Andrew Ibrahim

7/28/2019 Andrew Ibrahim

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Ibrahim was born to a Coptic Egyptian father and an English mother, Vicky,[6] in Bristol. His brother Peter is anOxford graduate.[citation needed]

[edit]Education

In the course of his primary and secondary education Ibrahim attended four separate schools: Colston's School,Bristol,[4][5] Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, Bristol,[4][5] Downside School,[4][5] andBristol Cathedral School.[4][5] He

then became a student at the City of Bristol College.

[edit]Arrest

Ibrahim was arrested after covert inquiries prompted by an intelligence tip-off from within the city's Muslimcommunity.[7]

After his arrest police evacuated nearby residents[8] of number 44 Comb Paddock, Westbury-on-Trym, a Bristolsuburb, whilst soldiers from the Royal Logistics Corps[9] carried out controlled explosions at his home/flat.[10] Thepolice also searched and sealed off nearby woodland as part of their inquires.[11]

Ibrahim was held and questioned by terrorist squad officers.

[edit]Charges

On 30 April 2008 Ibrahim was charged with terrorist offences. They were: 1. possession of an explosive substance 2.intent to commit terrorism and 3. possession of articles for terrorist purposes.[12]

The explosive substance he was accused of possessing (charge no.1.) was hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, alsoknown as HMTD, which is an organic chemical compound. He was also accused of possessing (charge no.3.) twohome-made vests, ball bearings, air gun pellets, nails and screws, wired circuitry, batteries and electric bulbfilaments.[12]

[edit]City of Westminster Magistrates' Court

On 30 April 2008 Ibrahim appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court. After a short hearing he wasremanded in custody until 23 May.[13]

Ibrahim was accused of having an explosive substance with intent and also charged with intending to commit aterrorist act by intending to construct and detonate an improvised explosive device.[14]

[edit]Central Criminal Court-the Old Bailey

On 23 May Ibrahim appeared for the hearing at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, via a video-linkfrom London's Belmarsh jail and was remanded in custody.

On 17 July 2009 at Winchester Crown Court Ibrahim was sentenced to an indeterminate sentence, with a minimum often years in jail.[1]

He is currently held in HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.

TELEGRAPH

Andrew Ibrahim: How a public schoolboy became a terrorist

The picturesque village of Frenchay on the edge of Bristol with its expansive green and imposing Grade II listedchurch, backing onto open countryside should have been the perfect setting for Andrew Ibrahim to grow up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colston%27s_Schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth%27s_Hospitalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downside_Schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Cathedral_Schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westbury-on-Trymhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Logistics_Corpshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_explosionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-11http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-details-1-12http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexamethylene_triperoxide_diaminehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-details-1-12http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Westminster_Magistrates%27_Courthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-TeletextInCourt-14http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Baileyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Baileyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmarsh_(HM_Prison)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Crown_Courthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-JailVest-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMP_Woodhillhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMP_Woodhillhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-JailVest-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Crown_Courthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmarsh_(HM_Prison)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Baileyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Baileyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-TeletextInCourt-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Westminster_Magistrates%27_Courthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-details-1-12http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexamethylene_triperoxide_diaminehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-details-1-12http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_explosionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Logistics_Corpshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Logistics_Corpshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westbury-on-Trymhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Cathedral_Schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downside_Schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth%27s_Hospitalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-DT-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colston%27s_Schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Ibrahim&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ibrahim#cite_note-6


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By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent

7:00AM BST 18 Jul 2009

His father, an eminent consultant pathologist at the nearby hospital and lecturer at the university, had boughtan imposing Victorian stone house at the end of a private lane and could afford to send his two sons to the 300-year-old Colston's private school, housed in a former palace of the Bishop of Bristol in nearby Stapelton.

For one son it was a recipe that led to success in athletics, school prefecture, Oxford University, bar school anda career with a US law firm in the City of London.

For the other it led to a series of obsessions with drugs, computer games, Islam and terrorism, and eventuallyto the dock of Winchester Crown Court.

"The two brothers could not be more different," a senior police officer involved with the case said. "It's a perfectexample of nature versus nurture."

