A woman from Windsor, UK, who applied to be a teacher at an Islamic Sunday school, has been found guilty of possessing a terrorist document, according to Tuesday British media reports.
Dzhamilya Timaeva, 20, was convicted of possessing footage encouraging viewers to carry out arson attacks, namely a video believed to be produced by the Islamic State, titled "Incite the Believers," which encouraged viewers to carry out arson attacks on buildings, forests, and agricultural land if they were unable to gain access to a gun or a knife.
Timaeva was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport in October 2022, attempting to board a flight to Turkey, which is when police recovered the aforementioned video.
Timaeva had been cleared of three other charges of disseminating terrorist publications between October 2022 and March 2023, according to the reports.
Timaeva was bailed ahead of her sentencing scheduled for March 7.
During her trial at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, she reportedly denied supporting Islamic State or any of its affiliates, claiming her actions were in defense of Chechnya and the Chechen people.
Prosecutor Gareth Weetman reportedly claimed she printed a cartoon-style children's booklet in order to "indoctrinate young minds" in her classes.
The court also reportedly heard that she kept videos with voiceovers encouraging a holy war in the name of Islam. Timaeva stated that these clips related to "Chechen freedom fighters" rather than Islamic State propagandists.
Timaeva had a total of 5370 videos on her phone, many of which reportedly contained extremist content calling for violence against non-believers and Jewish people. At least 2800 of these had been accessed via Telegram. Timaeva reportedly insisted much of the content had been downloaded automatically.
Timaeva in Britain
Timaeva arrived in Britain with her family in 2013 to seek asylum from Chechnya after being previously denied asylum in Switzerland and Luxembourg.
According to the reports, the jury was told that she had applied to teach at the Al-Tawheed Islamic Education Centre in Maidenhead and was listed as a teacher for the Windsor Muslim Association.
Timaeva also reportedly told jurors that Islam was central to her life and that she had memorized the Quran by the age of 12.
According to the BBC, citing prosecutors, she previously stated that it is a "duty" of her Islamic faith to "wage war against non-believers."