A man on trial for terrorism charges after being caught with a stash of knives near Parliament and the Prime Minister’s Downing Street office claimed he had a “message” for the UK’s political leaders, a court has heard.
Khalid Mohammed Omar Ali, 28, is on trial at the Old Bailey for preparing acts of terrorism by purchasing knives and travelling to the political heart of London on April 27th, 2017, and two charges of possessing an explosive substance in Afghanistan in 2012, reports Sky News.
Following his April 2017 arrest, Ali told police that he owed his loyalty to the Taliban and al-Qaeda and that he wanted to “deliver a message to the leaders and decision-makers of this country”.
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the court that the suspected terrorist’s message to the UK’s political leaders were: that Western nations should leave Muslim countries; the West should release its prisoners of war; and the Palestinian territories should be given to the Arabs.
Mr. Altman told the jury that Ali went to Westminster “for one reason and one reason only – to launch a deadly terror attack to strike at the very heart of this country’s democracy, by killing a police officer, a member of the military or even a parliamentarian”.