An Islamic State-inspired, self-described jihadist will not engage with probation officers or psychologists in advance of being sentenced for setting fire to a pub owned by Conor McGregor and stabbing a garda, the Special Criminal Court has heard.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Abdullah Khan (24) told the court their client is not willing to engage in the risk assessment or psychological analysis that were requested by the three-judge court.<\/p>\n
Judge Karen O\u2019Connor said the court was \u201cdisappointed\u201d because the analyses would have helped in structuring Khan\u2019s sentence. She has previously said he will require \u201csignificant post-release supervision\u201d.<\/p>\n
Geraldine Small, counsel for the State, said Khan, who pleaded guilty to eight offences, faces a potential maximum sentence of life imprisonment for the arson attack on McGregor\u2019s pub, The Black Forge Inn.<\/p>\n
Judge O\u2019Connor said she will finalise the sentence on October 12th.<\/p>\n
Khan, with an address in Dublin that cannot be published by court order, was charged that on July 25th, 2025, at the Black Forge Inn, Drimnagh Road, Dublin 12, he committed arson by pouring petrol on the front door of the pub and lighting it with a match. <\/p>\n
He was charged that on July 29th, 2025, at Capel Street, he assaulted Garda Gary Lynch causing him harm, and attempted to assault Garda Patrick Nevin. <\/p>\n
He was further charged with producing a knife during the same incident and two counts of endangerment, in that he intentionally or recklessly engaged in conduct thatcreated a substantial risk of death or serious harm to the two garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n
Khan was further charged with two counts of engaging in terrorist activity or terrorist-linked activity on the dates of each offence.<\/p>\n
When the case came before the court in April, Det Insp Gavin Ross told Small that Khan was part of a wider group of like-minded radicals.<\/p>\n
In his first interview with the Garda\u2019s Special Detective Unit, Khan said it was \u201cundeniable\u201d his activities constituted terrorism. He later said he began listening to people such as Islamic State, also known as Isis, and al-Qaeda militant Musab al-Zarqawi online from age 18 into his early 20s.<\/p>\n
Khan referenced the four core principles of Salafi jihadism in his Garda interviews, which Ross told the court is a puritanical and literal interpretation of Muslim law that was adopted by Islamic State.<\/p>\n
These included a rejection of man-made laws and the ability to declare those who do not follow the religion as apostates and legitimate targets. <\/p>\n
Ross said that when it became more difficult to visit Islamic State territory in Iraq and Syria, the leaders of the movement said individuals could take responsibility for their own jihad wherever they lived.<\/p>\n
During Garda interviews, Khan spoke of his support for Islamic State ideology, and said he had a love for it and had pledged his allegiance to the group.<\/p>\n
When asked for the motivation behind his crimes, Khan said he wanted to send a message to McGregor and others with a \u201cright-wing mindset\u201d not to insult the Prophet Muhammad. <\/p>\n
Khan spoke of being motivated by insults against the prophet by \u201cpeople with a right-wing mindset\u201d, and said he was angry at the Irish State. <\/p>\n
He described such insults as \u201coutrageous and unacceptable\u201d, and said they made him sad and angry. He said McGregor had helped the \u201cfar right\u201d to grow in Ireland, so he held him responsible for the insults.<\/p>\n
He said he wanted McGregor to know that he was \u201cplaying dangerous games\u201d. He added: \u201cWhen it comes to the prophet, we don\u2019t see it as a matter of freedom of speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he attacked Lynch, he said he did not expect his victim to die, but he wanted to \u201cinjure him to make the point\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThis was a message to the Irish Government that if, under the name of free speech, you insult our prophet, there will be people who are angry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Islamic State-inspired, self-described jihadist will not engage with probation officers or psychologists in advance of being sentenced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[94030,9,10,18,13,14,8030,6,19,17,125843,11,12,15,16,5,55624,7,8],"class_list":["post-607073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-al-qaeda","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-garda-siochana","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-isis","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-special-criminal-court","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116993926436900921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}