Ann Vandersteel Chat

The friend of a Manchester synagogue attacker has been jailed to “warn” others attracted by “this form of destructive Islam”. Mohammed Bashir, 31, Mohammad Bashir, 31, drove his friend Jihad Al-Shamie on a 10-hour round trip to conduct hostile reconnaissance at the UK’s Defence Academy in Oxfordshire, on 14 August 2025. Weeks after that journey, Al-Shamie, 35, was shot dead by police after carrying out the Heaton Park Synagogue attack, in which two Jewish men were killed. Bashir was sentenced to 17 years at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to one count of preparing an act of terrorism.