A “fanatical Islamist” inspired by Islamic State was found guilty on Monday of murdering veteran British lawmaker David Amess by knifing him to death in a frenzied attack in a church where he was meeting voters.
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, a British citizen and son of a former media adviser to a prime minister of Somalia, repeatedly stabbed Amess in an attack last October for what he said was revenge for the lawmaker’s support for airstrikes on Syria. Prosecutors said he was a “committed, fanatical, radicalised Islamist terrorist”.
“This was a horrific act of terrorism motivated by religious and ideological beliefs,” said Nick Price, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division. “Ali chose to commit this abhorrent crime for his own selfish and hateful reasons.”