A United Kingdom court has sentenced a friend of the Manchester synagogue attacker to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years after he and the gunman plotted a separate terrorist attack on a military base.
Mohammad Bashir, 31, drove Jihad Al-Shamie on a 10-hour round trip to carry out hostile reconnaissance at the UK’s Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, on August 14, 2025.
A few weeks later, 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 at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to one count of preparing an act of terrorism.
Counter-terrorism investigators uncovered Bashir’s links to Al-Shamie while examining his mobile phones following the synagogue attack in October 2025.
According to Greater Manchester Police, the pair shared extremist beliefs, discussed preparing for “war,” and regularly exchanged antisemitic remarks in WhatsApp conversations.
Investigators said Bashir drove Al-Shamie to the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, where Al-Shamie documented security arrangements on his phone under the title “espionage.”
The pair spent only 13 minutes at the military site, which provides training for British Armed Forces personnel, Civil Service staff and international students, before returning home the same day.
Police said both men later disposed of their mobile phones, but officers were able to retrieve cloud-stored data linked to the devices.
The evidence showed Al-Shamie had searched for “weapons, potential target sites, and individuals with links to the Israeli military.”
Officers also recovered CCTV footage showing the two men discussing plans for an attack, investigators said.
