A hardline Muslim immigrant upset over his housemate’s conversion to Christianity was found guilty last month of stabbing him on his bed and then killing an elderly man in Hartlepool, England.
Prosecuting barrister Jonathan Sandiford told a court in April that Moroccan national Ahmed Alid, a 45-year-old “strict Muslim,” screamed the jihadist slogan, “Allah Akbar [God is greater]” as he kicked open the bedroom door of Iranian housemate Javed Nouri between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Oct. 15. He then stabbed Nouri in the chest several times.
“He appears to have regarded Mr. Nouri as an apostate,” Sandiford reportedly said, “someone who had denied their religion and therefore for that reason deserved to die.”
The prosecution said Alid and Nouri, asylum seekers living in the same house with two other immigrants, were at odds over Nouri’s conversion to Christianity from Islam.
“Fortunately, Mr. Nouri woke up as he was being stabbed in the chest, and he was able to fight off the defendant,” Sandiford reportedly said. “Sadly, ladies and gentlemen, the defendant, still armed with one of those knives, left the house, went onto the streets of Hartlepool where he chanced upon a man called Terence Carney, who was 70 years of age.”
Alid stabbed Carney several times in the chest and upper body, and the pensioner died at the scene, Sandiford said. Police later arrested Alid. He faces a life sentence after Teesside Crown Court found him guilty of murder and attempted murder, The Hartlepool Mail reported.
Nouri and other housemates became worried after seeing the effect on Alid of the Israel-Hamas conflict following the Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7, when Alid began carrying a knife. After Alid threatened him, Nouri spoke to a member of his Baptist church, Abigail Harrison, in August about his concerns, the BBC reported. Harrison told Nouri to go to police immediately because she feared for his safety.
At the court trial, Baptist deacon Ian Thompson informed jurors that he supported Nouri at Hartlepool Police Station on Oct. 9 and Oct. 13, with the help of a Farsi interpreter. Thompson said an officer learned that Alid carried a knife and made threats, but he refused to file a case because Alid was “in his own house,” the BBC reported.
The officer said he would inform the hostel managers about the knife and threats.
Housemate Mohammed Karimi, also an Iranian Christian convert, told the court that Alid showed signs of being “really, really religious” before the rampage and described him as a loner.
Initially Nouri had tried to befriend Alid when he arrived at the hostel three months prior, according to Karimi. He reportedly said Alid cursed at them “like we are the devil.” Karimi said Alid also reviled him for drinking beer and enjoying the company of a girlfriend and detested anyone “not Muslim.”
On the night of the attack, Karimi heard shouts and rushed into Nouri’s bedroom to see him and Alid grappling, according to the BBC. He saw blood “everywhere” and felt traumatized but managed to call police as Alid escaped onto the street.
“The defendant said to the police that he had wanted to kill any other people on the streets of Hartlepool that evening because of the conflict in Gaza and further his desire, as he saw it, that Palestine would be free from the Zionists, by which he meant the state of Israel,” prosecutor Sandiford said at an April 11 hearing. “The defendant said to the police that he would have killed more people if he had been able to do so.”
Alid had denied charges of murder, attempted murder and assaulting female police officers (two counts) before the guilty verdict. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 17.
