging to a proscribed organisation.
However these two fees had been left to sit down on file after the prosecution stated his responsible plea addressed them.
Suleman will serve a minimal time period of 9 years and 6 months underneath the life sentence.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson instructed the courtroom that whereas making an attempt to journey to Syria, Suleman was held by Turkish forces earlier than opting to be a part of a prisoner swap with Daesh.
As soon as inside Syria, he posted on social media about his experiences in Daesh territory and later gave incriminating interviews to Sky Information.
He later turned “disenchanted” with jihadism and tried to abandon the terrorist group, the courtroom heard.
Following the collapse of Daesh, he was taken captive by a faction of the Free Syrian Military (FSA) in 2017, earlier than being transferred to Turkey after which Pakistan.
His lawyer Abdul Iqbal stated Suleman had been an “immature and idealistic” younger man who wished to assist folks “in misery” and who participated in “non-combat duties” with Daesh.
He added that his consumer had “firmly” determined inside 5 months of becoming a member of the terrorist organisation that he wished to flee.
(AFP)
