Table of Contents
- Ex-Girlfriend Claims Forced Viewing of Extremist Videos
- Details of the Attack
- Individuals Arrested
- Background of Jihad Al-Shamie
- Community Reactions
An ex-girlfriend of the Manchester synagogue attacker has alleged that she was compelled to watch ISIS terror videos.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, was outside Heaton Park synagogue on Thursday, resulting in two fatalities and three individuals hospitalized.
A former friend of Al-Shamie also disclosed that he was a teenage drop-out who used to smoke cannabis.
It has been claimed that Jihad Al-Shamie would make his ex-girlfriend watch extremist videos.
Al-Shamie was shot dead after the attack on the synagogue.
The seven-minute knife rampage occurred on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar – Yom Kippur – with the assailant subsequently shot dead by police.
A former partner has now recounted being groomed by Al-Shamie and forced into a “controlling relationship.”
The couple, who met on a Muslim dating app, were together for four months before she ended the relationship due to his extremist views and relocated from the UK.
She claimed Al-Shamie expressed a desire to join ISIS and pressured her to become “dedicated to the cause.”
She stated: “He used to insist that I watch videos – extreme content – that I had no interest in.
“I am Muslim and, of course, I enjoy learning more. However, this content contradicted the values I was raised with.
“He often insisted that I had been taught incorrectly and was not educated properly. He was essentially trying to groom me into his ideology.”
Meanwhile, it has come to light that one of the women arrested in connection with the synagogue attack was an NHS Mental Health Peer Support Worker.
The 46-year-old, a white British woman whose identity is protected for legal reasons, has been reported to have recently converted to Islam.
“I was attending a course, and she mentioned that she was a peer support worker herself,” stated a local resident.
“She said she traveled to Manchester for her shifts at a hospital.”
Al-Shamie is also believed to have been married to a British Pakistani woman in Manchester.
They reportedly share a two-year-old child but are no longer together.
A former friend of Al-Shamie revealed that he was a teenage drop-out who smoked cannabis and was obsessed with the violent video game Street Fighter.
Melvin Cravitz, 66, was killed in the attack.
Forensic officers at the scene.
Al-Shamie was not known to counter-terrorism agencies but had previous convictions.
The friend told The Sun on Sunday that the attacker would smoke around 2g of strong cannabis daily during his teenage years and often faced repercussions from his parents.
He also mentioned that Al-Shamie spent hours playing the computer game under the alias “Jiji.”
This obsession contributed to Al-Shamie's decision to drop out of his English,
