Mayor of London Sadiq Khan joins the Pride in London parade on 06 July, 2019 in London, England. The festival, which this year celebrates 50 years since the Stonewall Uprising, attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of the British capital to celebrate the LGBT+ community. (Photo by WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A court has heard of how an Uber driver prepared to “unleash death” on the LGBT+ community by driving a van into Pride in London.
Described as a “pathetic little man” by his own barrister, Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 28, is standing trial at Woolwich Crown Court for engaging in the preparation of acts of terrorism.
As well as the Pride parade, it is claimed he also singled out Madame Tussauds and a double decker tourist bus as potential targets for his plan to “unleash death and suffering on non-Muslim members of the public”.
In 2018, Chowdhury was cleared of preparing to commit an act of terrorism after waving a sword at police outside Buckingham Palace. He was arrested again in July 2019 after an investigation by counter-terror police, who interviewed him undercover and learned “within days” that he was planning on becoming a martyr.
In covert recordings released to the court, Chowdury said he believed it was “halal permitted” for jihadis to target gays. He considered targeting the Pride in London parade after realising that attacking Remembrance Sunday would be too difficult due to security.
“[The undercover officer] brought it up again to find out if serious or not, affording him chance to say he was joking,” said the prosecutor. “He gave him a chance to back off, on 7 April he says he wants to wait, he thinks not ready yet.
“[But] he keeps talking about it himself, so for example, ‘It sounds like it’s a bit separated for heavy loads, you should raise the bumpers, the heavier the better, these gay parades it’s all forbidden, it’s all evil.’”
His sister Sneha Chowdhury, 25, is accused of two charges of failing to notify the authorities of a potential terror attack.
She is said to have been well aware of what her brother was plotting after he told her of how many people he was radicalising at his mosque. He is alleged to have sent letters to her with quotes justifying what he had done.
Both deny all charges against them. The trial continues.