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Two Men Jailed in UK over Plot to Attack Manchester's Jewish Community
(Guardian-UK) Chris Osuh - Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, who had sworn allegiance to Islamic State, planned a marauding firearms attack targeting Greater Manchester's Jewish community. On Friday, Tunisian-born Saadaoui was sentenced at Preston crown court to serve a minimum of 37 years, while Hussein, a Kuwaiti national, was ordered to serve at least 26 years, after being found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism. Saadaoui's younger brother, Bilel Saadaoui, 37, was sentenced to six years in prison for failing to disclose information about the plan. Walid arranged for the purchase and delivery of semi-automatic rifles, conducted reconnaissance and identified targets, but the man supplying them with the weapons was an undercover operative. Saadaoui and Hussein planned to disguise themselves as Jews and attack an antisemitism march in Manchester before heading to its northern suburbs that are home to one of Europe's largest Jewish communities, where Saadaoui had carried out reconnaissance on Jewish nurseries, schools, synagogues and shops. After the sentencing, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police, Sir Stephen Watson, said Jewish communities in the UK "put up with a way of life that nobody else has to put up with." He said Jews "have more justification to be fearful than anybody else....If our Jewish communities are under threat, we are all under threat."