A Fife man on trial for terrorism offences said he wanted First Minister Nicola Sturgeon “to die” in an online pro-fascist forum, a court has heard.
Sam Imrie has been charged with posting statements on social media platform Telegram suggesting he was going to carry out an attack on the Fife Islamic Centre in Glenrothes.
The 24-year-old has also been accused of planning to stream live footage of “an incident”.
He denies all the charges.
Giving evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, Detective Constable Jonathan Leitch discussed a series of July 2019 posts by the accused in a Telegram channel called “Fashwaveartists.”
The policeman said the channel appeared to have members with hatred of individual groups of society, including Jewish and Muslim people.
Mr Leitch also said he thought homosexual people were the subject of derogatory comments.
Imrie allegedly wrote in the channel: “I just want them all dead. I just want my people to live free.
“I don’t give a f*** who I have to kill to make it happen.
“I’m tired of being nice, I want to atom bomb all of the Middle East and all of Africa. F*** all you n******.”
Christchurch shooting
Mr Leitch spoke about footage of the 2019 Christchurch shootings In New Zealand by extremist Brenton Tarrant, posted onto the group.
The court heard Imrie posted a comment about how he was thinking about carrying out an attack and was considering streaming it.
He wrote: “I want to stream it but I don’t want to get caught.
“I will stream. Death to the Invaders!”
The court also heard Imrie said he had an “arsenal” and he would “show” it to the group.
‘I want Sturgeon to die’
Imrie, who the trial heard was “infatuated” with Hitler, also apparently hit out at the SNP over its immigration policies.
“The SNP Party wants millions of Muslims to come in so obviously I want Sturgeon to die,” he allegedly wrote.
The court heard he then made reference to Alex Salmond being “charged with rape” – Mr Salmond was acquitted on sexual assault charges following trial in March 2020.
He said to users: “Death to politicians do nothing.
“We need to kill the people who they pander to.”
The court heard that on July 4, 2019, the accused posted a series of images and videos of the Fife Islamic Centre, a green petrol can and a fire at a building.
Describing the exterior, Imrie posted: “Animals have their windows barred like a zoo.”
He then posted a video of the Islamic Centre.
He wrote: “Too late to go back. We will kill them all.”
‘I’m going to jail’
The accused then posted another video in which a hand could be seen picking up a jerry can and of a fire burning.
A poster on the group replied to this video with the text: “What are you burning? Looks like an abandoned building.”
He claimed the fire was taking place at the centre and it was located beside woodland, adding: “The trees and bushes should keep it burning.”
He also added: “I’m going to jail”.
Imrie had previously been accused by another person in the group of being a “fed” or “cop”, and was warned not to discuss his plans on the app.
Other users appeared to try to dissuade him.
One said: “Throwing you life away doesn’t make you a martyr, especially when you throw it away on a whim.
“Targeting innocents at this stage will only harm the rest of us.”
Defence solicitor advocate Jim Keegan QC told DC Leitch his client was involved in a “ruse” against the users of the FashWave group.
Mr Keegan added: “He was kidding on that he was going to commit a crime at the Islamic centre wasn’t he?”
DC Leitch replied: “He said he was going to commit a crime, not that he was kidding on that he was going to commit a crime.”
Mr Keegan said it was clear from the messages which the jury heard that Imrie posted, that some group members didn’t take him seriously, that he was a “fraud” or “infiltrator”.
DC Leitch replied: “Only towards the end, yes.”
The charges
Among other charges, Imrie has been accused of possessing neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim material and extreme pornography, including indecent images of children and an image involving a human corpse.
Imrie is also charged with driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol in July 2019.
He denies all of the nine charges against him, three of which come under the Terrorism Act.
The trial, before Lord Mulholland, continues.