Their father Nassif, 61, a Coptic Christian originally from Egypt, is a collector of antique pottery, stamps, coinsand, his son says, Nazi memorabilia.

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His wife, Victoria, known as Vicky, originally from West Yorkshire, is a church-going Christian who took thechildren on coach holidays and works as an administrator at Bristol University Medical School.

Andrew was always in the shadow of his older brother Peter, six years his senior, and reacted by constantlyseeking attention.

Overweight but far from stupid himself, he played the class fool so successfully that he was expelled from a

series of private schools, becoming every middle class parent's nightmare.

He smoked cannabis at the age of 12, became hooked on "role playing" computer games, and used his father'scomputer to look up material on Osama bin Laden and explosives alongside his Latin homework.

"I didn't like football," he said. "It's difficult to know how to put it, it made me feel cooler. I didn't have friends or asocial life and it made me feel better about myself. I felt not such a sad loser."

His parents moved him from Colston's junior school to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital School, an even olderpublic school in the centre of Bristol which boasts the Queen as its patron, where they hoped he would escapefrom the shadow of his brother.

Instead he hung around with older pupils and started taking cannabis to be "different from the other kids of that

sort of age," he said.

He bragged about using drugs to his fellow pupils, leading to his suspension on January 24 2002, the daybefore his 13th birthday.

Returning to Colston's, Ibrahim's weight and lack of sporting ability helped other pupils label him a "loser" andhis increasingly unruly behaviour led the school to ask him to leave in December 2002, shortly before his 14thbirthday.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/5892017/US-drone-killed-Osama-Bin-Ladens-son-Saad.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/5892017/US-drone-killed-Osama-Bin-Ladens-son-Saad.html


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His next stop was Downside, a Catholic boarding school near Bath founded in 1606 that counts the journalistAuberon Waugh and hotelier Sir Rocco Forte among its old boys.

Bullied and laughed at, he again turned to cannabis and experimented with ecstasy, sneaking out at night andinviting local boys back to his dormitory, leading to his suspension.

Ibrahim joined Bristol Cathedral School in September 2004 - then the bottom of the heap of Bristol privateschools and now a government academy - but the school helped him pass eight GCSEs in June 2005,including English language at grade A, five at grade B and one each at grades C and D.

But he had once again alienated fellow pupils and by the end of the year he was experimenting with drugsagain, this time magic mushrooms, ecstasy and cocaine.

Ibrahim had also become addicted to on-line computer games involving "role playing" such as Diablo II, MassEffect and Metal Gear Solid.

During the school holidays he would play from 7am until midnight but after leaving school, the addiction led tohim dropping out of City of Bristol College where he was supposed to be studying for A-levels.

His father became increasingly exasperated with his behaviour and asked Vicky to move out with their sonwhen Ibrahim came home drunk from a party with his eyebrow pierced.

Mother and son moved into a flat nearby but Ibrahim walked out when his mother found ecstasy and ketaminetablets in the flat.

Despite his increasing addiction, his parents stood by him, splitting the rent with him on a flat in Kingswood, asuburb in North East Bristol, with his mother doing a weekly food shop for him.

At the flat, Ibrahim had videos of women's feet he had taken on his mobile phone at college without theirknowledge, which he admitted were part of a "sexual interest" and he had searched for pictures of KieraKnightley's feet on the internet.

He had become hooked on heroin and crack cocaine, using the drugs several times a day and stealing to fundhis habit.

He was reprimanded by police for possessing heroin in May 2006 at the age of 17 and warned for shopliftingon two occasions in September and October 2006.

By the end of 2006, Ibrahim had lost what little he had built up around him his girlfriend of 18 months, teetotaland clear-headed, eventually walked away when he started injecting heroin in front of her.

"In the end she didn't want it any more. I was quite upset, I was heartbroken," he said.

He was still holding down a job at Lloyds Bank but turned to a new addiction steroids, attending the EmpireGym in the run down area of St Paul's in Bristol where he took up body building and started injecting Deca-

Durabolin and Sustanon 250.Alongside his various addictions, Ibrahim had five tattoos done during 2005 and 2006, including "Hardcore"across his stomach and "HTID" on his right bicep to represent "Hardcore Till I Die" after a style of rave music.

