Woman's regret over '˜Good riddance' comment on ISIS burning pilot alive

A Sheffield make-up artist accused of spreading ISIS propaganda said she regrets saying '˜Good riddance' over a Jordanian pilot being burnt to death.
Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by Islamic State (IS) jihadist group on December 24 in Syria. The Islamic State group released a video on February 3, 2015, purportedly showing the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot.Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by Islamic State (IS) jihadist group on December 24 in Syria. The Islamic State group released a video on February 3, 2015, purportedly showing the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot.
Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by Islamic State (IS) jihadist group on December 24 in Syria. The Islamic State group released a video on February 3, 2015, purportedly showing the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot.

Zafreen Khadam, aged 32, of Vincent Road, Sharrow, made the comment in a WhatsApp message she sent about a video showing Islamic State members burning to death hostage Maaz al-Kassasbeh in a cage.

Simon Davis, prosecuting, asked why she had sent a message reading ‘Good riddance’ in relation to the video of the pilot’s death.

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Khadam said: “It’s not a very nice thing to say. It is horrific and it is something that is not me. I don’t know why I said it and I regret saying it. I’m sorry.”

Mr Davis said Khadam sent a further message saying ‘What goes around, comes around’.

Khadam denies 10 counts of dissemination of terrorist publications between February and March 2015.

She is alleged to have used online messaging services Twitter and WhatsApp to share graphic videos of killings such as the Jordanian pilot being burnt to death, as well as propaganda messages from IS leaders.

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Mr Davis asked why Khadam had sent a message to another person saying ‘Jihadi John is kind of scary but I would marry him’.

Khadam said: “I wasn’t in the right state of mind.”

Khadam said her sharing of IS propaganda and execution videos on Twitter had been designed to give a ‘false impression’ as part of her undercover research into ISIS.

She said she had not meant messages she had sent to a friend called Colette in early February suggesting she was going to Syria.

Khadam said: “I wasn’t going to go anywhere, I don’t know why I said it.”

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Mr Davis said she had suggested she had been in contact with an ISIS fighter from Holland and jihad was ‘the real life’.

She said: “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Khadam said she did not support terrorism or ISIS and was ‘not in the right frame of mind’ during the period when it is said the offences occurred.

“I said things I do regret and I didn’t mean,” she said.

The court has previously heard Khadam, who has worked at House of Fraser in Meadowhall and Harvey Nichols in Leeds, say she had been going through a difficult personal time in late 2014 shortly before the alleged offences.

The trial continues.