Student David Souaan jailed after trying to join Isil in Syria

A radical Muslim student who wanted the black flag of the Islamic State to fly over Downing Street has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after being found guilty of planning to join rebel forces in Syria.

David Souaan was dubbed “little Panda” by his girlfriend as he tried to join Isil (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in the war-torn country because he got “lonely” studying in London.

The 20-year-old was sentenced at the Old Bailey in London after being convicted of preparing for acts of terrorism in Syria at trial in December last year.

A follower of hate cleric Anjem Choudary, he had also claimed he wanted to see the terror group’s flag flying over Downing Street.

Sentencing him to be detained in a young offenders' institution, Judge Peter Rook told Souaan his case was at the lower end of the scale but nevertheless serious.

He told the student that due to his age and immaturity he had been "vulnerable to extremist views" to which he was exposed after he left home for London.

He added that his praise for Islamic State came at a time before the organisation's true character was known.

When police arrested Souaan, they found images on his phone of him posing with guns during a previous trip to Syria and a horrific video of an execution.

Souaan, who comes from a wealthy family in Serbia, came to the UK last year to study at Birkbeck College in London but soon became “lonely”, the Old Bailey heard at a previous hearing.

The prosecution said he had visited Syria in December 2013 and was on his way back to fight the jihadist cause when he was arrested at Heathrow Airport on May 31 last year.

He had insisted his earlier visit to Syria was to collect belongings for his grandfather, a Syrian who had fled the country.

Earlier in mitigation, Souaan's lawyer, Ali Bajwa QC, called for leniency.

He said the defendant was an "emotionally immature and naive" young man who was vulnerable because of the "loneliness and isolation" he felt as a foreign student in London, away from the support of his family.

He also had the "misfortune" of being personally affected by two civil wars - in the Balkans when he was just five years old and in Syria from the age of 16.

Mr Bajwa said various members of Souaan's Syrian extended family had been "dislocated, exiled, disappeared, raped, tortured or killed" during the conflict and he had been emotionally affected by that.

^{David Souaan has been jailed for three-and-a-half years (PA)}

Souaan, the son of a Serbian Christian mother and Syrian Muslim father, grew up in his mother's country - but had close family ties to Syria and had adopted his father's religion.

He came to the UK last year on a three-year visa to study global politics and international relations, living in halls of residence.

Police seized his laptop and phone and found pictures, videos and documents revealing his "extremist sympathies" and that he had not only been fighting in Syria before but was intending to return.

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC said one video clip on his phone was "so graphic and so shocking" that it could not be played in court.

It featured a young-looking man kneeling with his head held back as another man cut his throat.

Souaan was also a follower of Choudary and filmed himself attending a demonstration in the UK.

Mrs Whitehouse said that a man – probably Souaan – could be heard in the background saying: "The flag of Tawheed in London, all praise be to Allah the lord of the universe," in reference to the wish of Muslim extremists to see the black flag fly over Downing Street.

^{David Souaan was a follower of hate cleric Anjem Choudary (AFP)}

Commander Richard Walton, of the Metropolitan Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Souaan had an active interest in Syria and was set on fighting there. I'd like to thank those around him that reported his change in behaviour and extremist views.

"By coming forward, we were able to prevent him travelling and engaging in terrorist activities."