Terror suspect student 'had suicide vest and explosives'

[Uthman]

Court told Isa Ibrahim developed fascination with radical preachers after converting to Islam.

A student from Bristol made explosive material and a suicide vest after converting to Islam and then becoming fascinated with the teachings of radical preachers and suicide attacks, a jury heard today.

When police searched Isa Ibrahim's one-bedroom flat they found the explosive HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine) in a family assorted biscuit tin in the fridge. Ingredients for the explosive and electrical equipment that could have been used to detonate it were discovered in a cupboard under the kitchen sink.

Hanging on the back of the 19-year-old's bedroom door was a vest of the sort used by suicide bombers with panels on the front and back, Winchester crown court heard.

Ibrahim, who changed his first name from Andrew by deed poll after converting to Islam, admits making HMTD. But he denies preparing the substance intending to endanger life or cause serious damage to property and also pleads not guilty to preparing terrorists acts, including carrying out reconnaissance on a possible target.

Mark Ellison QC told the jury that Ibrahim converted to Islam in 2006 and changed his name by deed poll in February 2007.

Ellison said: "Just over one year after that, in April 2008, he was arrested in Bristol as he walked to the city centre. At the time he was living in a one-bedroomed flat in the outskirts of the city. Sitting in his fridge inside a family assortment-sized biscuit box was a quantity of homemade high explosive known as HMTD."

In a cupboard under the kitchen sink were ingredients to make the explosive and also a "crudely made" electrical circuit that, at the push of a red button, could have detonated HMTD, Ellison claimed.

He added: "Hanging from the back of the bedroom door was a homemade white cotton vest consisting of a central panel at the front and back with straps going over the shoulder. That is the sort of vest which is used sometimes by what are known as suicide bombers."

Ellison added: "You may well wonder and doubt how a 19-year-old student from Bristol could become adherent so such an extreme ideology and make explosive … so as to cause life-threatening injuries to people or serious damage to property.

"But we suggest the evidence of what he did and what he said, and what he spent quite a lot of effort searching out and collecting, will prove that he did so and that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of others who had just done that as a demonstration of the strength of their beliefs and to strike a blow against the enemy."

Over the four or five months before his arrest, Ellison said, Ibrahim's acquaintances noticed a change in his dress, which had become more strictly Islamic – and a change in what he said.

Ibrahim said he liked what radical preachers such as Abu Hamza stood for. He viewed the 9/11 attacks as a "justified response" to US and UK aggression against Muslims.

He said he wanted to go to Iraq or Palestine to join the fighting and felt living in the UK was like "living in a dirty toilet with a minefield outside". He said he sympathised with suicide bombers, it is alleged.

Ibrahim often searched the internet to research the teachings not only of Abu Hamza but of the cleric Omar Bakri and the group al-Muhajiroun.

He also investigated bombings in London and Glasgow. He spent time researching the manufacture of explosives and the ideology of suicide bombing, focusing at one point on suicide operations in Iraq.

The court was told that when he was 18 Ibrahim was addicted to drugs and homeless. He was given a place at a housing project in Bristol, where workers saw him as a devout and serious Muslim. He told one friend his parents had disowned him.

Ibrahim had a picture on his wall depicting the 9/11 attacks and began to speak about Abu Hamza and Osama bin Laden. He grew a beard and took books on 9/11 and Islamic extremism out of the library, it is alleged.

He also studied biology, chemistry and other subjects at the City of Bristol College. There, he once asked a visiting lecturer in microbiology about the "best" bacteria to kill people.

At around Christmas 2007 classmates noticed him changing, the court was told. He began handing out anti-war pamphlets and once told a friend he sympathised with suicide bombers and thought nuclear bombs were "cool".

The jury was also shown a video that the prosecution believed Ibrahim had watched in which one of the London bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, declares: "We are at war and I am a soldier."

A second video was shown featuring Bin Laden and other extremists to illustrate the "simple core belief" of extremists that there was a conspiracy against Islam by the west, especially the US, UK and Israel, and that war was justified not only against those countries' leaders but against the citizens who had elected them.

Ellison said Ibrahim's research indicated a "growing radicalisation towards an extreme mindset born of an adoption of the ideology espoused by Bin Laden".

He said the crown did not have to prove that Ibrahim had made up his mind to carry out an attack. But he added: "We do suggest he was seriously contemplating that."

The trial continues.

Source

 

[Uthman]

Bombmaker staked out shopping centre as target, jury told

Muslim convert Isa Ibrahim denies making explosive to endanger life and carrying out reconnaissance at Broadmead in Bristol.

