Birmingham brothers plotted to join Islamic State from their bedroom, court told

From the Birmingham Mail

A  pair of brothers plotted to join terrorist group Islamic State from their Birmingham bedroom, a court heard. Muhammad Abdul Haleem Heyder Khan, aged 21, and younger sibling Muhammad Hamzah Heyder Khan, 18, became ‘radicalised’ during the course of 2022 and bought clothes and equipment to travel to Afghanistan, it was alleged.

The brothers, both of St. Josephs Road, Ward End, went on trial at Birmingham Crown Court today denying a single count of preparation of terrorist acts. Prosecutor Harpeet Sandhu said: “Until November 2 these two brothers lived with their parents and other siblings at an address in Ward End, here in Birmingham at St. Josephs Road.

“Over the course of 2022 these two brothers became increasingly radicalised. They had prepared to travel to Afghanistan so they could join and support terrorist activity. They intended to be part of a terrorist organisation know as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). . .  their preparations included completing application forms to join Islamic State.”

The court was told both defendants, referred to as Haleem and Hamzah, were arrested ‘in the bedroom they shared’ at their home in Ward End on November 2 last year with police seizing a number of electronic devices which ‘revealed what they were up to’

He told the jury that a lot of the material in the case has been recovered from cloud storage accounts. One image found on Haleem’s phone showed the former spokesman of Islamic State wearing a body vest and holding a gun. Another file included a list of equipment ‘possibly for a survival trek’.

A further image said the blood of a ‘kafir’ (Non-believer) was ‘halal for you so shed it’. Another stated the blood of a disbeliever was ‘equal to the blood of a dog’. Continuing through the content Mr Sandhu drew the jury’s attention to an ‘IS propaganda video’ promoting Jihad.

The trial continues