30-year-old Basiru Gassama, a Gambian Muslim resident in the United Kingdom, who has now served a two-year jail term, now faces deportation over his alleged failure to disclose information relating to terrorism. Few years ago, it was alleged that Mr Gassama was recruited by Parviz Khan, a terrorist ringleader, to help ‘identify a target’ for the purpose of “beheading a service man living in the city of Birmingham.”

Mr Gassama of Radstock Avenue, Hodge Hill, had denied the charges but the court eventually established that he had deliberately failed to disclose information about the plot. Sentencing him at the Leicester Crown Court, the judge said: “You knew in very great detail what Parviz Khan was planning.”

Mohammed Irfan, 31, of Ward End, and Hamid Elasmar, 44, of Edgbaston, were given four years and three years and four months respectively for allegedly helping to supply equipment and other materials and as a result decided to ‘recruit’ the Gambian born Muslim to his cell to help identify the said target.
 
A large number of Gambians live in this area of Birmingham but some of them who knew Gassama said he was always “nice and caring’’ and could not understand what prompted him to be involved in such act. They urged their fellow countrymen and women to maintain their tradition of respect in society and always uphold loyalty to their host at all costs, where everyone is protected and allowed the opportunity to strive.

However 37-year-old Parviz Khan had reportedly pleaded guilty to plotting the alleged scheme and supplying equipment to terrorists on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He was subsequently handed a minimum 14-year sentence at Leicester Crown Court where the judge also told him that he might never be released due to the magnitude of his crimes. Four other men involved in the plot were sentenced along with him.

The prosecution had alleged during the trial that Khan grew into an “extremist obsessed’’ with the speeches of Osama bin Laden and the jailed cleric, Abu Hamza, who is currently fighting extradition to the United States to face other terrorist charges.

It was alleged that bugging devices were planted at his home in Alum Rock and had recorded him allegedly teaching a child how to “carry out beheading.” The court also handed Zahoor Iqbal, a 30-year-old man living in Perry Barr, a jail term of seven years for his part in the alleged supply chain.

The judge told Iqbal: “You have been described by the Crown as a man who has the most violent and extreme Islamist views and as a fanatic. Having studied over the last month [the covert recordings], I unhesitatingly accept that description of you. You not only plotted to kill a soldier but you intended to film a most brutal killing.” The judge added that Khan’s aim was to “deter any Muslim from joining the British army.”

The judge also noted: “This was not only a plot to kill a soldier but a plot to undermine the morale of the British army and inhibit recruitment... It’s plain that you were absolutely serious and determined to bring this plot to fruition. Unfortunately your enthusiasm was infectious and you dragged in your co-accused, everyone of whom should curse the day they set their eyes on you.”

Mitigating on behalf of Khan, respected lawyer Michael Wolkind, QC, told the court that his client’s plot had been a “mixture of fanaticism and fantasy” and deserved mercy. Also mentioning to the covert monitoring of Khan, he said: “If there had been a genuine threat, the buggers would have stopped it much earlier. There was a long way to go.”

Michael, still trying to convince the court, said: “His plan might have changed had British foreign policy changed. He might have withdrawn if the British troops were withdrawn.”

However Justice Henriques said: “So rampant are your views, so excitable your temperament, and so persuasive your tongue and so imbued with energy are you, it’s quite impossible to predict when, if ever, it will be safe for you to be released into the public.”

The judge added: “It was a plot whose purpose was to undermine democratic government, to demoralize the British army and to destabilize recruitment, and to cause anguish to the then Prime Minister of the day and the loyal citizens of the country.”

Khan was given a minimum of 14 years for the plot, eight years for the supply of equipment and two and a half years for both counts of being in possession of the records of documents. The sentences will run concurrently.

Meanwhile this correspondent was made to reliably understand that the plot was against a young Gambian serving in the British army, thus causing outrage within the Gambian community who are renowned to be law-abiding, honest and hard working.