Man linked to Manchester synagogue attacker jailed over terror plan

LONDON (AFP) — A friend of a man who went on a deadly stabbing spree at a Manchester synagogue was jailed for life by a U.K. court Thursday for planning a separate terror attack with him.

Jihad Al-Shamie went on a knife rampage targeting a synagogue in the northwestern city last October that killed two people. Al-Shamie was later shot dead by police.

His friend Mohammad Bashir, 31, last month pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts.

Last August, he drove Al-Shamie on a trip to spy on the UK’s Defence Academy, a military education institution in Swindon in the southwest, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence Bashir was involved in the synagogue attack, but said plans to attack the defense ministry facility were “advanced” and would have been deadly if followed through.

“This was a viable plan to attack the Defence Academy in a broadly similar way to that in which Al-Shamie attacked the synagogue,” Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said.

The judge said Bashir had become a “firmly committed jihadist” and he and Al-Shamie were “equally engaged and enthusiastic” in planning the attack.

“I am sure you were going to play an active part,” said Cheema-Grubb, adding that the plan was “far advanced, lacking only the acquisition of weapons.”

On an Islamic extremist group chat with Al-Shamie and 10 other members, Bashir sent “over 2,000 messages” over six months, the court heard.

“Many were about physical violence in the cause of jihad including calls for persecution and murder.”

Bashir, who will serve a minimum 17 years, was arrested in November at Manchester Airport after returning from a family wedding in Pakistan.

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By Agence France-Presse