PhD student Mohamad Al Bared, who designed and built the unmanned aerial device at his Coventry home, has been told he may face life behind bars for helping Islamic State
A PhD student has been told he may face life behind bars after being found guilty of plotting to supply so-called Islamic State terrorists with a drone capable of delivering a bomb or chemical weapon.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court deliberated for around six hours over two days before unanimously convicting Mohamad Al Bared, who designed and built the unmanned aerial device at his Coventry home. The 27-year-old mechanical engineering graduate at the University of Birmingham was found guilty of a single count of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts to benefit a proscribed terrorist organisation.
Al Bared was remanded in custody and told he may face a life term when he is sentenced in November. He denied being a supporter of IS or its aims, having told jurors he had no plans to assist it in any way and that he made a drone for his own research purposes.
Al Bared, who specialised in laser-drilling, also claimed to have researched IS to argue against its aims with others at a mosque. But prosecutors said it was clear from encrypted online chats and other digital material that he supported IS, intended to make a “single-use” video-transmitting fixed-wing drone for terrorist purposes, and to travel to Africa via Turkey.