He also had a variety of hairstyles and colours along with a series of facial and intimate piercings.

On his Myspace internet account in April 2006, Ibrahim was pictured with spiky red hair and described himselfas "Andy" and his religion as "Muslim."


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By early 2007, Ibrahim was forced to move into the St George's House hostel in central Bristol because he wasnot paying the rent.

He sold the Big Issue magazine for the homeless on the street, using the money to fund his 60-a-day drughabit.

When his father came across him outside the Broadmead Shopping Centre he started meeting him once aweek to buy him food and take him for a meal.

Already struggling with their son's various obsessions, his turn to Islam came as yet another blow to Ibrahim'sparents - his mother's reaction was simply: "Don't start that now."

Ibrahim said he traveled to Birmingham in the summer of 2006 with a friend of his father's and converted at theGreen Lanes mosque around the time of the anniversary of the July 7 bombings.

He decided to study to be a Muslim scholar in the Yemen but instead settled on a seven year course inBirmingham, which his mother agreed to pay for.

By December he had grown a beard and was wearing white robes, sandals and an Islamic headscarf.

But he soon dropped his interest and returned to drugs until, returning to City of Bristol College to study for ASand A-levels in chemistry, biology, history, English language, and science of public understanding, he startedpraying again with fellow students at a room at the college.

Ibrahim said, he "wasn't so much interested in Islam as the politics" particularly Palestine and Iraq and he useda college computer to download videos of US troops being killed in Iraq, along with speeches by the jailedcleric Abu Hamza.

But his most serious obsession became that of the suicide bomber, looking at the videos made by the July 7bombers and Asif Hanif, Britain's first suicide bomber who died in Israel.

"I did spend a lot of time looking at [internet sites]. It was an obsessive interest, I accept that," he said.

He was eventually given a council flat in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol where he began building bombs.

Ibrahim had been playing the computer game Assassin's Creed and claimed he was just "role playing" the partof a terrorist.

As he struggled to come off drugs, he said he decided to make a suicide vest to "occupy my time," using avideo he found on the internet for instructions.

"I wanted it to look good because I was going to film it like I did with the explosives and put it on YouTube," headded.

DAILYMAIL

A Muslim convert will appear in court accused of a series of terror offences.

Andrew Ibrahim, 19, was charged with offences relating to explosive substances.


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The son of an NHS consultant was arrested almost two weeks ago by police who then carried out threecontrolled explosions at his flat.

He has now been charged with possession of an explosive substance, the intention to commit terrorism and thepossession of articles for terrorist purposes.

Ibrahim, who changed his first name to Isa after converting to Islam, was educated at some of Bristol's topindependent schools.

Speaking ahead of his appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, his family spoke of their"shock" at the charges.

In a joint statement, his relatives said: "As a family we have been shocked and deeply distressed by the eventsof the past fortnight.

"We are still coming to terms with the news and trying to deal with this shock as a family."

Avon and Somerset Police say the teenager has been accused of possessing Hexamethalyene TriperoxideDiamine, also known as HMTD - an explosive organic chemical compound.

He has also been accused of possessing two home-made vests, ball bearings, air gun pellets, nails andscrews, wired circuitry, batteries and electric bulb filaments.

Scroll down for more ...

More then 30 people were evacuated from their homes while police carried out three controlled explosions atIbrahim's Bristol home

Assistant Chief Constable Jackie Roberts said: "It is believed that [...Ibrahim] intended to commit an act ofterrorism, with the intention to construct and detonate an improvised explosive devise.

"This has been a very challenging and complex investigation for Avon and Somerset police with much work stillto be done."

She said "significant amounts of material including numerous computers and associated media" had beenrecovered.

She added: "Over the past two weeks over 100 officers have been working on the enquiry with additionalspecialist support from our colleagues at the Metropolitan Police Service."

Mr Ibrahim, who moved to the Westbury-on-Trym area of Bristol just weeks before his arrest, is understood tohave recently converted to Islam.

