Umar Haque accused of enlisting three other men to help plan terrorist attacks in capital

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A follower of Islamic State who was fascinated by the group’s ideology plotted to launch a terrorist attack on a wide range of possible targets including the Queen’s Guard, parliament and media organisations, a court has heard.

Umar Haque, 25, from east London, enlisted the help of others at his mosque, where he also tried to groom children with role-playing and videos of beheadings.

Haque, a religious teacher at an Islamic school, is accused of plotting terrorist attacks, while Abuthaher Mamun, 19, Muhammad Abid, 27, and Nadeem Patel, 26, are accused of helping Haque.

During the opening of the trial of the four men, the prosecutor, Mark Heywood QC, told the jury that Haque had determined in 2016 and early 2017 to carry out one or more violent attacks with others in the UK.

“His motivation was just that same motivation that drives the banned Islamic State group and at its heart had religious, political motivations,” Heywood told the court.

“Haque had developed an extreme mindset, he was then prepared to contemplate and was capable of justifying acts of extreme violence in pursuit of the cause, the cause he had come wholeheartedly to believe in. He had clearly begun to turn his mind to the commission of violent terrorist acts here in the UK.”

Haque was “fascinated” by the terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge on 22 March last year, the court heard. Heywood told the jury that covert recordings between Haque and one of his co-accused four days after that atrocity revealed his intentions to attack targets in London.

In one conversation, Heywood said, Haque was recorded saying: “So what I want to personally is launch different attacks in all the different areas, one in Westminster, one in Stratford, one in Forest Gate, one … in so many different areas, yeah.

“Immediately there’s one focus to all the police. Get off the streets. Civilians get off the streets. London will be, not just Westminster attack, entire London … We’re here to cause terror, my brother. We are a death squad sent by Allah and his messengers to avenge my Arab brothers’ blood.”

Among his targets were the Queen’s Guard, courts, Transport for London, parliament, Shia Muslims, Westfield shopping centre, Big Ben, the English Defence League or Britain First, foreign embassies, and radio stations or other media outlets, the court heard.

“Mr Haque was fascinated by the warped and extreme ideology of Islamic State,” Heywood told the jury. “As he later told police after his arrest, he was their loyal follower.”

Haque tried to recruit children aged about 11 to 14 to his cause, the court heard. “His methods were to expose them to information and video recordings and even to have them enact scenarios of violent action against police and others,” Heywood told the jury.

Haque taught children aged between 11 and 16 at the Lantern of Knowledge Islamic School in Leyton, east London, between September 2015 and September 2016. He showed his pupils images of guns, burning passports and beheadings with a knife or sword to “encourage them into his mindset”, Heywood said.

The images included one of a dead boy, and Haque told pupils they would meet the same fate if they did not join and promise to become a martyr, the court heard.

He allegedly made the children do “push-ups, races and grappling” and act out the roles of police and attackers in scenarios with weapons and a car bomb while he shouted “Allahu Akhbar”.

Haque and Mamun are both accused of preparing acts of terrorism between 25 March and 18 May 2017. Haque is also accused of researching and planning a terrorist attack, while Mamun allegedly traded in options in order to finance it.

Haque is further charged with preparing terrorist acts by leading exercises in physical training and role play with children at the Ripple Road mosque. He is also accused of dissemination of terrorist publications.

Abid is accused of having information about Haque’s plans and Patel is charged with plotting with Haque to possess a firearm or imitation firearm.

The defendants, who all live in east London, have denied these charges.

Haque has admitted charges of collection of terrorist information and dissemination of a terrorist publication, while Patel has admitted possessing a prohibited weapon.