Would-be Jihadi stopped from fighting for ISIS in Syria after his mum hid his passport

A would-be British jihadi who was willing to die for ISIS was stopped from going to fight in Syria by his mum who hid his passport.

Bricklayer Humza Ali, who trained with other extremists at a Solihull paintballing centre, was convicted of terrorism offences at Birmingham Crown Court after he repeatedly failed to get to Syria.

The 20-year-old went on bonding sessions with other wannabe jihadis and posed for pictures along three other men – Mohammed Ali Ahmed, Gabriel Rasmus and Abdelatif Gaini – who are linked to ISIS.

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Pictures – released by police after reporting restrictions were lifted – show three of the four Birmingham men making the single-fingered salute of the so-called Islamic State as other paintballers walk and sit nearby.

A three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard Ali wanted to “fight until I die” in Syria and was covertly recorded telling a fifth jihadi sympathiser that his mother had confiscated his passport.

Pictures – released by police after reporting restrictions were lifted – show three of the four Birmingham men making the single-fingered salute of the so-called Islamic State as other paintballers walk and sit nearby.

A three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard Ali wanted to “fight until I die” in Syria and was covertly recorded telling a fifth jihadi sympathiser that his mother had confiscated his passport.

Ahmed, who is seen smiling on the “bonding” session pictures, was jailed earlier this week for his part in handing £3,000 to Brussels “man in the hat” bombing suspect Mohamed Abrini.

The trial also heard that pictures recovered from Ali’s phone showed him with would-be jihadist Rasmus, posing beside a tank at Delta Force paintballing in Cut Throat Lane, Hockley Heath, in June 2014.

Gaini, who is thought to be in Syria, is seen crouching near a military vehicle in one of the pictures. Ali – a student at Birmingham’s South and City College who lived with his parents – told his trial he had no intention of travelling to Syria when he made his way by sea and air routes to Istanbul via Ireland in January 2015.

But jurors convicted Ali, who will be sentenced in January, of attempting to travel for terrorist purposes and disseminating numerous video messages to other men showing beheadings and atrocities carried out by IS.

Ali, of Bromford Lane, Ward End, Birmingham, was also found guilty of sending malicious communications after directing “abusive” anti-democracy messages at a local councillor.

Prosecutor Anne Whyte QC said the paintballing photos were proof that Ali was preparing for terrorist acts.

She told jurors that the paintballing sessions were “a bonding act” between would-be jihadis.

Ahmed paid for the paintballing exercise, added Ms Whyte, who told jurors that he had already pleaded guilty to an offence under the Terrorism Act.

Ahmed, 27, of Coventry Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, was jailed for eight years on Monday at London’s Kingston Crown Court.

Contempt of Court Act restrictions in the case of Ahmed had prevented reporting of his presence at the paintballing centre and references to the fact that 41-year-old Gaini travelled to Syria.

Rasmus, 29, of Chain Walk, Lozells, Birmingham, was jailed for four years at the Old Bailey last month after being arrested in April last year at Dover while en route to Syria to engage in terrorism.