Brother of Sheffield dental student accused of terror charges died 'blowing himself up for Islamic State'

Mohammed Abbas Idris Awan, 24, denies preparing an act of terror by buying ball bearings and accessing Jihadi training materials. Sheffield Crown Court was told today how his brother Rizwan Awan, 27, had died by blowing himself up during a suicide bombing in Iraq in March 2016. Mohammed Awan was arrested on June 1 this year after a pack of 500 steel ball bearings were delivered to his family home in Huddersfield, West Yorks. He told Imran Khan, defending, today how he had downloaded a number of graphic images and videos featuring Islamic State killings so that he could find out more about what had happened to his brother. He said: "I looking for Rizwan to try and find out what had happened to him." The court was told how Mohammed Awan has also downloaded a document called "Religious Scope" to the USB stick which he has claimed during the trial belonged to his later brother Rizwan. The defendant said: "I wanted to see other source material and see what led my brother down the path he took. "I was trying to understand the situation." The court was told how the defendant also downloaded a film entitled Commander Hamzah Zinjibary's Training Camp. Zinjibary was a senior Al-Qaeda leader killed in a US drone strike. Mohammed Awan told the court he downloaded the video to try and see of he could spot Rizwan and discover more surrounding the events leading up to his death. Awan, of Sheffield, South Yorks., denies two counts of being in possession of a document or record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. He also denies engaging in research, planning and sourcing materials with a view to committing terrorism acts against persons in the United Kingdom. The trial continues.