He was arrested after covert inquiries prompted by a tip-off from within the city's Muslim community.

Avon and Somerset police officers cordoned off woods near Mr Ibrahim's home following his arrest andevacuated surrounding homes.

The Muslim community in Bristol also stated they condemn terrorist activity following the charges made againstIbrahim.


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A spokesman for the Counsel of Bristol Mosques, which claims to represent 30,000 Muslims in the city, said:"The council of Bristol mosques reiterates that we condemn in the strongest terms, any act for facet of terrorismand extremism.

"Islam has no remote connection whatsoever with such atrocious criminal actions or indeed intentions."

TELEGRAPH

Andrew Ibrahim, who was living in a quiet suburb of Bristol populated largely by retired residents, was arrestedunder the Terrorism Act after a tip off from a member of the public.

Terrorist squad officers raided his home in Comb Paddock, Westbury-on-Trym, in the early hours of themorning when they discovered a container described by police sources as a "viable device".

Neighbours in the cul-de-sac said the teenager was often seen wearing traditional Muslim dress and playedloud Islamic chanting. Some had complained about the noise.

Detectives were last night granted seven days to hold Mr Ibrahim.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that Mr Ibrahim's father, Nassif, is a consultant pathologist at the FrenchayHospital in Bristol. He qualified as a doctor in Egypt. His wife, Victoria, is from West Yorkshire.

The couple have another son, Peter, 25, and live in an 800,000 detached home with a walled garden on aprivate road in the smart suburb of Frenchay. Mr Ibrahim said last night: "I can't talk about this."

The Assistant Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, Jackie Roberts, said: "This is a genuine incidentwhich we are taking extremely seriously. At this stage I cannot rule out that he was acting alone or that therewon't be further arrests.

"Obviously we are in the early stages of this investigation, extensive inquiries are ongoing and obviously things

will unfold as the days go by."

Farooq Siddique, a local Muslim leader, said Mr Ibrahim was "not known" to Bristol's Muslim community. Headded: "This is obviously a very difficult time for the Muslim community in Bristol. It is a blow to communityrelationships in the city.

"We want the police to be allowed to do their jobs as simply and as quickly as possible. We need to be unitedin this."

Before moving in to the council flat in Comb Paddock, Mr Ibrahim hadbeen living in a hostel for the homeless in central Bristol. A sourcefamiliar with the investigation said he had moved into the red-brickterraced property only two months ago. "He originally turned down theproperty, telling council officials that he didn't want to live in a whitemiddle class area," the source said. "But changed his mind and moved inon February 4."

Neighbours said that Mr Ibrahim dressed in traditional Islamic clothingand listened to loud Islamic music, known as nasheeds.


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Douglas Tierney, 36, who works at a nearby Porsche showroom and his fiance Rachael Clifford, 32, said theyhad complained about the "Islamic-style wailing" coming from the flat above.

Miss Clifford added: "We would never see him in the day but from about 10pm we would hear loud Islamic-stylewailing, chanting music. I went round to complain about it last week and when he came downstairs I heardabout 10 or 12 bolts being unlocked on the door.

"I thought it was very odd because he had so many locks on the door. When he opened the door he had a bigwhite robe and I felt un-nerved.

"He had a white cloak down to the floor and a thin beard.

"We asked him to keep the noise down. He said 'OK' but did not apologise."

Margaret Ball, 66, said: "I saw him walking down the road last week in a linen cotton outfit with chiffon sides.

"He was thickly built and wore a f lat hat." News

BBC

Terror-charge student faces court

A teenager is due to appear in courtcharged with terrorist offences.

Andrew Ibrahim is accused of possessionof an explosive substance, intent to commit terrorism and possession of articles for

terrorist purposes.

The student was arrested on 17 April and three controlled explosions were latercarried out at his flat in Westbury-on-Trym, a Bristol suburb.

His hearing will take place later at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, incentral London.

'Complex inquiry'

Police said the teenager was accused of possessing Hexamethylene TriperoxideDiamine, also known as HMTD, which is an explosive organic chemical compound.

