Birmingham mosque attacks: Man admits carrying out religiously aggravated damage

A MAN has admitted to carrying out religiously aggravated criminal damage after five mosques in Birmingham were vandalised.

Iranian national Arman Rezazadeh, from Greenhill Road in Handsworth, on Thursday (31) pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to causing the damage on March 21.

He was originally detained under the Mental Health Act but was later deemed fit to face legal proceedings.

CCTV footage showed Rezazadeh appearing outside the Witton Islamic Centre in Ashton carrying a sledgehammer, which is thrown through the window.He then went on a rampage and smashed the doors and windows of five mosques across Birmingham.

Officers first received reports of vandalism at Al-Habib Trust in Birchfield Road in Aston at 2.32 am on March 21. They then attended a second attack at the Ghousia Mosque in Slade Road, Erdington, at 3.14 am. Police came across further damage to Witton Islamic Centre in Witton Road, Aston, and Masjid Madrassa Faizal Islam on Broadway in Perry Barr.

At 10.04am, officers responded to a smashed window at Jamia Mosque on Albert Road, Aston.

A spokesperson for Witton Islamic Centre said CCTV captured a man smashing windows at about 01:30. "The whole of the front windows, about six, were smashed," he said.

At the time, police said the attacks were not thought to be terror-related.

Ch Supt Kenny Bell said: "We fully understand the major impact that these attacks on sacred places of worship had on the Muslim community in Birmingham, especially as they happened just days after the appalling terrorist attack at mosques in Christchurch [New Zealand].

"They were quite understandably left worried and angry by what had happened."