A former Kurdistan fighter discovered sleeping on the floor of a Birmingham mosque has been jailed for three years.
Shivan Azeez Zangana, 21, was radicalised in Britain after fleeing the bloodshed in Iraq has been jailed for planning to fight for his former Islamic State foes. He was discovered police sleeping at a mosque in the city, and was sent to the UK by his family to “keep him safe”.
But after falling in with “a nest of rats” here, he was turned by a fellow Kurd, asylum seeker Aras Hamid, 27, and agreed to change sides and go with him to fight for IS.
Kingston Crown Court heard both were found at the mosque on May 17, days after Azeez’s worried relatives had called 999 with concerns about what he was planning.
Azeez dramatically collapsed in the dock Monday after being jailed for three years, but was able to leave unaided after a few minutes.
While Azeez was arrested at the mosque, plan ringleader Hamid had items confiscated but was not detained. He was discovered two days later, hiding in a lorry on the A2 near Dover, Kent, while trying to smuggle himself out the UK. He also had a fake Bulgarian passport.
Hamid, who entered the UK illegally in September 2015, had arranged to travel to the war zone to fight for a Kurdish IS unit, the Salahaddin Battalion, documents found on his phone showed. He used code names including “car wash” to mask their intentions and arranged covert meetings, including in a Coventry park and a cemetery.
Giving evidence last year, Hamid admitted he wanted to die a martyr’s death and the jury heard that he exchanged messages with other extremists, telling one “we will die as martyrs in the holy land of the caliphate”. He was jailed for seven years. Both he and Azeez were also ordered to serve an extended period of 12 months on licence at the end of their prison sentence.
A third man, Ahmed Ismail, 19, of Portwrinkle Avenue, Coventry, was convicted of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism, and was jailed for 18 months.