He is also accused of possessing two home-made vests, ball bearings, air gunpellets, nails and screws, wired circuitry, batteries and electric bulb filaments.

Assistant Chief Constable Jackie Roberts, of Avon and Somerset police, said thepolice investigation involved more than 100 officers and had been challenging andcomplex.

Mr Ibrahim, the son of an NHS consultant, is thought to have recently converted toIslam.

Mr Ibrahim recently moved to the area


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Speaking ahead of his court appearance, Mr Ibrahim's family said they had beenleft "shocked and deeply distressed" by the events of the past fortnight.

Andrew Ibrahim film aims to discouragextremism

Conviction was premiered in Bristol in November

A short film about a Bristol Muslim convert who became a would-be suicide bomber is being shown to schoolsand community groups across the UK.

Conviction is the story of Andrew Ibrahim who is now in prison after plotting to blow-up the Mall shoppingcentre in Bristol.

Avon and Somerset Police, which commissioned the film, hopes it will discourage others from extremism.

Ibrahim has been shown the film and has told detectives he regrets his actions.

The 21-year-old was arrested in April 2008 after fellow worshippers at the mosque he attended alerted police tohis extremist views.

Police found explosives and a home-made suicide vest at his Westonbury-on-Trym flat.

After a trial in 2009, he was given an indeterminate sentence with a recommendation that he serve at least 10years.

Kalsoom Bashir, of Bristol Muslim Women's Network, said: "Al-Qaeda are targeting our community.

"What came about from watching this video is that we have to recognise that there are vulnerabilities in ourcommunity and we have to work together to protect those that are vulnerable from this ideology."


10/15

BBC

Loner turns would-be bomber via the web

Student Andrew Ibrahim, who has beenailed for a minimum of 10 years for

plotting to blow himself up using a home-made suicide vest, is the son of an NHSconsultant and converted to Islam in2006.

The 20-year-old from Bristol changed hisname by deed poll to Isa, meaning Jesusin Arabic. He soon became obsessedwith the politics of the Muslim world.

With the help of extreme materialobtained via jihadist websites he became

radicalised to the point where he becamea danger to himself and others.

It has emerged it was Muslims who alerted police in Bristol and counter-terrorismofficers from Scotland Yard to Ibrahim's activities.

The BBC understands that his arrest was the first major one following a communitytip-off.

Whitehall security and community cohesion chiefs regard the way the case hasbeen handled as a huge step forward in building trust with Muslim communitieswhich are often on the sharp end of counter-terrorism investigations.

But what happened to change a middle-class, British-born man, educated atsome of Bristol's top independentschools, into the radical facing terrorcharges in court?

Prosecutors told his trial at WinchesterCrown Court that Ibrahim developed a"mindset of martyrdom" and a taste forradical clerics on the internet - peoplelike Abu Hamza al-Masri, the preacherailed for race-hate who is now facingextradition to the US.

In turn, Ibrahim said he admired the 7/7 London suicide bombers - and he toldfriends the 9/11 attacks on America were a "justified response" for Westernaggression.

A heroin-taking loner, Ibrahim felt he had found an ideology that echoed his ownsense of anger with the world.

Guidance needed

Andrew Ibrahim allegedly listened toradical preachers on the internet

Some people have asked me 'doyou feel betrayed by Isa Ibrahim' and I'dsay 'no the Muslim community feels welet him down

Farooq Siddique, Bristol Muslim Society

'Suicide vest' student is guilty
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8155978.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8155978.stm


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Farooq Siddique, of the Bristol Muslim Society, said Ibrahim's world view wasformed amid the difficult circumstances of a religious community feeling that it isunder the media cosh.

"The media portrayal of Muslims is very negative with the majority of nouns used todescribe Muslims today being terrorist, extremist, Islamist, suicide bomber," he

said.

"Then you get to the radical websiteswhich say the reason they're saying thisnegative stuff is because this is part of acrusade against Islam - that it's part of awar to wipe Islam off the face of theearth.

"Suddenly you've found a cause andIbrahim was already a guy in serioustrouble in his personal life.

"He wanted to be part of something. Healways wanted to be part of somethingand here he found a cause."

