A British Islamic extremist has been sentenced to life in jail after being charged with planning an attack on United States military personnel based in England.
Junead Khan, a 25-year-old delivery driver, planned to crash a car outside U.S. Air Force bases in Lakenheath and Mildenhall, both large bases in eastern England, and then behead those who came to help him with a knife. He also had planned to detonate a bomb.
In sentencing Khan on Friday at London’s Kingston Crown Court, the judge said Khan was “not far from the commission of the murder to be committed by horrifying method in the street in order to create terror and terrorist propaganda in this country,” according to a report.
He added: “His offense was so serious that a life sentence must be imposed.”
Khan was also found guilty of planning to go to Syria to join the Islamic State.
His uncle, Shazib Khan, 23, was also found guilty of planning to go to Syria to join the group.
British law mandates that prisoners given life sentences are eligible for parole after serving a minimum term. The judge in Khan’s case mandated that he has to serve a minimum of 12 years.
Khan was arrested in his home in Luton last July before being able to carry out his planned attack. The targeted bases, home to roughly 15,000 Americans, cancelled their July 4 celebrations in response.
At the time of his arrest, police found pictures of Khan posing with an Islamic State flag, which was later found in the attic. He also had an al Qaeda bomb manual and had searched Amazon.com for large combat knifes.
Khan was also in contact with an Islamic State fighter to discuss his plan. The fighter in Syria, Junaid Hussain, was later killed by a U.S. drone strike in Raqqa, according to a report.
Both Khan and his uncle are of Bangladeshi backgrounds, and according to the judge, they rejected Britain and everything it stood for.
“They both believe that Sharia law is the only legitimate law and both reject democracy, because it involves law being made by people and not by God,” the judge said. “They have rejected the protection of the law of this country and education they have received by becoming committed supporters of ISIS — an organization which wishes to control the world and which will stop short of no barbarity in order to do so.”
