Video: Holloway student who stashed €20,000 in condom cleared of funding terrorists in Syria
Nawal Msaad has been acquitted Photo: John Stillwell - Credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images
Nawal Msaad, 27, posted song on YouTube as part of campaign over innocence
A Holloway student accused of trying to smuggle €20,000 to terrorists in Syria has been found not guilty following a month-long trial at the Old Bailey.
Nawal Msaad, 27, was asked to carry the money to Aine Davis, the husband of her friend and co-defendant Amal El-Wahabi – who the jury found guilty of attempting to smuggle the money to fund terrorism today.
Miss Msaad, of Centurian Close, had the money in a condom, stuffed down the front of her leggings, when she was stopped at Heathrow Airport trying to board a flight to Istanbul in January.
She had believed it was to be used to help Davis buy a house, and was unaware that it was not only money made from drug deals but intended to fund jihadis in the war torn country.
The jury took a week to reach its decision.
During the trial Miss Msaad said she had been “stitched up” by her friend.
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“I don’t really like to judge people, but I don’t have the full faith and trust in her [El-Wahabi] that I used to,” Miss Msaad told the jury.
“During the course of this trial she has revealed that the money was drug money and she should have given me the opportunity to decide for myself whether I would be OK taking money abroad that was the proceeds of crime,” she added.
Miss Msaad protested her innocence publicly before and during the trial, being interviewed on Channel 4 in May, posting a video of herself singing Jennifer Lopez song “Same Girl” and even tweeting a picture of her electronic prison tag which she covered with a large Chanel logo.
El-Wahabi, 27, of north west London is yet to be sentenced.
