A British Muslim has been convicted at the Old Bailey of trying to join Islamic State in Syria to fulfil his ambition of becoming a martyr.
Zakariya Ashiq, 20, left the UK last November by bus from Victoria Station intending to travel via Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Bulgaria to Jordan.
But when he failed to cross the border to reach his intended destination of Syria, he flew back to Heathrow and was arrested two weeks later.
Ashiq, a warehouseman of Coventry, admitted trying to get to Syria but claimed he had been "pestered" by MI5 and waterboarded by unidentified shadowy figures.
He was found guilty of two counts of preparing acts of terrorism and will be sentenced tomorrow (wed) by Judge Charles Wide.
Ashiq insisted he had been kidnapped five times by “shadowy figures” he believed were working for the government.
He claimed three or four men wearing balaclavas and 'combat-type clothing' blindfolded him, handcuffed his hands behind his back and forced him to lie face down in a white van as they drove him to an undisclosed location.
But the court heard when he was being questioned by police, he requested, and was given, smoked salmon for breakfast, fruit including apples, strawberries, bananas and oranges, egg and cress sandwiches and a fried chicken takeaway.
Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC accused Ashiq of being an “accomplished liar” and played a WhatsApp recording to the jury in which he boasted to his friends that when he was interviewed by counter-terrorism police he had “gassed them hard and they believed me.”
“I suggest you are lying to this jury as you lied to all the police officers. You are lying when you say you were tortured, you are lying when you said that was your reason for going to Syria,” Ms Whitehouse said.
Asked if he respected the court, Ashiq said: “I don't accept this as a system of justice.”
