Salim Wakil (pictured outside the Old Bailey on January 7) had lived with his parents and nine younger siblings in Fleet, Hampshire
The jihadi sister of a ‘naive’ brother who wired her more than £2,000 after she fled Britain to join Islamic State boasted of her time in Syria, it emerged today as he faced up to 14 years in jail.
Salim Wakil, 25, who had lived with his parents and nine younger siblings in Fleet, Hampshire, recruited a friend who lent him his bank details to send £2,350 via Western Union transfer to his sister Sumaiyyah last February.
Sumaiyyah left a series of voice messages for relatives from Raqqa telling them how great life was and that she was not coming back.
In one in May 2015, she said: ‘Guess what today there’s going to be a stoning of a woman. Me and my husband are going to go and see it inshallah. So cool man.’
Sumaiyyah left the country when she was just 16 in August 2014, leaving behind a handwritten letter for her family begging them not to alert the police.
The sister, who is now 21, expressed ‘anger’ about ‘the state of the Islamic community’, indicating that the only way to help was by travelling to the war-torn country to fight and help those suffering.
She also made clear she wished to die as a martyr as she made her way to ISIS-controlled areas, the court heard.
Wakil denied funding terrorism over the transfer, claiming the money was meant to help bring her back to the UK. But a jury convicted him after a week-long trial at the Old Bailey in London.
Brett Weaver, prosecuting, told the court: ‘The offence for which Mr Wakil has now been convicted has a maximum sentence of fourteen years imprisonment.
Pictures of Sumaiyyah’s daughter with a drip in her hand, sent to Wakil in May 2017 to try to persuade him to send more money
Wakil (top left) at an HSBC branch in Fleet in February 2017 where he withdrew £2,000 in cash
Wakil (pictured) claimed the money was meant to help bring his younger sister back to the UK
‘The Islamic State was and is an organisation that is a cash economy, if I can put it that way, and my Lady saw evidence of salaries being paid to fighters and costs for infrastructure in the city of Raqqa.
‘There is a deliberate use of encrypted communications, either to facilitate the offence or to avoid detection.
‘We would submit that whilst there may be evidence that the defendant acted under the direction of his sister, he was required to carry out certain research himself.
‘We also point to, we submit, a failure to respond to warnings over many months – this defendant was warned in stark terms.’
A police handout image of some of the messages sent between Wakil and his sister Sumaiyyah
Sumaiyyah, whose messages are pictured, left the UK when she was just 16 in August 2014
In messages they exchanged, Sumaiyyah told her brother she had made a ‘stupid mistake’
In one of the messages they exchanged, Wakil asked his sister: ‘You don’t trust Allah?’
‘This arrangement was made by the defendant in spite of repeated warnings from police that any such transfers sent to Syria could lead to him committing a criminal offence,’ said Mr Weaver.
‘Furthermore, rather than send the money in his own name the defendant sought the help of a friend of his named Robert Chisca who went with him to the Western Union outlet.
‘Robert Chisca provided his details for the transfer although it was the defendant’s money that was being sent.
‘The prosecution say this was done quite deliberately in an attempt to conceal his actions and thereby demonstrate that he knew perfectly well what he was doing was wrong.
Sumaiyyah told him in a message that the UK Government ‘don’t even help their own citiziens’
Sumaiyyah said in another message to her brother that ‘money does not fall from the sky’
One message from Sumaiyyah urges her brother: ‘Do something, idiot… ur so annoying’
‘At the relevant time, the contact that the defendant and other members of his family had had with Sumaiyyah showed that not only was she in Syria but at various times she was in locations that were under the control of the Islamic State, a proscribed terrorist organisation.
‘As a result, the prosecution say that sending money to someone in Syria in such circumstances give rise to a clear suspicion, at the very least, that it could end up being available to those engaged in terrorism overseas.
‘In response to this allegation, the defendant accepts that he sent money to Sumaiyyah via Western Union, using the help of Robert Chisca.
‘He says that at all times his intention was to help with the return of his sister Sumaiyyah from Syria back to the United Kingdom.
A photo sent to Wakil by Sumaiyyah of the River Euphrates, near where she was living in Syria
Another photo sent by Sumaiyyah to Wakil of the River Euphrates, near where she was living
‘The money was sent in line with instructions she had given to him and which she had told him would allow her to be brought back home.
‘He told police he did not believe that the money would be used for the purposes of terrorism.
‘However, despite his sending the money to Sumaiyyah for her to leave, she remained in Syria and in fact contacted him in the months that followed to request that he send her more money.’
Wakil denied funding terrorism but was convicted by a jury. He was bailed ahead of sentencing on February 8.