The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘Soldier of Allah’ admits killing fusilier
Court: Accused tells of his love for al Qaida
One of the men accused of murdering Lee Rigby yesterday admitted killing the soldier and said he does not regret what happened.
Michael Adebolajo gave evidence at the Old Bailey yesterday, surrounded by five security guards in oak pannelled Court Two.
He and Michael Adebowale, 22, deny murdering Fusilier Rigby by running him down with a car and then hacking him to death with a meat cleaver and knives near Woolwich Barracks in London on May 22.
The soldier’s relatives sat feet away as Adebolajo, a married father-of-six, testified.
Fusilier Rigby’s widow Rebecca left the courtroom in tears as Adebolajo claimed the soldier wass till moving after he was hit by the car.
He told the jury the 25- year-old had moved, and was “maybe semi- conscious, but he did not sit up or stand up”.
Asked who al Qaida were by his counsel, David Gottlieb, Adebolajo replied: “Al Qaida, I consider to be Mu-jahideen. I love them, they’re my brothers. I have never met them. I consider them my brothers in Islam.”
When asked what his defence to the charge of murder is, the 28-year-old insisted that he is a soldier.
“I’m a soldier. I’m a soldier of Allah and I understand that some people might not recognise this because we do not wear fatigues and we do not go to the Brecon Beacons and train and this sort of thing. But we are still soldiers in the sight of Allah as a mujahid,” the jury heard. In cross-examination, Adebolajo admitted that he and Adebowale had killed Fusilier Rigby. He described the killing as a “military operation”.
“Just as a general plans attacks knowing full well that when he plans this attack people will die, this is what happens in war, so when we target a soldier this is a similar thing.”
The trial continues.