A former ISIS terrorist is reportedly living in a £300,000 three-bedroom flat in London, sparking public anger. Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 43, was previously associated with hate preacher Anjem Choudary and has been convicted twice for terrorism-related offences.
Background and Convictions
Rahman was sentenced to four years in prison in 2007 after saying British soldiers should return from Iraq in body bags, expressing a desire "to see their blood running in the streets of Baghdad". In 2016, he was convicted for a second time alongside Choudary after pledging allegiance to Islamic State. Both received five-and-a-half-year prison sentences.
Choudary is currently serving a life sentence for leading the proscribed terrorist group al-Muhajiroun, a Salafi-jihadist and Islamist network based primarily in the UK.
Current Activities and Concerns
The Daily Mail has reported that Rahman is now living in a "heavily subsidised" £300,000 home in north London, near primary schools, while claiming that Britain is part of an "axis of evil" with the US and Israel. He is also delivering "highly toxic" rants to teenagers on TikTok.
Rahman has written books under the pseudonym Abu Baraa, which have been removed from Waterstones and TikTok's online shop but remain available on Amazon. One book, titled What Is Known From Islam By Necessity, incites readers to train for jihad. It also states that women are not allowed to go outside without their husbands' permission, and refers to Jews as "disbelievers" who are "destined for hellfire".
Expert Assessment
Rahman works as an accountant while also running a "consultancy" specialising in cultural education. Security expert Professor Anthony Glees has described Rahman as a "serious national security threat".
"Here you've got somebody who glorifies Islamist tenets and appeals in particular to a highly vulnerable younger age group and seems to me to be grooming them into the Islamist fold, and yet feels entirely safe flogging his books at Waterstones," Glees said. "His mission is to sweet talk impressionable Muslims into committing acts of violence against non-Muslims by insisting that Islamist jihadists are not terrorists or killers."
Professor Glees hopes counter-terror police will "act to stop Rahman now before it is too late".
