Terror suspect told police he was a ‘one nation Tory’, court hears

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A terror suspect described himself as a “one nation Tory” when asked about his political views by police, a court has heard.

Muhamed Abu, 32, denies concealing an alleged terror plot mounted by his brother Sahayb last year from the authorities.

Prosecutor John McGuinness QC told the Old Bailey that although only Sahayb is accused of preparing an act of terrorism, Muhamed also supported Isis.

“Both defendants had extremist views and violent mindsets and that they supported the beliefs, aims and methods of Isis,” he said at the opening of the trial.

“This, says the prosecution, is seen not only from their communications with each other but also from the internet searches which they made on their devices, as well as the documents, photographs and videos that were downloaded on to them.”

But on Monday, the court was read summaries of Muhamed’s police interviews following his arrest on 9 July, showing him denying holding extremist views.

He called Isis “a cancer, a tumour that needs to be excised from the face of the earth”, and said he had no animosity towards the UK or Western countries.

“[Muhamed said he] it's the ultra-nationalism and ethno-nationalists that he takes umbrage with, and that he is a one nation Tory, as Boris Johnson describes himself,” Mr McGuinness told jurors.

“He loves Churchill but sometimes hates him as well, he polarizes people but is from a different era.”

Muhamed told police he was not a “strict” Muslim, did not pray at a mosque, and drank and used cannabis.

He said his brother, Sahayb, had not been planning a terror attack, and that he would have told authorities if he did.

“I would be the first to tell on my brother to prevent him, to save his life, and to save the lives of others,” Muhamed said in an interview on 15 July. “I’ll be the first to rat on my brother ... but there is no [attack].”

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When asked why he had conducted online searches for Isis and related material, he said he had no recollection of the searches, and said he had only looked up former Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to see how he died.

The jury heard that Muhamed also told police that he had watched some Isis propaganda videos to understand “why is all this happening, why are these people doing this stuff”.

At a different time, he suggested that someone else may have used his iPad but refused to say who could have accessed the device.

Muhamed denied being close to Sahayb and said there was a “lot of confrontation”, comparing their relationship to Noel and Liam Gallagher of the band Oasis.

“A lot these results and these searches you’ve come up with and the conversations and charts are the product of individuals who are just bored, looking for something to talk about, thinking they know it all but really and truly, they have nothing to materialise or nothing to make of it, its just conversation to fill up time in the lockdown,” he told police.

The prosecution argue that Sahayb was planning a terror attack, having purchased a sword, knife, combat vest and gloves online.

They previously told the jury that messages between the brothers and Muhamed’s online activity undermine his claims to have been a pacifist, and that evidence suggests the pair looked at Isis-related material together.

The court heard that two of the defendants’ half-brothers, Wail and Suleyman Aweys, died after joining Isis in Syria in 2015.

Sahayb, of South Norwood in London, denies preparing an act of terrorism. His brother, Muhamed, of Dagenham, denies failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism. The trial continues.