Ed Husain, of the Quilliam Foundation, the counter-extremism think-tank, saidwhile Ibrahim was responsible for his own path, the Muslim community had to playa part in identifying and stopping the journey to extremism.

"When young people like Ibrahim don't find political guidance at the mosque, theythen turn, as he did, to the internet," said Mr Husain.

"There they find ample guidance for political matters but that comes in the form ofextremism, radicalism, or taking up arms, of being terrorists.

"This is a huge infrastructural problem within mosques and with British Muslims.There is a serious lack of understanding of the problem because there is a cultural,linguistic and psychological obstacle between the younger generation and theolder generation."

Since Ibrahim's arrest in 2008, the Bristol Muslim Society has been working closelywith the police. Every mosque in the city now has its own police communitysupport officer.

PCSO Dawn Pearse said: "On Fridaysthey bring their young lads and you seethem in the street. They call us by ourfirst names and that's nice, so I think it'sworking," she said.

The mosques are also changing slowly.Danyal Laskar, who is a volunteer at theMuslim Support Network, said beingable to hear sermons in English and talkabout his faith in the language he grew

Farooq Saddique: Need to supportconverts


12/15

up speaking has led to a greater understanding.

"When I entered the faith, the mosque that I was going to had no English sermonsor lessons or people talking in English," said Mr Laskar.

"It was all in a foreign language. We wanted to make somewhere where it was all

in English, where there were friendly faces and so people could understand theirreligion and meet other Muslims in a place where they would understand."

Ibrahim's family spoke of their shock and distress when he was arrested.

Farooq Siddique said: "Some people have asked me 'do you feel betrayed by IsaIbrahim' and I'd say 'no the Muslim community feels we let him down'.

"This guy is looking for guidance and looking for help and support and I don't thinkthe Muslim community was geared-up to provide this particular individual with help.

"We just have to make sure that we don't drop the ball next time."

GUARDIAN

A former public schoolboy was today found guilty of plotting to carry out a suicide bombing using avest packed with explosives at a shopping centre in Bristol.

Andrew Ibrahim, who changed his named to Isa Ibrahim by deed poll Photograph: RexFeaturesIsa Ibrahim, 20, made viable explosives, manufactured a suicide vest and carried outreconnaissance on the Broadmead shopping centre. Detectives believe he was about to launch anattack, possibly targeting the centre's busy food court area.

Police are heralding the case as a breakthrough as they say it is the first in which the informationabout a British would-be terrorist planning an atrocity in the UK has come just from a Muslimcommunity.

Ibrahim's extremism did not come to the attention of the authorities until members of a mosque heattended grew worried about his behaviour and went to Avon and Somerset police.


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Ibrahim was today found guilty of making an explosive with intent to danger life or cause seriousinjury to property in the UK in April last year. He was also convicted of preparing terrorist acts bypurchasing material to make an explosive, making that explosive, buying material to detonate theexplosive, carrying out reconnaissance before the act, and "making an improvised suicide vest inwhich to then detonate an explosive substance".

The trial at Winchester crown court heard that when Ibrahim was arrested at his flat in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, the homemade explosive HMTD was found in a biscuit tin in the fridge.

Also found in his one-bedroom flat was an electrical circuit capable of detonating the explosive atshort range and a suicide vest hanging on the back of his bedroom door.

The trial heard that Ibrahim, whose parents are Christian, converted toIslamand changing his nameby deed poll from Andrew to Isa. He became radicalised after researching people such asAbuHamza, and became fascinated by suicide bombing.Ibrahim used the internet to find instructions on how to make explosives from household productssuch as hydrogen peroxide.

He claimed he had no intent to harm but just wanted to set the vest off and film it for videowebsiteYouTube.Summing up, the judge, Mr Justice Butterfield, had told the jury the prosecution's case was that hewas a "disturbed" and "alienated" adolescent who had become radicalised.

The defence's case was that Ibrahim was a "weak, lonely figure living in a fantasy world" who wasnot part of a terrorist cell and had simply become excited about making and detonating explosives.

Bristol student pursued

'relentless study in

extremism'Bristol chemistry student Isa Ibrahim pursued relentless private study in Muslim extremism andattacks on the West, a court heard.

