ZAFAR: BRADFORD STUDENTS WATCHED TERROR VIDEOS
Videos glorifying suicide bombings in the Middle East were screened at the home of two young terror suspects, a court heard.
Aitzaz Zafar, 18 and Awaab Iqbal, 19, who rented the property while students at Bradford University, were thrown out of the university’s Islamic Society for their extremist views, jurors have heard.
After disappearing for three months they returned with friends Usman Malik, 19, and Akbar Butt, 20, in February last year and highjacked the weekly prayer meetings by calling call for the death of anyone publishing anti-Muslim cartoons, it is said.
Zafar, Iqbal, Malik and Butt are in the dock with Mohammed Raja, 18, all accused of compiling terrorist propaganda to encourage youngsters to give up their lives for the Jihad.
Giving evidence former fellow student Umair Iqbal told the Old Bailey he visited his friends’ shared accommodation in Grove Terrace on more than one occasion and ‘saw videos of suicide bombings’.
‘There was a few countries – Afghanistan and Iraq,’ he added.
The student, who was in Bradford when the defendants stormed the prayer meeting, told jurors Iqbal and Zafar had also frequently praised the 7/7 London suicide bombers.
The witness said he gave a statement to police which read: ‘Butt, Iqbal and Zafar expressed their views to me on more than one occasion, that there was nothing wrong with suicide bombings.’
But he retracted parts of his statement today, claiming police had made errors transcribing his words despite the fact that he read and signed the finished document.
Umair told the court: ‘When I said they expressed their views, it wasn’t to me.’
The statement also read: ‘They argued this (that suicide bomings were justified) by quoting sections from the Koran.’
He told the court he meant ‘not in particular suicide bombings but the topic of Jihad – the fight, the struggle’.
Andrew Edis QC asked him if he was now ‘reluctant’ give evidence that ‘might implicate’ Butt, Iqbal and Zafar’ but he replied: ‘No.’
He stood by his assertion which read: ‘They referred to the 911 bombers as martyrs.’
Umair also told jurors he went to an Islamic bookshop with Iqbal, Zafar and Malik, and the three came away with a pile of Islamic propaganda.
One of the leaflets was entitled ‘Terrorism and Suicide Bombers,’ and the witnees said he openly condemned the pamphlet.
‘I said to Zafar that I expected more from him. Their view was that it was okay to take these leaflets – they were laughing about it.’
He understood his friends had later destroyed them but said: ‘The burning of the leaflets wasn’t anything big, because any referrence to the Koran – it could be in a leaflet or a book – we have to burn or bury it.’
Jurors have heard how Zafar, Iqbal, Malik, Butt, and another unknown student stormed a 100-strong prayer meeting after a Danish newspaper published a cartoon satirising the Prophet Mohammed.
With tensions running high among the Muslim community, the group allegedly seized their moment and took over when a guest speaker was delayed.
They gave a controversial sermon calling for Muslims to ‘utilise force’ against the cartoonist and kill anyone who published it.
But the society’s vice president Imran Raja stepped in to make a statement distancing the society from their comments.
Zafar went on to say he supported using ‘force to fight against leaders of countries that seemed not to be following Islam appropriately’.
A few days later Zafar emailed his friend a 31-page document entitled ‘Discussion on the Methodology to Establish a Muslim Islamic State’ which encouraged Muslims to fight Jihad in order to promote Muslim beliefs.
Iqbal, a forensic science student of (24) Grove Terrace, Bradford, and Zafar, of (34) Bishop Street, Rochdale, both deny possessing an article in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that their purpose is connected to the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism between February 23 and March 3 2006 relating to three CDs.
Iqbal alone denies possessing an article in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that their purpose is connected to the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism between January 1 2006 and March 3 2006, relating to discs, a video recording and hard drive.
Zafar alone denies possessing an article in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that their purpose is connected to the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism between January 1 2006 and March 3 2006, relating to the hard drives of two computers and four discs.
Malik, of (A19) Laisteridge Lane, Bradford, denies two counts of possessing an article in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that their purpose is connected to the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism between January 1, 2006, and March 3, 2006, relating to a document called ‘Raising Mujihadeen children’ and ‘joining the caravan’ and a USB drive.
Butt, of no known address, denies two counts of possessing an article in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that their purpose is connected to the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism between January 1, 2006, and March 3, 2006, relating to the hard drive of a laptop.
Raja, of (37) Holcombe Road, Ilford, east London, denies two charges of possessing an article in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that their purpose is connected to the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.
They relate to three CDs containing Islamic material between December 24, 2005, and February 28, 2006, and documents on a hard drive between January 1, 2005 and February 27, 2006.
The trial continues.
ends
