A suspected Islamic State supporter encouraged lone wolf attackers to target Prince George at his school and to poison ice creams, a court has heard.
Husnain Rashid posted a photo online of the four-year-old prince with the address of his Battersea school, a silhouette of a jihadist fighter and the message “even the Royal Family will not be left alone”, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court heard.
The 32-year-old, who taught at the Muhammadi mosque, denies three counts of preparing terrorist acts, one count of encouraging terrorism, two of disseminating a terrorist publication and one of failing to comply with a notice under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
On the first day of his trial, jurors heard that the accused, from Nelson in Lancashire, provided an “e-toolkit for terrorism” in a “prolific” online Telegram channel he ran called the Lone Mujahid.
Prosecutor Annabel Darlow said: “His proposals were indiscriminate and made no distinction between adult and child, between members of fighting forces and civilians.
“His suggestions included injecting poison into supermarket ice creams and targeting Prince George at his first school.”
(Husnain Rashid, 32, is accused of seven terror charges)
Other targets included the Halloween Parade in New York and railway stations in Australia.
His “hit list” for jihadists to “terrorize the enemies of Allah” also included author Salman Rushdie and MI6.
He is also accused of posting a photoraph of the Burmese ambassador to the UK which said: “You know what to do.”
Police arrested Rashid in April after finding his online channels.
When they arrested him at his Lancashire home he threw a mobile phone into an alleyway which police found and described as “a treasure trove” of evidence.
His plans to travel to Syria were on the device.
His phone allegedly contained a PDF file of a 31-page jihadist magazine he had created and called Lone Mujahid.
It contained articles about how to make a bomb in your kitchen, which the prosecution said he was due to publish before he was arrested.
(Rashid gave the address of Thomas’s Battersea, Prince George’s school)
He advised lone attackers about “every conceivable type of attack”, including the use of bombs, chemicals and knives, Ms Darlow said.
Rashid also communicated with a British terrorist in Syria called Omar Ali Hussain, advising him on how to carry out successful attacks including bringing down a plane with lasers, the prosecutor added.
Hussain, from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, was also called Abu Sa’eed al Britani, and last year Sky News found his name etched on a prison wall in an IS death camp, suggesting he has now died.
“He made numerous posts glorifying terrorist atrocities committed successfully against others and encouraging and inciting his readers to plan and commit more successful terror attacks of their own,” Ms Darlow said.
The allegations span a period between October 2016 and April this year.
The trial is expected to last six weeks and will continue on Thursday.
Source: sky
