Gaza views’ do not make man accused of plot against Jews a terrorist’

Amar Hussein, 52, and his co-defendant Walid Saadaoui, 38, are said to have wanted to cause “untold harm” to the Jewish community in the north west of England.

Both are alleged to have arranged for the purchase and delivery of firearms, conducted reconnaissance and made plans of attack between December 2023 and May 2024.

Jurors at Preston Crown have been told by prosecutors that police thwarted their plans from becoming reality as they unknowingly laid bare their scheme to an undercover operative who pretended to be a supporter of the so-called Islamic State (IS).

On Monday, Hussein’s barrister, Danny Robinson KC, said the prosecution had failed to prove their case that the defendant had intentionally engaged in an act of preparation for terrorism.

He said: “The burden of proving a defendant’s guilt remains on the prosecution throughout the trial and the fact that Mr Hussein did not give evidence does not change that at all.”

In his closing speech, Mr Robinson said Hussein played no part in arranging the purchase and delivery of firearms into the UK and that he was “kept in the dark” about any plans of attack.

A trip to Dover in March 2024 by Walid Saadaoui and Hussein was allegedly a reconnaissance mission, to see how a weapon could be smuggled through the port but Mr Robinson submitted to the jury that they could not be sure of the journey’s purpose.

He conceded to the jury that some of them, if not all, may have formed a negative view about the defendant, who he estimated had been in court for about 30 minutes since the trial started in October and on the rare occasions he entered the dock, he had interrupted proceedings.

As prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu began to give his opening speech two months ago, the defendant repeatedly shouted “don’t talk shit” and added “how many children? how many babies?”.

Mr Robinson said Hussein, who spoke broken English and worked and lived at a furniture shop in Bolton, Greater Manchester, was interviewed eight times following his arrest and made several comments on the subject of terrorism.

Mr Robinson said: “He said ‘your Government, your Prime Minister has sent weapons to kill our children in Israel’ and ‘terrorism is our religion, Quran say terrorism is normal, we are proud, we say terrorism is proud’.”

“He also said ‘terrorise for your word is like very bad things but in Islam, and in God, no bad things is protection Islam’ and ‘terrorist in Arabic mean protection of Islam’.”

The barrister told the jury: “It is clear he is a man who holds very firm opinions about the recent conflict in Gaza. That of course does not make him a terrorist.

He said Hussein told detectives he was not part of a plan to take part in any attack and said the evidence of the undercover operative was “fantasy”.

Giving evidence, Walid Saadaoui denied he was an extremist and claimed he was “playing along” with the undercover operative and said he had planned to sabotage any attack.

Hussein, of no fixed address, and Walid Saadaoui, of Abram, Wigan, deny preparing acts of terrorism.

Walid Saadaoui’s brother Bilel Saadaoui, 36, of Hindley, Wigan, denies failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism.