The author of the fatal stabbings against MP David Amess – whose case had upset the United Kingdom – was found guilty on Monday April 11 of murder and preparation of terrorist acts.
It took just 18 minutes for jurors in London's Old Bailey court to deliberate and convict Ali Harbi Ali, who was born and raised in London to a family of Somali descent.
His sentence will be handed down on Wednesday.
On trial since March 21, he refused to stand up to hear the verdict delivered by Judge Nigel Sweeney, citing religious reasons.
The young man had pleaded not guilty, but he had declared, last week, at the hearing, to have targeted the 69-year-old elected official because the latter had voted in favor of air strikes in Syria.
"I killed him because he hurt Muslims," he said.
"I felt that if I could kill someone who decided to kill Muslims, it could prevent more harm from being done to those Muslims," he continued.
“Perhaps it sends a message to his colleagues” too.
Frustrated at not going to fight himself in Syria with the Islamic State organization, the accused said to himself that he had to "try to do something here to help the Muslims there".
The attack took place on October 15, 2021 when David Amess, father of five, received his constituents in a Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea, 60 kilometers east of London.
"Fanatical, radicalized Islamist terrorist"
The death of the deputy, elected since 1983, had rekindled the trauma of the assassination of the elected labor member Jo Cox in June 2016. The 4-year-old deputy had been killed by several bullets and stab wounds by a right-wing extremist, Thomas Mair, 53, a week before Britain's referendum on EU membership.
These two tragedies have prompted calls to strengthen the security of elected officials and to calm an electric political debate in recent years, especially since the exchanges around Brexit.
Ali Harbi Ali had, according to British media, briefly completed a counter-radicalization program, without being considered at risk by the security services.
Tried for preparing acts of terrorism between May 1, 2019 and September 28, 2021, he had been described by the prosecutor as a "fanatic, radicalized Islamist terrorist".
He had considered killing other MPs, and had prowled around Parliament armed with a knife last summer, researched several MPs and visited several times near the home of Minister Michael Gove.
Affirming during the trial to be "a moderate Muslim", the Londoner assured that he had no regrets: "If I thought I was doing something wrong, I would not have done it".
The United Kingdom has experienced several jihadist knife attacks in recent years, some claimed by the Islamic State organization.
No claims have been made public since the death of David Amess.
A month after the murder of the deputy and the day after the explosion of a taxi in front of a hospital in Liverpool (north of England) - considered by the police to be an attack - the government had raised to "serious" the level of terrorist threat on British soil.
It has since been downgraded to "important".
With AFP
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app
google-play-badge_EN