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Bilel Saadaoui denies a charge that he failed to alert the authorities about a plot to murder Jews in north Manchester
Bilel Saadaoui is said to have created a video with an Islamic State 'nasheed', or religious song(Image: Counter Terrorism Police North West)
A man who is alleged to have failed to alert the authorities about an alleged terror plot to murder Jewish people in north Manchester created a video of him working out at the gym with a religious song supporting Islamic State, a jury has been told.
Bilel Saadaoui, 36, is said to have created the compilation video on June 9, 2022, which shows him working out at a gym while a 'nasheed', or religious song, is playing in the background.
The nasheed, translated from Arabic, starts with the words ‘now, now the fighting is to come’, the jurors were told at Preston Crown Court.
This is also the title of a speech by Shaykh Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani who was said to be a spokesman and senior figure for Islamic State which is a proscribed terror group, Detective Constable Richard Hepworth told the jury on Tuesday as be began outlining a timeline of events leading up to the summer of 2024 when two co-accused are alleged to have plotted the mass murder of Jews.
Bilel's brother Walid Saadaoui and another man, Amar Hussein, deny plotting a devastating gun attack in the Jewish communities of Cheetham Hill, Higher Broughton and Prestwich.
When counter terror cops arrested him in May 2024, Mr Saadaoui tried to flee but officers found two assault rifles, a semi-automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition in his car, the court has been told. He was awaiting delivery of a further two assault rifles, another pistol and more ammunition to lunch a terror attack to kills 'as many Jews as possible' in Prestwich, Higher Broughton and Cheetham Hill, according to the Crown.
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Bilel Saadaoui is said to have created a video with an Islamic State 'nasheed', or religious song(Image: Counter Terrorism Police North West)
The two men are said to have been foiled by an undercover operative named Farouk who was posing as a fellow jihadi.
Questioned by junior prosecution counsel Kelly Brocklehurst KC on Tuesday, Det Con Hepworth told the jury Bilel Saadaoui sent Amar Hussein a long WhatsApp message which referred to the ‘infidels’ in March 2021.
In it he was said to have posted: “Religion is the methodology and the Sharia Law. National, secular, nationalist and other parties were built on a tyrannical, polytheistic foundation that declares anyone who joins them to be infidels, and they must be disavowing these parties.”
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Bilel Saadaoui(Image: Counter Terrorism Police North West)
The jurors were told that on May 1, 2021, Bilel Sadaoui sent Amar Hussein what appeared to be a news report which said 25 Jewish people were killed and 150 others were hurt when a bridge collapsed at Mount Meron during the ‘festival of lights’.
In his reply, Bilel Saadaoui is said to have said: “Allah is truly vigilant over them.”
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(left to right) Walid Saadaoui, Bilel Saadaoui and Amar Hussein appearing at Preston Crown Court(Image: PA)
Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein have pleaded not guilty to preparation of terrorist acts, namely that between December 13, 2023, and May 9, 2024, with the intention of committing acts of terrorism, they arranged for the purchase and delivery of firearms, conducted reconnaissance and made plans of attack.
Walid’s brother, Bilel Saadaoui, 36, from Hindley, Wigan, has pleaded not guilty to a single charge of failing to disclose acts of terrorism between the same dates.
