By Maisie Olah and Matthew Cooper, PAA PhD student accused of plotting to make a drone capable of delivering a bomb was "fascinated" by the Islamic State group because he wanted to argue against their views, a court has heard.wanted to supply the terror group with a droneDefence barrister Alistair Webster KC the group "fascinated" the 26-year-old but he wanted to "argue against it".
He said Mr Al-Bared, who was highly intelligent and well-educated, had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder while in custody."They are in agreement, they both agree that he suffers from autistic spectrum disorder, what some used to call Asperger's."The jury was told the condition was relevant because it affected how Mr Al-Bared would present in court and, in the view of a psychiatrist, meant he could be obsessive and fixated on interests to an abnormal degree.
"His case is his principal reason for interest in Islamic State was how they think, so he could debate against their point of view," he said. He said work on the drone had been linked to dissipating heat from electric motors and not on delivering any sort of weapon.