Would-be terrorist defiant in court Student who used paintball centre for ISIS ‘training’ sends message after sentence
ABIRMINGHAM student who trained for terrorist combat at a paintballing centre and then tried to join the so-called Islamic State group shouted “Allahu Akbar” after being sentenced to nine years in a young offenders institution.
Humza Ali gave the defiant cry, which means ‘Allah is greater’, as he was being led away by dock officers.
Ali posed for photos, alongside three other men linked to the extreme organisation, at Delta Force paintballing in Solihull.
He told a friend he would “fight and die” for IS and flew to Turkey in January 2015 but was turned back.
A fellow student, Ali Zeb, who promoted ISIS by sending videos to others, was sentenced to 21 months in a young offenders institution.
In passing sentence, Judge Mark Wall QC told Humza Ali: “You became obsessed by radical Islamic movements in the Middle East.
“You became a fervent supporter of ISIS and decided to fight for them. You went on a paintballing trip. I have no doubt this was used by you in a training exercise in weapons handling. You made a sustained and determined effort to get to Syria and fight for ISIS.
“The fact that you did not achieve your plan was not down to a change of heart by you but was due to the alertness of the authorities.”
The judge described the videos Ali had sent to others as “repugnant” which included beheadings and the burning alive in a cage of a Jordanian pilot. He added: “You were a man who understood the power of propaganda such as this and you used it.”
Judge Wall also said Ali was a “dangerous offender” which stemmed from the strength and depth of his views and that he was not prepared to change.
Ali, 20, of Bromford Lane, Ward End, had previously been found guilty of dissemination of terrorist material, trying to travel to Syria for terrorist purposes and sending malicious communications.
Zeb, 20, of Northleigh Road, Washwood Heath, had pleaded guilty to three charges of distributing extremist literature.
The court heard previously that Ali had posed for the “promotional” photos alongside Mohammed Ali Ahmed, from Small Heath, Gabriel Rasmus, from Lozells, and Abdelatif Gaini at the paintballing centre in June 2014.
The pictures, found on his phone, showed the men dressed in quasi-combat gear while holding paintball guns.
Ali intended to join the IS group in Syria when he travelled to Turkey seven months later.
He also sent abusive antidemocracy messages to a local councillor.
Paul Hynes QC, for Ali, said he had been “exposed to others of a more sophisticated and highly radicalised state of mind” and that his intended trip to Syria was “doomed to failure”.