Student jailed for attempting to murder British MP claimed she was radicalised after being directed to a stream of videos
Student jailed for attempting to murder British MP claimed she was radicalised after being directed to a stream of videos
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In interviews with officers, she disclosed how YouTube had pointed her to incendiary clips of al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, with whom she soon became obsessed. Choudhry said she had been viewing "interesting" life stories of YouTube users describing how they became Muslim when al-Awlaki's sermons appeared as related content on the site.
As the impressionable 21-year-old watched she became "surprised at how little I knew about my religion" and "motivated to learn more".
After watching hundreds of hours of extremist propaganda online in just six months, she decided to kill in revenge for Britain's involvement in the Iraq war.
She told officers that she had decided to put her plan into action just "a few days" after watching a video in which Sheikh Abdullah Azzam spoke of the obligation for Muslims to defend a Muslim land if it is attacked. The interview highlighted the internet's role in transforming Choudhry to an attempted murderer.
Choudhry said she did not regularly visit a mosque and had no-one to answer questions about her faith or about the material she viewed online, meaning the films were the only interpretation of the Quran she had access to.
She said, "I don't ask anyone, I just listen to his lectures. There's no one to ask."
In 2003, when the Iraq war started, Choudhry said she had been against [the war] in general like everyone else but not [with] strong feelings.
Three years on, she told police she "wanted to be a martyr because it was the best way to die."
The video sharing website has begun removing some of al-Awlaki's videos after the media highlighted concerns.
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