Former champion Small accused of ISIS affiliation

0
1193

Anthony SmallLast year, two men – Michael Coe and Simon Keeler, both 34 – were arrested after being found with false documents in the back of a truck last year.

A third man has been arrested, former British light-middleweight champion Anthony Small, who along with the two other men, were accused of trying to travel to Syria to fight with ISIS.

All three defendants deny the charges against them but have been charged with engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, according to information obtained from BBC News.

This is the second such case involving a fighter to come about in the past month.

On June 5, 29-year old German kickboxer and a two-time Muay Thai world champion, Valdet Gashi, joined ISIS and left his family to fight with the Islamists; the difference being he actually made it to the country.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC opened up the trial at the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales.

“The prosecution’s case is they intended to travel to Syria to join and support what is called the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, known as ISIL or ISIS.”

Small is also accused of publishing an article online called “Attacks By Muslims In Perspective,” followed by a recording of a speech called “Another James Foley beheading.”

Foley was an American journalist who was captured in Syria while he was working for Agence France-Presse.

In 2014, he was beheaded, possibly by Mohammed Emwazi, a British man, who is accused of being the person seen in several videos produced by ISIS showing the beheadings of some prisoners.

Small has been charged with disseminating terrorist publications, two charges of supporting a proscribed organization, and a charge of conspiracy to possess false identity documents with improper intention, according to information obtained from BBC News.

Small was 23-2 with 16 knockouts as a professional boxer.

He claimed the then vacant British light-middleweight title with an eighth-round knockout of Matthew Hall in July 2009.

He defended the title once before losing a close majority decision to Sam Webb in March 2010 and hasn’t fought since.

The court heard Small had not received his false documents yet, but he was in the process of receiving them from the same individuals who had assisted Coe and Keeler.

Also, the court heard that Small and Coe were photographed at a demonstration on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which would have been in 2011, 18 months after Small’s last evening in the ring.

According to Mr. Whittam, Coe converted to Islam in 2007 and attended a number of demonstrations, including protests over the banning of niqabs in France and the implementation of Sharia law, the Islamic legal system, which is derived from the Quran and the Hadith.

While the Quran is the religious text of Islam, the Hadith contains the teachings and sayings of Muhammad, considered by Muslims to be the last prophet sent by God to mankind.

Mr. Keeler has spoken out in favor of “a universal Muslim state founded on Sharia law,” and admitted his religious views were considered “outside the mainstream by many people in the Western world.”