Islamic extremist from Bristol admits sharing terrorist tutorials

An Islamic extremist from Bristol has admitted sharing “terrorist tutorials” and having a stash of bomb and poison-making instructions.

Souhaib Embarek, 24, had initially admitted five charges of possession of information useful to a terrorist but denied two charges of disseminating terror documents.

But mid-way through the opening of his trial at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, he changed his plea and admitted one of the dissemination charges.

Prosecutor Joel Smith said the Crown considered it was not in the public interest to pursue the trial on the remaining count, relating to an alleged Islamic State “call to arms”.

He invited Judge Philip Katz QC to order that charge to lie on file and discharge the jury.

Earlier, the court heard how Embarek’s cache was uncovered after armed police raided his Bristol home on December 9 2019.

Mr Smith said: “As police entered, the defendant threw a mobile phone from his bedroom window.

“After being arrested, he denied to police that he even had a mobile telephone.

“Notwithstanding his attempts to frustrate the police, a number of mobile phones and a computer that he was using were recovered.”

An examination of the devices revealed material about weapons, violence and terrorism, in particular radical Islamic ideology.

There were bomb-making manuals, recipes on making poison, speeches extolling the virtues of terrorist organisations such as Islamic State, and videos and images of terrorist attacks, Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith said that Embarek had shared some documents over an encrypted chat channel called Telegram.

The dissemination charge, which Embarek admitted, related to three audio files in Arabic which amounted to “terrorist tutorials”, the prosecutor said.

The jihadi “lessons” instructed on communication and surveillance security and having a cover story, it was alleged.

The other dissemination charge, which was denied, related to another audio file containing a speech by an official spokesman of IS.

In it, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani glorified acts of violence and terrorism in the name of Jihad, describing participants as “blessed… death deliverers”, the jury was told.

Mr Smith said: “It is, in short, a call to arms.”

Bearded Embarek, from Tyndale Court, rolled his eyes as he entered his guilty plea by video link from Wandsworth prison.

Judge Katz indicated that the defendant would be sentenced on a later date.

Source: Bristol Post