Two ISIS supporters used a hammer to beat to death a Muslim leader in a Rochdale park because they believed he was a black magician, a court heard Tuesday.
Jalal Uddin, 71, was allegedly murdered by Mohammed Hussain Syeedy, 22, and Mohammed Abdul Kadir, 24, who had been 'motivated by hatred' for him and his faith healing.
The men allegedly 'stalked' their victim in a car before caving in his skull and face after he left his local mosque following evening prayers.
Syeedy, who is on trial for murder at Manchester Crown Court, denies murder and his alleged accomplice Kadir has apparently fled abroad and could be in Syria.
Mr Uddin was found with severe fractures to his skull administered with a hammer as he walked past a children's play area near Rochdale town centre.
Syeedy is said to have driven the getaway car while his friend Kadir struck the fatal blows to kill and also 'humiliate' the Muslim scholar, it was said.
Mr Uddin died 'without ever regaining consciousness and without ever being able to say who had attacked him, or why', the court heard.
Mr Uddin was a practitioner of a form of Islamic faith healing called Ruqya which involved the use of charms to bring good luck, good health and deter evil spirits. Jurors were told that Syeedy and Kadir had been ISIS supporters and believed that those who practised Ruqya should be killed. The men appear to have spent several months following and photographing their victim before they finally beat him to death in February this year.
Addressing the 12 jurors, prosecutor Mr Paul Greaney QC said: 'ISIS regards this practice as black magic and adheres to the view that those who engage in it deserve severe punishment even death.'
He added: 'Who hated a decent man like Jalal Uddin with such virulence?'
He continued: 'The answer to that important question is to be found in the twisted ideology of ISIS, sometimes known as Islamic State'.
Syeedy and Kadir had discovered that Mr Uddin was a Ruqya practitioner in the summer of 2015 and began to stalk him having 'developed a hatred of him', he said. Jurors were shown samples of some of the images and videos which had been recovered including images of a child brandishing a knife in front of an ISIS flag, pictures of a fighter carrying an ISIS flag and men raising a single index finger to the sky which has been adopted by ISIS.
They were also shown pictures of the defendant and his friends making the ISIS salute and asked to consider if they were making a legitimate religious gesture or whether they are demonstrating their support of ISIS. The court heard that the defendant had also received images of Mr Uddin.
