So now his original story has changed. He didn’t go to Pakistan to “help earthquake survivors,” as he first claimed. No, now the real reason he went to Pakistan (only to return with enough information “that would have enabled him or others to carry out terrorist attacks here or abroad in a variety of ways”) is “childhood anger.” Odd that—especially considering his “hobbies” are “Islamic history, jurisprudence, warfare – contemporary, historical and classical warfare – books on jihad in the past, jihad today.” We’ve a classic chicken-or-the-egg conundrum here. Did “childhood angers” lead him to the study of jihad (which only validated them) or did the study of jihad lead to his “childhood angers”? Or is he simply another jihadist trying to exploit the Western proclivity to sympathize with angry children? “Anger fuelled jihad interest,” from the Yorkshire Evening Post, July17:
A MUSLIM caught with computer files about weapons, explosives and poisons, told a court how childhood “anger” fuelled his interest in “jihad”.
Officers found the material on a laptop hard drive in Aabid Khan’s luggage when they arrested him at Manchester Airport on his return from Pakistan two years ago.
He is in the dock at London’s Southwark Crown Court alongside three co-accused, including Hammaad Munshi, 18, from Saville Town, Dewsbury, who were detained during raids in West Yorkshire and London.
The 23-year-old, of Otley Road, Undercliffe, Bradford, said by the age of 12 he was so concerned about the suffering of fellow believers overseas he regularly accessed internet news bulletins about them.
The four accused, which also includes Sultan Muhammad, 23, of Hanover Square, Manningham and Ahmed Sulieman, 30, from south-east London, variously deny 13 counts of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism and making a record of information likely to be useful in terrorism between November 23 2005 and June 20 2006.