A student who made his own suicide vest using homemade explosives staked out a busy shopping centre as a potential target to bomb, a court was told today.

Isa Ibrahim, 20, denies making an explosive with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in April last year.

The trial has heard that Ibrahim, from Comb Paddock, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, became increasingly radicalised after converting to Islam and changed his name from Andrew Philip Michael Ibrahim.

Mark Ellison QC, prosecuting, told Winchester crown court that on 7 April 2008, Ibrahim carried out a reconnaissance mission at the Broadmead shopping centre in Bristol.

He said that the science student spent about an hour walking around the centre without entering any of the 100 shops located over three floors.

Ellison said that as he walked, Ibrahim made a note on his mobile phone of the location of bins, lifts, escalators and exits, and described the food court as a "dense area".

He also made a note of the time it would take to leave the mall without running, Ellison said.

He added: "It seems he may well have been exploring how something could be put into one of the bins before leaving the centre without running and drawing attention to yourself.

"He had decided to carry out this reconnoitre of the shopping centre and its layout and suitability and we suggest it is significant evidence that he later made [the explosive] HMTD with intention to endanger life."

Ibrahim also denies a charge of preparing terrorist acts by purchasing material to make an explosive, making that explosive, buying material to detonate the explosive, carrying out "reconnaissance" before the act and "making an improvised suicide vest in which to then detonate an explosive substance".

The jury has been told he has pleaded guilty to a third charge of making an explosive substance.

The trial has heard that when Ibrahim was arrested, a quantity of homemade high explosive, hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), was found in a biscuit box in the fridge of his home.

Also found in his one-bedroom flat was an electrical circuit capable of detonating the explosive as well as a suicide vest, the court was told.

He spent several months researching Islamic fundamentalism on the internet, including the motivation behind suicide attacks. He also used the internet to find instructions on how to make explosives from household products such as hydrogen peroxide, the court heard.

The trial was also told that he had described the UK as a "dirty toilet" and he believed the 9/11 attacks were a justifiable response to US and UK aggression towards Muslims.

Source

 

[Uthman]

Loner turns would-be bomber via the web

Student Andrew Ibrahim, who has been jailed for a minimum of 10 years for plotting to blow himself up using a home-made suicide vest, is the son of an NHS consultant and converted to Islam in 2006.

The 20-year-old from Bristol changed his name by deed poll to Isa, meaning Jesus, but rather than follow a peaceful path he became obsessed with the politics of the Muslim world.

With the help of extreme material obtained via jihadist websites he became radicalised to the point where he became a danger to himself and others.

It has emerged it was Muslims who alerted police in Bristol and counter-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard to Ibrahim's activities.

The BBC understands that his arrest was the first major one following a community tip-off.

Whitehall security and community cohesion chiefs regard the way the case has been handled as a huge step forward in building trust with Muslim communities which are often on the sharp end of counter-terrorism investigations.

Some people have asked me 'do you feel betrayed by Isa Ibrahim' and I'd say 'no the Muslim community feels we let him down

Farooq Siddique, Bristol Muslim Society

But what happened to change a middle-class, British-born man, educated at some of Bristol's top independent schools, into the radical facing terror charges in court?

Prosecutors told his trial at Winchester Crown Court that Ibrahim developed a "mindset of martyrdom" and a taste for radical clerics on the internet - people like Abu Hamza al-Masri, the preacher jailed for race-hate who is now facing extradition to the US.

In turn, Ibrahim said he admired the 7/7 London suicide bombers - and he told friends the 9/11 attacks on America were a "justified response" for Western aggression.

A heroin-taking loner, Ibrahim felt he had found an ideology that echoed his own sense of anger with the world.

Guidance needed

Farooq Siddique, of the Bristol Muslim Society, said Ibrahim's world view was formed amid the difficult circumstances of a religious community feeling that it is under the media cosh.

"The media portrayal of Muslims is very negative with the majority of nouns used to describe Muslims today being terrorist, extremist, Islamist, suicide bomber," he said.

"Then you get to the radical websites which say the reason they're saying this negative stuff is because this is part of a crusade against Islam - that it's part of a war to wipe Islam off the face of the earth.

"Suddenly you've found a cause and Ibrahim was already a guy in serious trouble in his personal life.

"He wanted to be part of something. He always wanted to be part of something and here he found a cause."

Ed Husain, of the Quilliam Foundation, the counter-extremism think-tank, said while Ibrahim was responsible for his own path, the Muslim community had to play a part in identifying and stopping the journey to extremism.

"When young people like Ibrahim don't find political guidance at the mosque, they then turn, as he did, to the internet," said Mr Husain.

