Ex-teacher accused of sharing Islamic propaganda denies terriorism

The trial of Dzhamilya Timaeva continues. From the Slough Observer and the Daily Mail

Dzhamilya Timaeva, 20, from Windsor, Berkshire, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of sharing extreme Islamic propaganda between 2022 and 2023. Jurors heard previously that “pro-Isis (Islamic State) propaganda” was uncovered by police after her phone was seized and the contents downloaded in October 2022. Police uncovered a document entitled the Little Muwahideen, with a colourful cartoon-style front cover designed for children…

Giving evidence on Monday, Timaeva, who now works as a dental nurse, told jurors she was born in Kazakhstan to Chechen parents who left their home country before she was born because of the war with Russia. The family tried to seek asylum in various European countries until they came to the UK in 2013, gaining refugee status in 2019 after a six-year asylum process.

Asked to explain her understanding of the conflict in Chechnya which prompted her parents to leave, Timaeva said Russia invaded after the country “persisted” in its call for independence after the dissolution of the USSR.

She told jurors she felt “very strongly” about the conflicts in her homeland, explaining her father fought as a teenager and was tortured. She called the war an “ethnic genocide” which has left an “open wound” on her heart.

Ed Butler, defending, made reference to exchanges Timaeva had with a close friend in which they used the word “jihad”.

Asked what she was talking about when she used the word, the defendant said: “The context was the war back home.”

She explained the different meanings of jihad of which “fighting” only applied to one – physical jihad.

“Physical jihad is waged as defence,” the 20-year-old said, adding that if a land was invaded and Muslims were under threat then jihad by fighting would be “permissible”. “I have an understanding of this jihad in the context of the country that I’m from, in the context of Russia’s invasion of our country,” she said. “I believe the men who were fighting for our country . . . fighting for the independence of Chechnya were doing Jihad. We believe they died as martyrs.”

Giving evidence in a blue denim skirt, a blue shirt and a white head scarf, she added there was a Chechnyan ‘code of honour’ which required men to fight for their homeland. “Chechnyan men are raised in a certain manner, with certain characteristics and if you do not have them you are not considered to be a Chechnyan man. These are being religious, being fearless, being masculine, being skilled in martial arts and being skilled in an area of work,”

When asked if she supported infamous terrorist attacks such as the 2001 World Trade Centre disaster or the 2015 Bataclan attack she denied that she did. Asked by her lawyer Ed Butler if she believed in spreading extremist ideology she answered: ‘I do not believe it is responsible.’

She said she would not categorise 9/11, the 2015 Paris attacks or the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 as jihad.

Timaeva denied being a supporter of the so-called Islamic State group and said she disagreed with attacks by the group. She denied being a violent or aggressive person and said she had no plans to fight or die as a young person, or to encourage others to do so.

Mr Butler asked her: “Are you a terrorist?”

She said: “No.”