Student Who Planned To Fight For IS Jailed

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By Mark White, Home Affairs Correspondent

A university student who called for a black Islamic flag to be flown over Downing Street has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

David Souaan, who attended London's Birkbeck College, had posed for numerous pictures clutching an array of weapons on an earlier trip to war-torn Syria and planned to return there and fight alongside extremist groups.

The 20-year-old Serb, on a three-year student visa to study in the UK, said none of the weapons were his and he had only allowed himself to be photographed with them to "look cool".

But, on 17 December last year, a jury at the Old Bailey took just nine hours to find the global politics and international relations student guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism.

Souaan, the son of an Orthodox Christian mother and Syrian Muslim father, grew up in Serbia but still maintained close family ties to Syria and adopted his father's religion.

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Gallery: Syria Terror Plan Student Jailed

University student David Souaan has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after being found guilty of planning to fight in Syria. Pic: Crown Prosecution Service

The 20-year-old Serb said none of the weapons were his and he had only allowed himself to be photographed with them to "look cool"

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Souaan was arrested after fellow students became concerned at his radical views on Islam and showed pictures of himself posing with guns

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The court heard how he had travelled with his father to Syria in December 2013. His defence team claimed he had gone to collect belongings from his grandfather's home.

But, during the visit, he posed for pictures wearing a balaclava and clutching AK-47 assault rifles. In another photograph, he is seen standing behind a heavy calibre gun.

When he returned to college in London early last year, he showed his collection of pictures to fellow students, boasting that he wanted to go back to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State terror group.

Sarah Whitehouse QC, prosecuting, said fellow students became so concerned by Souaan's change in behaviour that they contacted the police.

"He called other students 'kuffar' which means 'infidel' and became more hard-line and serious if anyone mentioned anything to do with girls or alcohol," she said.

One student, James Goodfellow, told police Souaan "seemed open and proud of the images and the fact they were in combat gear and holding machine guns".

Mr Goodfellow told police that his friend had boasted that he had shot people.

Police seized his laptop and iPhone and found a mass of pictures, videos and documents revealing his extremist sympathies.

In one video, the 20-year-old is seen carrying an AK-47 assault rifle and wearing khaki trousers and a black North Face jacket as he picks his way through bombed-out streets and past burned vehicles.

Another video, too graphic to be shown in court, was described to the jury.

He had also sent Skype and text messages praising Islamic State and saying he and his younger brother were prepared to die as martyrs and he was willing to "cut the throats" of his opponents.

The court was told the student had joined a group run by radical cleric Anjem Choudary and had filmed himself at a demonstration in London shouting: "The flag of Tawheed in London, all praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe."

That was said to be a reference to the wish of Muslim extremists to see a black Islamic flag flying over Downing Street.

Souaan was arrested before boarding a flight home with his mother to Belgrade at the end of the summer term.

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