A man armed with two knives and carrying a "martyrdom note" tried to carry out a terrorist attack at Israel's British embassy because he wanted to send a message about "the killing of children," prosecutors told a London court on Wednesday.
Abdullah Albadri, 34, who was born in Kuwait and twice entered Britain from France in a small boat, was arrested by two armed officers trying to scale the fence outside the embassy in west London last April, prosecutor Catherine Pattison said.
They found he was carrying two knives and a piece of paper which appeared to be a note about martyrdom, and later told police he wanted to send a message about stopping the war, a reference to the Israel-Hamas war, Pattison told London's Old Bailey court.
"The prosecution says that Mr. Albadri's intention was to use or threaten serious violence against the Israeli government, to exact revenge for its alleged murder of children," she said.
"The existence and contents of his suspected martyrdom note, along with his two knives and material downloaded from his mobile phone, demonstrate his intention to use violence against people inside the Israeli embassy and sacrifice his own life in the process – to die, in his words, 'for the glory of God'."
Albadri denies charges of preparing an act of terrorism and possession of two bladed articles, and he said in a statement to police that he had the knives because he was homeless.
Albadri applied for asylum in UK twice before attempted attack
Pattison said Albadri had first come to Britain on a small boat in August 2021, but about two years later, having withdrawn an application seeking permission to stay, he appeared to have left the country.
On April 12 last year, he again arrived in Dover via a small boat and began an application for asylum, saying he had left Kuwait for his and his family's safety because he was a human rights activist.
However, exchanges on his phone showed his asylum claim was rejected on April 24, after which his intention began to shift to "far more sinister matters" and he started searching for the location of the Israeli embassy, Pattison said.
On the afternoon of April 28, Albadri sent a picture of a handwritten note alongside a knife to his mother.
Hours later, Albadri was detained by the officers, having almost succeeded in scaling the fence outside the embassy, Pattison said.
"'Why didn't you let me in?'," Pattison said he asked them.