“Cold and calculating” ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, 26, refused to stand in the dock on “religious grounds” as he was found guilty on Monday of stabbing UK Parliamentarian Sir David Amess to death with the jury taking just 18 minutes to reach its verdict.
Ali admitted to carrying out the attack and plotting to kill other MPs including Michael Gove but denied murder on the basis he was protecting other Muslims in Syria – a claim that was rejected by the court.
Sir David’s family – sat almost within arm’s length of the Old Bailey dock – remained silent throughout as the jury foreman read out the unanimous guilty verdicts.
Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered UK Labour MP Jo Cox, said Ali’s crimes had only achieved a much wider awareness of the “decency” of Sir David and the causes he championed.
“The terrorist will rot in jail and die in ignominy,” he said. “David’s name will be remembered, especially by the people of Southend who he served.”
The 26-year-old Ali carried out his lethal attack at the MP’s constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on October 15th last year.
Ali told the trial he had no regrets about the murder, defending his actions by saying Sir David deserved to die because he had voted in Parliament for air strikes on Syria in 2014 and 2015.
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