- Abdul Raoof Al Shayeb, 51, claims he's a human rights activist in Bahrain
- Jurors at the Old Bailey were today shown pictures of him in military fatigues and holding what appears to be a machine gun
- Police raided his home in 2014 and found notes about a variety of weapons
- A memory card allegedly featured a Jihadi examination paper, court heard
A jury was shown pictures of Abdul Raoof Al Shayeb, 51, in combat fatigues, holding a handgun in some photos
A terror suspect who has attended human rights conferences with Jeremy Corbyn was caught with instructions on how to use a sniper’s rifle and a 'jihadi examination paper', a court heard today.
A jury at the Old Bailey was shown pictures of Abdul Raoof Al Shayeb, 51, in combat fatigues, holding a handgun in some photos, while appearing to have a machine gun by his side.
He claims he has been a human rights activist in his native Bahrain since the age of 14.
Al Shayeb has also attended conferences with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to protest for human rights and Kerim Fuad, QC, defending, said: ‘If you cut him he bleeds human rights.’
But jurors were told police raided his home Maida Vale, northwest London, in April 2014 and found a 16GB SD card with notes about the assembly, use and capabilities of a variety of weapons.
The card also featured a Jihadi examination paper, the court heard.
‘This defendant, as you have heard, has been charged with an offence of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism,’ said prosecutor Max Hill, QC.
Mr Hill alleged the defendant had information likely to be useful to those committing acts of terror either in the UK or abroad.
‘This case concerns storage of information with potential for use beyond mainstream military use,’ he added.
‘In other words, there is a real danger of it falling into the wrong hands.’
‘We, the prosecution, suggest he had no legitimate reason for wearing such clothing - he holds no military rank or occupation,’ said Mr Hill.
‘The presence of the photographs of the defendant is powerful evidence that the memory card belongs to the defendant - and that he was well aware of the content.’
Jurors were shown a PowerPoint presentation called ‘snipers’ , which detailed instructions about the assembly, calibration and best shooting positions for a Dragunov rifle.
‘That is what the presentation is aimed at, we suggest armed operations, not carried out by legitimate armed forces such as the Army, Navy or Air Force of a country but to protect groups of personnel whilst they are carrying out their Jihadi operations,’ said Mr Hill.
The jury was then guided through a bundle depicting some of the other folders stored on the card which included titles such as ‘personal’, ‘military’, ‘mortars’ and ‘missiles’.
Many of the documents, all written in Arabic, were headed by the phrase ‘In the name of the Almighty’.
The card also contained documents posing exam-style questions relating to some of the weapons inviting students to enter their ‘Jihadi number’ on the first page.
‘It may appear that these are questions set for Jihadis in the context of files we have been looking at,’ Mr Hill said.
Al Shayeb, who works as a translator at Great Ormond Street Hospital, was stopped on arrival into Gatwick airport from Baghdad on 31 December 2013 where he was found with a 2GB Sandisk memory card containing the same information in the deleted files.
Met Police forensic computer experts used the ‘hash values’ within the data to determine that the files on both memory cards were identical and not reproductions.
‘It will be for you to consider how he managed to transfer the once deleted files onto the latter memory card,’ said Mr Hill.
He added that Al Shayeb may have used specialist forensic computer software to carry out the task.
In a short speech to the jury after the prosecution opening Mr Fuad said Al shayeb is the ‘antithesis’ of what is stored on the memory card.
Mr Fuad described his client as having been a ‘thorn in the side’ of the Bahraini government for the past 35 to 36 years.
‘You will hear that they have cut him and tortured him.
‘I will show you, if necessary, pictures of him at human rights rallies - conferences with Jeremy Corbyn no less - and others protesting rights.
‘That is what he does and whether he has been successful or not does not really matter but he has tried damn hard.
‘You will hear from this man as to the gross injustice the civilians of Bahrain have faced and still do and the lengths the Bahraini state will go to to cover up their human rights violations,’ said Mr Fuad.
‘You will hear why the Bahraini state despises this man for standing up to them so defiantly and so strongly.
‘You may even hear from a Lord in the House of Lords - all things being equal I intend to call him.’
Al Shayeb, of Maida Vale, denies a single count of possessing records of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
The trial continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment