A British Muslim Convert Faces Serious Terror Charges
A British Muslim convert has appeared in court, accused of being a platoon leader for an Islamist terror group based in Somalia and participating in their battles. Jermaine Grant, 43, is charged with directing the activities of Al-Shabaab. Prosecutors allege that London-born Grant attended Al-Shabaab commando training camps, becoming a platoon leader and taking part in several battles in Somalia.
Grant appeared by videolink from HMP Frankland at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. Wearing a grey jumper, he spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and has not yet entered pleas to the charges. Carl Kelvin, prosecuting, stated the charges related to “his time being trained in commando techniques and taking part in the battles carried out by Al-Shabaab in Somalia” and becoming a “platoon leader.”
His case was previously adjourned while the court waited for the Attorney General’s permission to prosecute, which it now has. District Judge Hina Rai said Grant’s case was “too serious” to be dealt with by a magistrates’ court.
Grant, who is remanded in custody, will appear at the Old Bailey on May 1. He was charged last week with directing the activities of Al-Shabaab between December 31, 2007, and January 1, 2010. The defendant is charged over the same dates with two counts of possessing an AK47 assault rifle during the battle of Karan and the Battle of Mogadishu Stadium during the Somali Civil War.
Grant also faces three counts of attending an Al-Shabaab commando training camp in Kismayu, a port city in southern Somalia, between December 31, 2007, and January 1, 2009. The charges followed an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing London.
Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter terrorism division, previously said of its decision to charge Grant: “We have decided to prosecute Jermaine Grant with directing the activities of a terrorist organisation, three counts of attending a place for terrorist purposes and two counts of possession of an article for terrorist purposes. The charges relate to Mr Grant’s alleged involvement in 2008 and 2009 with Al-Shabaab, a terrorist organisation operating in Somalia. Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings. We have worked closely with the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command as it carried out its investigation. We remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”
Acting Commander Kris Wright, of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “These are serious charges and come as the result of a long-running investigation. This case shows we will always pursue anyone suspected of being involved in terrorist activity, no matter where in the world or how long ago it is alleged to have taken place.”
Al-Shabaab, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK in March 2010, is an Islamist armed group that claimed the 2013 Westgate shopping centre attack in Nairobi, Kenya, which killed more than 60 civilians. The organisation, which has been linked to Al-Qaida, was labelled a “persistent threat” in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and carries out “high-profile attacks that challenge government authority,” according to a 2025 assessment by the UK Government.
It has targeted international aid workers, journalists, business people and non-governmental organisations which have opposed or resisted it. The group, which is estimated to have between 5,000 and 9,000 fighters, developed in the early 2000s alongside and later in partnership with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), a group of Sharia courts in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.
The coalition overran the city and installed themselves as administrators there and across much of the rest of the country in 2006. Al-Shabaab, which translates as “Movement of Jihadi Youth,” was the young, radical armed wing of the UIC. The union had been founded in the early 2000s to handle the fallout from the ongoing Somali Civil War.
But the organisation outlasted the UIC, which was ousted from Mogadishu in December 2006 by Ethiopia. Addis Ababa staged the interventions over fears for its security and regional and international interests. Al-Shabaab went on to launch a successful guerilla insurgency, conquering large parts of Somalia, including crucial port cities like Kismayo.
It now administrates many of these regions, primarily across the south and southwest of the country, which is de facto referred to as the Islamic Emirate of Somalia. Al-Shabaab was behind the massacre at Westgate Shopping centre in Nairobi Kenya in September 2013 in which four masked gunmen killed 67 people. Among their members was Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, who joined the group in 2011, six years after the bombings killed 52 people in London.
