Teen ‘planned to kill British soldier and hold up severed head for photo’, court hears

From the Press Association and the London Evening Standard

Brustholm Ziamani, 19, was arrested on a street in east London in August carrying a 12-inch knife and a hammer in a rucksack, having earlier researched the location of army cadet bases in the south east of the capital, the Old Bailey heard.

The jury heard he also put posts on Facebook under the name Mujahid Karim supporting Sharia law and stating he was “willing to die in the cause of Allah”. It is alleged he posted Facebook messages about martyrdom, and wrote in a letter: “You want war, you got it. British soldier’s head will be removed and burned. U cannot defeat Muslims. We love to die the way you live.”

Ziamani, 19, of Camberwell, denies preparing for an act of terrorism. Opening the case, Annabel Darlow, prosecuting, said his “hatred of non-believers and interest in violent jihad began to crystallise into a plan to attack a member of British military forces.

“His idols were the two men who, in May 2013, had notoriously murdered Lee Rigby in Woolwich — Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.”

Miss Darlow said: “He didn’t say anything when he was arrested on that particular occasion but he was remanded and told a security officer that he had been on his way to kill a British soldier at an army barracks when he had been arrested. He said that he was going to behead the soldier and hold that soldier’s head up in the air so that a friend could take a photograph with the severed head of the soldier.”

Ziamani posted a Facebook picture of himself atan Islamist protest with a banner saying “Voting is shirk” — which means forbidden, the court heard. An update a few days later said: “Be willing to die in the cause of Allah.”

He later told police a T-shirt he had worn showed he wanted to promote Islam with “the mouth, dahwah, and by the sword, jihad.” In June he made internet searches for Camberwell army cadets and the London Irish Rifles Association, it is claimed. “They were targets which would reflect his stated intention to wage war on the British Government,” said Miss Darlow.