"There they find ample guidance for political matters but that comes in the form of extremism, radicalism, or taking up arms, of being terrorists.

"This is a huge infrastructural problem within mosques and with British Muslims. There is a serious lack of understanding of the problem because there is a cultural, linguistic and psychological obstacle between the younger generation and the older generation."

Since Ibrahim's arrest in 2008, the Bristol Muslim Society has been working closely with the police. Every mosque in the city now has its own police community support officer.

PCSO Dawn Pearse said: "On Fridays they bring their young lads and you see them in the street. They call us by our first names and that's nice, so I think it's working," she said.

The mosques are also changing slowly. Danyal Laskar, who is a volunteer at the Muslim Support Network, said being able to hear sermons in English and talk about his faith in the language he grew up speaking has led to a greater understanding.

"When I entered the faith, the mosque that I was going to had no English sermons or lessons or people talking in English," said Mr Laskar.

"It was all in a foreign language. We wanted to make somewhere where it was all in English, where there were friendly faces and so people could understand their religion and meet other Muslims in a place where they would understand."

Ibrahim's family spoke of their shock and distress when he was arrested.

Farooq Siddique said: "Some people have asked me 'do you feel betrayed by Isa Ibrahim' and I'd say 'no the Muslim community feels we let him down'.

"This guy is looking for guidance and looking for help and support and I don't think the Muslim community was geared-up to provide this particular individual with help.

"We just have to make sure that we don't drop the ball next time."

Source

 

[aadil77]

Would you believe this? people on ummah forums are crying and calling those muslims munafiqeen because they gave him up to the police and they're saying there isn't enough proof! There was a bloody bomb found with circuits and vest in his house and a video of him showing them.

SubhanAllah they stopped the guy from potentialy commiting suicide and murdering other people and those muslims are getting the blame for it!?

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

ok if your gnna be a suicide bomber/terrorist, would you really have things like that in your bedroom?
i mean com ooooonnnn for a mission as deadly as this, wouldn't one be a lot more discrete as to where they would keep their gear...anyone can walk into your bed-room for god sake!

i have so much other stuff to say but i'll just summarize:
i so doubt Muslims are behind stuff like this. i dno all the time its the same old pattern of converts/being really quite/preachers of islam/Muslims adhering to their religion/bothers growing their beards etc...
to me, those things point to a typical hate of Islam...it just really seems to be a mission to put people off Islam. to anyone who hates islam, Islam is a threat that needs to be dealt with....that's really all i can see from it.

a person who was out to kill would be way more smarter than what these people are allegedly doing...it makes no sense...it really doesnt...

 

[Banu_Hashim]

I remember this. My dad, farooque siddque and a few other members from the community had to talk to the police about the situation.

 

[Uthman]

I'm confused about what could possible convince a convert to Islam to do something like this. How could he believe Islam condones this and still be convinced that Islam is the right path? There are a minority of 'scholars' who attempt to justify this from a theological point of view as well. Their 'evidences' from the Qur'an/Sunnah may be convincing to those who are weak in knowledge but as far as I am aware the vast majority of scholars condemn this as being far removed from the teachings of Islam, and for that reason, so do I.

 

[glo]

I'm confused about what could possible convince a convert to Islam to do something like this. How could he believe Islam condones this and still be convinced that Islam is the right path? There are a minority of 'scholars' who attempt to justify this from a theological point of view as well.

Perhaps it depends on the intentions for reverting to Islam in the first place.

If he felt hatred towards his parents or his upbringing or his community or his culture or his country to start with, then Islam may have seemed like a way to rebel and fight against those things.
If he found just one hate-mongering radical scholar to support his own anger, then he could easily have felt justified to continue on his path of hatred and destruction ...

 

[GuestFellow]

ok if your gnna be a suicide bomber/terrorist, would you really have things like that in your bedroom?
i mean com ooooonnnn for a mission as deadly as this, wouldn't one be a lot more discrete as to where they would keep their gear...anyone can walk into your bed-room for god sake!

Where else would he have put it?

a person who was out to kill would be way more smarter than what these people are allegedly doing...it makes no sense...it really doesnt...

Whether he is intelligent, dumb or naive does not really matter. He had explosives and a suicide vest. He is already guilty of possessing dangerous items. He was on drugs too I remember so I highly doubt he was thinking properly.

Overall I'm glad he got caught. To me he is very dangerous. He should have gotten more than ten years. The Bristol muslim community did the right thing.

 

[MinAhlilHadeeth]

:salamext:

He began handing out anti-war pamphlets and once told a friend he sympathised with suicide bombers and thought nuclear bombs were "cool".

Cool? If this is true, he sounds mentally unstable.