The formerBristol Cathedral School pupil attended City of Bristol College, on College Green, butspent much of his time trawling the internet for websites which included everything from radical cleric

Abu Hamza to disturbing videos of insurgents shooting and blowing up US soldiers in Iraq andbomb-making, WinchesterCrown Court was told.
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Bristol student Isa Ibrahim pursued a 'relentless study in extremism' court has been told

It is claimed Ibrahim, aged 20, became indoctrinated in the mantra of hate being perpetuated byMuslim extremists and wanted to follow in the footsteps of the 9/11 and 7/7 suicide bombers.

After acquiring the necessary goods to make his own explosive device, as well as suicide vest, it is

alleged he had cased out The Galleries in Broadmead as his target.

The Crown say he was stopped in his tracks when police raided his council flat at Comb Paddockin Westbury-on-Trym, when an explosive device found in a biscuit tin in his fridge was destroyed in acontrolled explosion by the bomb squad.

Ibrahim denies making an explosive substance with intent, in that he made the explosivehexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) with the intention to endanger life or cause seriousinjury to property in the UK.

He also denies the preparation of terrorism acts, in that he researched the manufacture ofexplosives, bought materials to make them, made them and also bought materials to detonate them

as well as identifying a place to do so.

He has pleaded guilty to simply making an explosive substance.

As with every day of the trial thus far, Ibrahim listened intently from the dock as his mother, fatherand brother observed proceedings in court one directly above him in the public gallery.

Witness Matthew Newman-Martin told the jury that in July last year he was working at Game Stationin Broadmead and knew Ibrahim as a regular customer.

He said that on March 13 Ibrahim came into the shop and as opposed to his normal street wear waswearing clothes of a more "religious appearance", as well as having a beard.

Mr Newman-Martin told the jury Ibrahim spent 169.99 on a second-hand X-Box 360 and two gamesincluding Assasin's Creed, a role game revolving around an assassin.

The prosecution read a statement from Rhianna Fadden, a fellow student of Ibrahim at City of BristolCollege.

She said when she first met Ibrahim he wore "Chav" clothes of hoddies and jeans, had a girlfriendand smoked cannabis.

She said that by January 2008 Ibrahim very suddenly changed to wearing traditional Muslim clothes

and grew a beard.

Miss Fadden said: "He moaned about no mosques being near college as his mosque was in adifferent area.

"During January I was walking between lessons and Isa had A4 papers he had printed from theinternet; there were instructions on how to make a bomb and instructions on the ingredients needed.I thought he was just messing about."
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The jury was shown a plethora of internet websites accessed by Ibrahim.

They included disturbing video footage of soldiers in Iraq being shot and blown up, as well as sitesbased on the 9/11 and 7/7 bombings, Osama bin Laden, shoe bomber Richard Reid and evenaeroplane tickets to Bosnia and Iraq and a holiday guide to Iraq.

Other sites viewed gave detailed instructions on how to make explosives from household items suchas bleach and nail varnish remover.

The jury was read a statement from Andrew Osmond, Ibrahim's personal college tutor, who said thatinitially Ibrahim had good college attendance and turned up regularly for tutorials.

He said that in September, 2007, Ibrahim wore "Ali G" clothes of tracksuits and bling, but hechanged to "Muslim-type" clothing and grew a full beard.

Mr Osmond said: "In February 2008 he showed interest in going to university to study Islamic studiesand was particularly interested in going to Syria.

"I said a person doing this should be able to speak Arabic and be stated he could get tuition from hisfather who was Egyptian."

The court heard Ibrahim began to be late for classes and blamed his delay on going to prayers.

Mr Osmond described Ibrahim as chatty and destructive in class and viewed him as "rathersuperficial".

The court heard that Ibrahim was absent from his studies from March 12 to April 2 last year, andwhen he reappeared he said he had got poor exam results, he had questioned his motivation andhad also been ill.

Mr Osmond said that in February 2008 Ibrahim had expressed an interest in studying Islam.

The case continues.

Documents

Andrew Ibrahim