Muslim sisters see terror recruiters jailed after confronting them in street
A MUSLIM doctor and her sister helped convict two Isil-supporting extremists after confronting them in the street and photographing their propaganda.
Asmaa Al-Kufaishi, 36, and her sister Reem, 24, challenged the men after they had set up a stall in Oxford Street, London, promoting the terror group.
Despite being subjected to abuse and told to “go die”, the pair, who are British Iraqis, took images of the men and later formally identified them.
Ibrahim Anderson, 38, and Shah Jahan Khan, 62, face prison after being convicted at the Old Bailey of inviting support for a banned organisation .
Counter-terrorism chiefs last night urged others to follow the sisters’ example. The women’s father, Farouk, praised his daughters for standing up to the ideology of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. “I am very proud. We have to support [such actions] if we are to prevail,” he said.
Anderson and Khan, both from Luton, were among a group of men who set up a stall outside Topshop in August 2014. They handed out leaflets and urged others to support Isil.
The Al-Kufaishi sisters, who were walking past, were so disgusted by the men’s actions that they went back to confront them. Anderson told the Iraqi Shia Muslim sisters they were “khuffar”, a derogatory term for nonbelievers.
Khan told one of the women she was “a disgrace to her religion” because of her non-Islamic dress and ordered her sister to wash the make-up off her face. Anderson also told them they would “burn in hell” and should be killed.
The sisters left but went back and took pictures of the stall, complete with leaflets bearing the Isil flag, and reported it to the police.
Anderson, a mechanic, was easily identified from his distinctive ginger beard, and the sisters also picked out Khan during an identification parade. Police raided Anderson’s home and found instructions for travel to Syria on a notebook computer.
Giving evidence in the trial, Reem said: “I had told my sister if we see [the Isil flag] again I’m going to do something, we have to do something.” Anderson asked the sisters: “What’s wrong with promoting jihad?”
Giving evidence from behind a screen, Asmaa said: “It was quite intimidating. When we went back to take photos we were much further back than the first time, and I didn’t feel comfortable to go closer.”