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

Perhaps it depends on the intentions for reverting to Islam in the first place.

If he felt hatred towards his parents or his upbringing or his community or his culture or his country to start with, then Islam may have seemed like a way to rebel and fight against those things.

considering that no one actually knows his intentions behind his conversion, i fail to see how your point holds up to any scrutiny.

If he found just one hate-mongering radical scholar to support his own anger, then he could easily have felt justified to continue on his path of hatred and destruction ...

what are the chances of his finding that one -yes allow me to emphasis on the one- hate-mongering scholar you speak of?

Where else would he have put it?

i dont know, but putting things like that in your bedroom whilst they are under the "micro-scope" by the law is as stupid as putting your journal under your mattress as to conceal it from your siblings...it always the first place to look :-\ really, it makes no sense.

Whether he is intelligent, dumb or naive does not really matter. He had explosives and a suicide vest. He is already guilty of possessing dangerous items.

i understand that, but it wasn't the point. my point was focusing on the little details which aren't fitting in the picture that makes up the whole story.

He was on drugs too I remember so I highly doubt he was thinking properly.

so if thats the case, why has he been convicted in the first place?
if one is mentally unstable, whether it is a terror plot or any other crime, the court takes that into consideration when convicting them. so, if that is the case, why hasn't that happened here?

 

[GuestFellow]

i dont know, but putting things like that in your bedroom whilst they are under the "micro-scope" by the law is as stupid as putting your journal under your mattress as to conceal it from your siblings...it always the first place to look :-\ really, it makes no sense.

Ah no one knew what he was actually up to. So probably to him it was the safest place he could have put it. I really cannot think of any other place to put it and at the same time have a close eye on it. If it was the case the government had been keeping an eye on him, he would not have known that.

i understand that, but it wasn't the point. my point was focusing on the little details which aren't fitting in the picture that makes up the whole story.

I think it makes sense. A lonely teenager on drugs wanted to be part of something. Joined Islam and got interested in terrorism. He was looking on the internet for past suicide bombers and their motives, and used the internet to search how to make explosives. He went to the shops and began making notes on his mobile phone, such as "dense area". Next he is caught with explosives and suicide vest...everything fits in...Even the Bristol Muslim community noticed something strange about him.

so if thats the case, why has he been convicted in the first place?
if one is mentally unstable, whether it is a terror plot or any other crime, the court takes that into consideration when convicting them. so, if that is the case, why hasn't that happened here?

The courts do take into a consideration whether the individual is mentally unstable or not. They list the aggravating and mitigating factors and decide upon the sentence. Upon sentencing he will receive a rehabilitation program to be released back into the society, otherwise if they believe he had no chance of rehabilitation they would have no intention of letting him go.

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

I think it makes sense. A lonely teenager on drugs wanted to be part of something. Joined Islam and got interested in terrorism. He was looking on the internet for past suicide bombers and their motives, and used the internet to search how to make explosives. He went to the shops and began making notes on his mobile phone, such as "dense area". Next he is caught with explosives and suicide vest...everything fits in...

i still stick to my initial notion for the reasons aforementioned.
why does one have to join islam to become a terrorist? i mean to kill all them people...well you can become anyone and have any excuse really.
you don't have to convert to Islam or be a Muslim to commit a crime...that christian extremist (i forget his name) done it in Oklahoma...if you were really out to kill, why do you need to go to such extents...I dont see how/why it's required?
that and the fact that lonely teenagers....well I thought lonely teenagers want to be "in" and being into islam isn't what most non-Muslim teenagers are into. so i don't see how that fits in either.

Even the Bristol Muslim community noticed something strange about him.

and they didnt bother stop it with their own hands? instead they go to the police and hand in their brethren in faith. that's really saddening...

 

[GuestFellow]

i still stick to my initial notion for the reasons aforementioned.
why does one have to join islam to become a terrorist? i mean to kill all them people...well you can become anyone and have any excuse really.
you don't have to convert to Islam or be a Muslim to commit a crime...that christian extremist (i forget his name) done it in Oklahoma...if you were really out to kill, why do you need to go to such extents...I dont see how/why it's required.

You do not have to join Islam to become a terrorist, I agree on that. He was a lonely teenager and he was in a community where the majority of people are Muslims. He joined Islam and became part of something. He became part of something and wanted to defend it. Of course he was not happy with Iraq war and the Palestine/Israel conflict. So he decided to put matters into his own hands.

and they didnt bother stop it with their own hands? instead they go to the police and hand in their brethren in faith. that's really saddening...

