Chemistry teacher was ‘prepared to murder in Syria’

A teacher who was determined to fight in Syria despite desperate pleas from his family is "appalled" at the brutality shown by Islamic State, a judge has been told.

Jamshed Javeed - who is facing jail after admitting two counts of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts - said he wanted to go and support the Syrian people in late 2013 and did not then know the truth about Islamic State.

Describing his client as a "thoughtful, studious and mild-mannered" teacher, Charles Bott QC said Javeed was "deeply moved" by images of "extreme suffering" of Syrian people at the hands of the Assad regime.

"The defendant's position is that he did something that he considered right at the time in very particular circumstances that he would not contemplate doing now," he told a sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court.

He said Javeed was "appalled at the indiscriminate brutality" of IS, describing a series of videos showing the murders of Western hostages as "grotesque and barbaric".

A chemistry teacher who wanted to travel to Syria to fight with Islamic State was prepared to commit "multiple acts of murder", a court has heard.

Jamshed Javeed, 30, who taught children aged 11 to 16 at a school in Bolton, last year admitted two counts of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts.

During his sentencing hearing today, prosecutor Simon Denison QC said Javeed's intended to engage in action that would have "involved the use of firearms and/or explosives" in Syria in 2013.

Mr Denison said the father-of-one was committed to engaging in "multiple acts of murder".

Javeed, from Levenshulme in Manchester, was scuppered in his attempts to travel when his family hid his clothes along with his passport.

Original post:
Chemistry teacher was 'prepared to murder in Syria'