‘Extremist’ called for ‘jihad by sword’ in speech at Brighton mosque, court hears

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An alleged Islamist extremist told the congregation of a Brighton mosque it was “compulsory” for them to “undertake violent jihad,” a court has heard.

Abubaker Deghayes, 53, denies encouraging terrorism with a speech delivered on 1 November 2020.

The first day of his trial at London’s Old Bailey heard he had attended evening prayers at Brighton Mosque and then “stood at the front of the congregation and gave a speech”.

CCTV footage played to the court showed Mr Deghayes making what the prosecution described as a “stabbing motion” after talking about jihad, Israel, the British government and Prevent counter-extremism programme.

Prosecutor Ben Lloyd told jurors that Mr Deghayes said “jihad by fighting by the sword was compulsory until the day of resurrection”.

“He was encouraging violence in the name of Islam,” he added. “Through the defendant’s words and gestures he was encouraging people to undertake violent jihad.

“The speech demonstrates him to be an Islamic extremist - he is someone I suggest who believes in the use of violence in the cause of Islam.”

Mr Lloyd said Mr Deghayes had not given the speech “naively”, and was “at the very least being reckless as to whether people would be encouraged by what they heard”.

Jurors were played footage of the speech, which lasted for around 20 minutes, and given a transcript including translations of parts where Mr Deghayes spoke in Arabic.

In one part he talked about the “kuffar”, meaning disbelievers, saying: “Allah is more powerful than you! You, idiots! You kuffar idiots, Allah is more powerful than you! The non-believer [inaudible] is an idiot, he’s stupid.”

Mr Lloyd accused Mr Deghayes of setting up an “us and them approach” between Muslims and non-Muslims, and using the word kuffar as a derogatory term.

In another part of the speech, the defendant said Muslims were obliged to “emigrate” abroad if they are “in a land where we can’t practice our religion”.

Mr Deghayes later addressed jihad, telling the congregation: “Jihad is compulsory upon you, you, you and you until the day of resurrection, whatever the British government thinks, whatever Prevent thinks, whatever Israel thinks; send to the sea. They can go and drink from the sea [inaudible] Allah curse their fathers, OK?”

The defendant continued: “Jihad, jihad, jihad! Jihad is compulsory. Jihad by fighting by sword,this jihad is compulsory upon you, not jihad is the word of mouth.”

Mr Lloyd said the words made clear that the defendant was referring to violent jihad, rather than other forms of religious struggle.

“That was the key passage of this speech, a call to arms in effect, a call to violence,” he added.

“This case is not about the freedom to practice religion or worship - none of those things is unlawful in this country - this is not about those who believe in Islam. This is a case about those who encourage violence in the name of religion, which for very good reason is a criminal offence.”

Mr Deghayes, of Saltdean in Sussex, denies encouraging terrorism and remains on bail as his trial continues.