I don't think the Bristol community have betrayed him. They actually stopped him from committing further sins. They contacted the police, and their suspicions have been confirmed. Even if the Muslim community had questioned him, how would have you know that what he was telling you was a lie or the truth? I don't think he had close contact with anyone in the community, therefore he would have been more cautious if they had question him.

He is hopefully going to be involved in a rehabilitation program in the course of the ten years and he will return back to the society as a normal citizen.

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

You do not have to join Islam to become a terrorist, I agree on that. He was a lonely teenager and he was in a community where the majority of people are Muslims.

knowing that Islam is under the spot light you go and convert as to "fit in." ?
converts know what they get themselves into when converting to Islam- i don't see how they would miss the boat...as brother uthmaan said:

I'm confused about what could possible convince a convert to Islam to do something like this. How could he believe Islam condones this and still be convinced that Islam is the right path?

they know islam is under the spotlight by the media as well as the general public...shouldn't that-even when living in a majority populated Muslim area-be enough to scare someone to carry out somethign like this? especially nowadays when Muslims are turning on one another and readily hand in their brethren in faith to the authority...why oh why would you knowingly take such risks?

He joined Islam and became part of something. He became part of something and wanted to defend it. Of course he was not happy with Iraq war and the Palestine/Israel conflict. So he decided to put matters into his own hands.

im sorry, but anyone wanting to do something worth while knows fully well that taking the short-cut to do it aka becoming apart of somethign that's already frowned upon and in the public eye, is well...again it just doesn't make sense.

 

[glo]

and they didnt bother stop it with their own hands? instead they go to the police and hand in their brethren in faith. that's really saddening...

How do you suggest they should have stopped a potential suicide bombers with their own hands?

I think whoever reported him did a very brave thing!
To have the police come to your place of worship to investigate and scrutinise the congregation of worshippers must be a very daunting thing. Whoever called the police must have been sure that it was in the best interest for all involved to do so.
Personally, I agree.
And it puts the Muslim community in a positive light.

 

[GuestFellow]

knowing that Islam is under the spot light you go and convert as to "fit in." ?
converts know what they get themselves into when converting to Islam- i don't see how they would miss the boat...as brother uthmaan said:

''I'm confused about what could possible convince a convert to Islam to do something like this. How could he believe Islam condones this and still be convinced that Islam is the right path?''

they know islam is under the spotlight by the media as well as the general public...shouldn't that-even when living in a majority populated Muslim area-be enough to scare someone to carry out somethign like this? especially nowadays when Muslims are turning on one another and readily hand in their brethren in faith to the authority...why oh why would you knowingly take such risks

im sorry, but anyone wanting to do something worth while knows fully well that taking the short-cut to do it aka becoming apart of somethign that's already frowned upon and in the public eye, is well...again it just doesn't make sense.

Well there have been individuals who converted to Islam right after September 11th despite how the media portrayed Islam. Islam is already frowned upon the general public however there are still people who still convert to Islam, though of course those people did not have any intention to plot terrorist activities or make explosives.

What I stated was an assumption to why he had converted to Islam, taking into account of his background history. I believe we can all agree he was a troubled individual. The Muslim community should learn from this, take precautions and try to gain a better understanding of why some people convert to Islam to ensure this does not happen again.

If you feel this does not make sense then what are you trying to propose then?

 

[Trumble]

and they didnt bother stop it with their own hands? instead they go to the police and hand in their brethren in faith. that's really saddening...

What would have been really saddening is if a bunch of bumbling amateurs with some ridiculous idea of keeping the matter within a particular community had messed it up and a bomb been exploded killing both them and him. This was clearly a matter for the professionals, as is his punishment and possibly psychiatric treatment. Do you not understand what this person might have done?

 

[Al-Zaara]

Thank God they caught him. I'm very glad someone was able to stop him, before anything could have happened.

He might have wanted to stand out, to fit in, to do something "brave" or just felt "excused" for the actions he was about to take. He might have wanted to do stuff like this before, so hearing these radical and crazy things that "it's OK to bomb" or similiar he might have heard, made him feel he has "excuses". Logical or not, he does sound mentally unstable. We can just assume though, but again, it was good he was caught, elhamdulillah.

 

[convert]

Would you believe this? people on ummah forums are crying and calling those muslims munafiqeen because they gave him up to the police and they're saying there isn't enough proof! There was a bloody bomb found with circuits and vest in his house and a video of him showing them.

SubhanAllah they stopped the guy from potentialy commiting suicide and murdering other people and those muslims are getting the blame for it!?

I would never in a million years turn a brother into the police. Things like this need to be taken care of in-house. That is quite a statement right here that you would willingly turn a fellow muslim into the hands of "kuffar justice".