“All three of us have complete, 100% faith in Allah, so we can’t fail,” read a message from one of the kidnappers.
By World Israel News Staff
Three British men were sentenced to eight years in prison for abducting and assaulting an Israeli music producer in Wales, with anti-Israel sentiments and Islamic extremism fueling the attack.
A Welsh court convicted Mohammad Comrie, Faiz Shah, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime for their participation in a plot to kidnap an Israeli national, Itay Kashti.
The trio lured Kashti to a secluded cottage in the Welsh countryside, claiming he would be included in a musical project.
But the men “immediately assaulted” Kashti and the taxi driver who had driven him to the location, according to a Jewish Chronicle report.
Kashti was “handcuffed to a radiator,” while the driver escaped and managed to call the police.
When his captors left the room, Kashti managed to free himself from the handcuffs, find his phone – which the assailants had taken away – and flee from the cottage.
During the assault, Kashti suffered wounds to his head and face, as well as bruising throughout his body.
According to the Jewish Chronicle report, prosecutors referenced Telegram chats between the men, which laid out the details of the plot, along with a “shopping list” of items, such as zip ties, gloves, and sedative drugs, which would needed to carry out the plan.
Judge Catherine Richards, who sentenced Comrie, Shah, and Ogunnubi-Sime said he had “no doubt” Kashti was selected as the victim because they believed he was a wealthy Jew.
The men planned to demand his family pay them via cryptocurrency as ransom for his release.
Richards also noted that the defendants “seemed to justify action against the victim in this case based on his [religious] background as if he was less worthy of your respect and compassion, and [that is] utterly abhorrent to any right-thinking person.”
Conversations between the perpetrators revealed an Islamic motivation to the attack, with the men urging each other to “keep [in] mind your intention of jihad.”
Another message read “All three of us have complete, 100% faith in Allah, so we can’t fail.”
A victim impact statement read by the judge in court said that Kashti had thought he may be killed during the incident.
“The awful incident of October 7 flashed through his mind as he lay restrained on the floor in handcuffs,” Jones read.
Kashti went on “to say he was thinking of his Jewish ancestors who suffered through the Holocaust.”
