Posted by A British plumber has been convicted of planning a terror attack in Westminster and making bombs for the Taliban.
Khalid Ali, 28, was arrested on 27 April 2017 in Parliament Street, where he was caught carrying three knives.
Prosecutors said Ali, from Edmonton in north London, had planned a “murderous attack” on politicians and police.
In a police interview, Ali said he wanted to deliver a “message” to British authorities, but claimed the knives were for protection.
An Old Bailey jury convicted him of preparing an act of terrorism in the UK and two counts of possessing an explosive substance with intent. He did not react as the verdicts were read out.
Ali will be sentenced on 20 July.
Date: 26 June 2018
Taliban Facts:
- The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
- A predominantly Pashtun movement, the Taliban came to prominence in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1994.
- It is commonly believed that they first appeared in religious seminaries – mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia – which preached a hard line form of Sunni Islam.
- The Taliban’s promise – in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan – was to restore peace and security and enforce their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.
- In both countries they introduced or supported Islamic punishments – such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers and amputations of those found guilty of theft.
- Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka.
- The Taliban banned television, music and cinema and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over from going to school.
- The Taliban were responsible for shooting the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yusuf after she advocated education for girls.
- There is little doubt that many Afghans who initially joined the movement were educated in madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan.
- Pakistan was also one of only three countries, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which recognised the Taliban when they were in power in Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until 2001.
- The Taliban in Afghanistan were accused of providing a sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda movement who were blamed for the attacks.
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