KHAWAJA: ‘REGGIE PERRIN’ JIHADI LOOKING AT LIFE BEHIND BARS

A British Muslim who faked his own death in Syria so he could raise funds  recruits jihadis in the UK is facing life imprisonment today (thurs).

Imran Mohammed Khawaja, 27, received firearms training at a base run by associates of British Jihadis affiliated to ISIS.

The bodybuilder, from Watford, Herts, entered the warzone after buying a flight to Kurdistan on 26 January last year.

Khawaja, also known as Abu Daigham al Baritani and ‘Barbie’ was then reported as being killed in action on 3 June by the terrorist group Rayat al-Tawheed.

His death was widely reported – but on the same day Khawaja was arrested by specialist counter-terrorism officers at Dover with his cousin Tahir Bhatti, 45, known as ‘Butter.’

During his time away he was filmed holding severed heads of soldiers, training for combat, and pictured alongside tanks and artillery.

Khawaja, dressed in a smart dark suit and tie, is awaiting sentencing for four counts, including preparing for terrorists acts, attending a terrorist training camp, and receiving weapons training.

He appears alongside older cousin Bhatti, and a third defendant, Asim Ali, 33, who admitted assisting and offender and funding terrorism respectively.

Prosecutor Brian Altman QC said Khawaja went out to Syria at the end of January, flying out on the 26.

‘He left Heathrow on a journey that was to take him to Syria, to a camp where terrorist training was provided,’ he said.

‘His flight was booked the day before his departure, and paid for using the fraudulently obtained details of a credit card in the name Daniel Sweeting.

‘He flew via Heathrow to Istanbul and took a connecting Turkish Airlines flight to Sulaimaniyah Airport in Kurdistan on 27 January.

‘The booking had included a return flight via Instanbul for 1 February, but that flight was not taken.’

Khawaja, how also had the  nicknames ‘Barbie,’ Imz,’ ‘Iron, and ‘Cashew,’ was a senior member of terrorist group Rayat Al Taweed (The Banner of Divine Unity).

Mr Altman said that RAT is ‘an insurgent group of Islamist Muslims, principally from London, who are either members of and/or sympathetic to the message of the Islamic State.’

‘The role of the group if primarily to create propaganda for IS through online images and video clips that appeal to English-speaking and, in particular, British, male Muslims and to encourage them to join IS to fight jihad,’ he said.

One of the videos in which he appeared demonstrated him finding severed heads on the battlefield, including those of government soldiers.

Other footage showed Khawaja engaging with others in intensive training, including wrestling, boxing and combat rolls on a mat in a room.

Many videos began with a declaration of faith: ‘There is no God but Allah, Mohammed is the messenger of Allah,’ with background music glorifying Jihad and martyrdom.

‘Following his departure, during messaging with his sister over different messaging platforms, Khawaja made it clear that he was in Syria for Jihad, that this was the path he had chosen, and that he wished to die as a martyr’ said Mr Altman.

‘He told her that he was receiving training, and sent her a variety of images showing him armed and around combat vehicles.

‘The effect of the messaging and the imagery is that it is plain that Khawaja was there to train and fight, and was close to, if not directly in, a combat zone.’

For weeks Khawaja’s family pleaded with him to come home, the court heard.

Satellite images confirmed Khawaja had been in the regions north of Kirkuk in Iraq, and southwest of Aleppo in Syria during his time away.

During that time he is said to have come into contact with ISIS poster boy ‘Jihadi John,’ known to be a British national.

When RAT claimed Khawaja had been killed in action, they stated: ‘Abu Daigham al Baritani from Rayat al Tahweed was killed in battle a few nights ago.

‘May Allah accept him and grant him the highest Jannah. May we meet again my brother.’

Mr Altman explained: ‘These postings of his death provided cover for his return into the UK.

‘For far from being dead, Khawaja was at the time on his way back to the UK, hoping to slip in undetected.

‘The prosecution has no direct evidence as to why Khawaja returned when he did, or for what purpose, but given the story put out by RAT whereby his return was covered up, it suggests not only that he was important to the group, but also that the group sought to avoid his capture.

‘It suggests also that his return to the UK was not intended to be permanent, as we shall see from messaging a few days before Khawaja returned.’

Khawaja arrived in the UK with Bhatti on 3 June 2014, and were later port-stopped at Dover in a hired VW Tiguan which they had rented for £429.

Bhatti told officers the pair had been on a European road trip, before adding that Khawaja had ‘always wanted to be a GI Joe.’

Previously Bhatti, a father-of-seven who runs a mini-cab company, admitted assisting an offender by helping him to return to the UK after his terrorist training.

He helped Khawaja by agreeing to provide a replacement phone, funding the purchase of a Kalashnikov assault rifle, using coded messages and helping him avoid arrest by hiring the car to pick him up.

On his return Khawaja travelled through Turkey, Serbia, Munich, Sofia in Bulgaria, and finally Calais, France.

Pictures of Khawaja posing with guns and tanks were found on Bhatti’s mobile phone.

The pair communicated through a simple code via text message and Whatsapp, where they exchanged images of anti-aircraft guns.

One message from Khawaja read, ‘If you can raise a little money, nothing big, need to buy a Klash ASAP.’

‘Khawaja also said often that he would never return to the UK, despite the many exhortations of his family to return,’ Mr Altman stated.

‘Yet in June 2014 he did return, facilitated by his cousin, the defendant, Tahir Bhatti.’

The court was told Khawaja was berated in February 2014 for deserting his family and making them suffer, to which Khawaja responded that his flight back wasn’t booked until December 2017.

Khawaja told his sister, Azmeena, that he had travelled to the Middle East ‘for Allah…first.’

‘He told her he was happier than he had been in the UK, which was ‘Shaitan dirty (devil dirty),’ Mr Altman said.

‘He told her no matter how much war there was there, this was better.

‘He told her he had no time to waste; that he knew Islam and Jihad ‘is my way’ and he could not sit and argue with his family ‘who don’t practice dis deen (religion).’

Khawaja then convinced his sister to tell their family that he was in Syria doing charity work by way of driving an ambulance.

He later added: ‘Jihad will remain fresh and green as long as raindrops fall from the sky.’

For months his sister pleaded with him to come home, telling him what he was doing was not Jihad – but Khawaja regularly sent her pictures of him with arms.

Ali also admitted entering into a funding arrangement for the purposes of terrorism by giving £300 to Khawaja between January and June 2014.

He is a close friend of Khawaja, known as ‘Hollyfield,’ and at the time of his arrest was working at Topps Tiles in Acton.

One further charge of soliciting murder was left on the file after Khawaja entered a not guilty plea on 23 December 2014

A six-week trial had been fixed for 27 June 2014, but Khawaja pleaded guilty to all bar one of the counts in December 2014.

Khawaja, of (15) Foxglove Close, Southall, admitted preparing terrorists acts contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, attending a training camp contrary to section 8 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and receiving weapons training.

Bhatti, of (7) Clarke Way, Watford, Herts, admitted assisting an offender.
Ali, of (10) Spike Bridge Road, Ealing, admitted funding terrorism.

Khawaja and Ali are in custody while Bhatti is on conditional bail.