PM murder plot trial: MI5 agent tells of chats with Isis supporter

An Islamic State (Isis) supporter accused of plotting to behead Theresa May claimed that the terror group would find other backers among a list of 6,000 Instagram followers that he offered to hand over to an MI5 agent posing as a terrorist, a court has heard.

Details of online conversations between Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman and an agent pretending to be an Isis amir or leader were heard on the second day of evidence at Old Bailey where the MI5 operative gave evidence from behind a screen.

Rahman was arrested just days before he allegedly intended to carry out a suicide attack on Downing Street to kill the prime minister, the court had heard on Tuesday. The defendant, who is also accused of helping his friend Mohammad Aqib Imran, 22, with plans to join Isis in Syria by recording a sponsorship video, had already revealed his plans on the Telegram social media app during conversations with undercover agents, jurors also heard.

At one point in his chats with the agent, the court heard on Wednesday, Rahman likened his co-defendant to a character from Four Lions, the satirical British film about four aspiring suicide bombers.

After asking the fake Isis member if he had heard about the 2010 film, Rahman is believed to have been referring to Imran when he said that a “brother from Birmingham” was like a “dopey” character in it.

Rahman was sleeping in a car and trying to obtain benefits and get a job or apprenticeship when he was allegedly plotting late last year, the court head. In the Telegram chats, he was said to have expressed views on world event such as the Las Vegas massacre, bemoaning the fact that it had been perpetrated by an “old white man” rather than Isis supporters.

At other points, he spoke of struggling to keep his faith up, spoke of his love for the agent despite never having met him and asked for help in finding a like-minded wife.

He also talked of pretending to be liberal in order not to fall under suspicion. The trial had heard earlier this week that he had been known to the Channel programme, a government project that seeks to intervene in the cases of individuals thought to be at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

The trial also heard on Wednesday that Rahman had asked the agent for advice about how to respond to a “rubbish” fatwa – an Islamic ruling – that he should not fight in the UK because it was not a war zone.

The agent told him that he did not have to respond as there were more important matters to deal with and that the “right scholars” could provide a response.

Rahman was arrested in London on 28 November, shortly after the last of a number of meetings with undercover police officers posing as terrorists. The court heard on Tuesday how the undercover operation had provided him with what he was told was a suicide vest and a bomb containing a similar amount of explosives to that used during the Manchester Arena terror attack.

Rahman, from Finchley, north London, has denied two counts of preparing terrorist acts.

Imran, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, has pleaded not guilty to preparing terrorist acts and possessing a terrorist document on his Kindle entitled How to Survive in the West – A Mujahid’s Guide 2015

The trial continues.