Teacher accused of giving children lessons in jihad, court hears

A Chechnyan refugee who got a Sunday school job to allegedly teach young children to wage Jihad said her support of violence only applied to Russia's invasion of her homeland.

Dzhamilya Timaeva, 20, told the Old Bailey she believed Chechnyan men must fight a 'Jihad' against Russians to secure their independence.

But prosecutors say when she took up a teaching job in Windsor she had the aim of influencing pupils to wage Jihad against all non-Muslims.

Prosecutors argue Timaeva, who also works as a dental nurse in south London, wanted to use her position at the Windsor Muslim Association and the Tawheed Islamic Education Centre in Maidenhead, to spread terrorist ideology.

She is accused of teaching Muslims pupils it was their 'duty' to wage war against the West and disseminating terrorist documents between October 2022 and February 2023.

But she insisted yesterday that her focus was on Russia only for invading Chechnya in 1994.

Timaeva explained her father was a Chechnyan freedom fighter who was tortured by Russians when he was captured.

She said: 'We believe the men fighting for the independence of Chechnya were doing Jihad. We believe they died as martyrs.'

When asked if she supported infamous terrorist attacks such as the 2001 World Trade Centre disaster or the 2015 Bataclan attack she denied that she did.

Asked by her lawyer Ed Butler if she believed in spreading extremist ideology she answered: 'I do not believe it is responsible.'

Giving evidence in a blue denim skirt, a blue shirt and a white head scarf, she added there was a Chechnyan 'code of honour' which required men to fight for their homeland.

'Chechnyan men are raised in a certain manner, with certain characteristics and if you do not have them you are not considered to be a Chechnyan man.

'These are being religious, being fearless, being masculine, being skilled in martial arts and being skilled in an area of work,' she added.

Timaeva, who is on bail, denies disseminating terrorist documents and possessing a document for terrorist purposes between October 2022 and February 2023.

The jury heard she arrived in Britain as a refugee in 2013 and spent six years living in Cardiff until her claim for asylum was granted in 2019 and she moved to Windsor with her family.

The court heard while her family travelled through Europe and Asia looking for asylum she spent two months in Chechnya, where she cannot return because it is not safe.

The trial continues.