A British former child chess prodigy who told his friends: “On my way to blow up the plane, I’m a member of the Taliban” as he boarded a flight to Spain has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
University student Aditya Verma, 20, admitted at his one-day trial in Madrid on Monday he sent the message and a photo of him in a hat and sunglasses to six pals with whom he was about to fly to Menorca. But he insisted he was joking with them in a private Snapchat group and said he had “no intention” of mobilising the two Spanish fighter jets sent to escort the packed easyJet plane he and 140 other holidaymakers were on as it neared the sunshine island in July 2022, or the police and firefighters waiting on the ground.
The Spanish response was a reaction to an alert put out by the British authorities after they picked up on Aditya’s message a couple of hours after he sent it while he was still at Gatwick Airport before boarding.
Indian-born Aditya, 18, when he was arrested after landing on the island on July 3 2022 for a post A-Level exam holiday, ended up being charged with a public order offence in Spain. Spanish prosecutors said on Monday they wanted him to pay £81,251 for the cost of scrambling a Eurofighter military jet and a fine of £19,288 if he was found guilty.
But judge Jose Manuel Fernandez-Prieto said today his actions hadn’t constituted a crime under Spanish law after returning his verdict just three days after the end of the trial at the centralised Audiencia Nacional court. He said of the actions of the British youngster, who has represented England at several international chess tournaments and once met legendary player Gary Kasparov: “No intention to provoke the mobilisation of a military plane, or any police or other emergency service is apparent.”
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He added: “It cannot be ignored that the message and photograph with it were not sent to any official organisation, nor were they publicised in any way that would inevitably lead to the corresponding mobilization of the pertinent police, assistance or rescue services. On the contrary they were shared in a strictly private environment, between the accused and the friends he was flying with to which only they had access. The accused could not even remotely assume (as he expressly stated at the trial), that the joke he played on his friends could be intercepted or detected by the British services, or by third parties outside of his friends who received the message.”
He is now studying economics at Bath University (SOLARPIX.COM)British security services are thought to have picked up Aditya’s message via Gatwick Airport’s public WiFi service, although there was no confirmation of this at the trial. The youngster admitted one of his friends could have been using the airport WiFi. A pal who gave evidence on his behalf denied a prosecutor’s suggestion one of them could have intentionally shared the ‘Taliban bomb joke’ with others outside of their Snapchat group and it might have become “public” that way.
At the time of his arrest Aditya had just finished at St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington, Kent. He is now studying economics at Bath University. He said at his trial the friends in his Snapchat group were people he had known for up to ten years and trusted.
He told the court: “I was called a Taliban at school because of my features and I used to joke about it and I know the Taliban is considered to be a terrorist group. But I didn’t think it was going to cause people on the flight to be afraid because it was sent to a private friends’ group and wasn’t meant for them.”
Aditya after his arrest (SOLARPIX.COM)Asked by his defence lawyer Margarita Quintana at his trial what he thought when he saw two military jets near his Easyjet aircraft, even though the pre-trial prosecution indictment only mentioned one plane, Aditya replied: “Just before that time the Ukraine-Russia war was happening and I thought it was a military exercise related to that conflict. The pilot said the jets had been sent because he had accidentally sent a distress signal in a communication error and it was being fixed. Me and my friends were held when we landed and put in a room for a couple of hours and after that I was told I was being arrested and taken to a police station.”
State prosecutor Pedro Rubira revealed in his closing speech at the end of the 90-minute trial that the investigation prompted by the defendant’s ‘hoax’ concluded he was not a “dangerous terrorist activist.”
But he claimed Aditya, whose parents Anand and Dipti Prasad accompanied him to court, was guilty of an act of “simulation” which had become public and created danger and would have led to people panicking if he had voiced the words he used on a public street.
The court said that what he did was not a punishable act (SOLARPIX.COM)The Brit’s defence lawyer said in her emotionally-charged closing speech Aditya’s comments in a “private group” had become public without any judicial authorisation and if anyone should be held responsible for the cost of the Spanish response it should be the British authorities for “breaching his right to privacy.”
She added: “Aditya didn’t put his message on Facebook or advertise it. What he did was the equivalent of making a joke inside a car with friends. Who has the authority to intervene in a joke!! If we’re prevented as individuals from enjoying freedom of expression and right to privacy what have we got left! This is not a punishable act. There was no ill-intention. This boy was 18 years old and was beginning a holiday which was a reward for his school excellence and when he and his friends landed in Menorca they realised they were in a nightmare.”
Offered the opportunity of a last address to the court before judge Jose Manuel Fernandez-Prieto retired to consider his verdict which he will release in writing at an unspecified future date, Aditya said: “The intention was never to cause publish harm or distress or mobilise public services. It was not a pre-planned message. I just wanted to go to Spain with my friends to enjoy the nice weather and experience Spanish football and nightlife.”
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In his acquittal decision, the judge said: “How the British services got to know about the photograph and message is something that is not known but it does not mean the accused had the intention of mobilising the services indicated.
“It was insinuated in the trial that perhaps one of his friends revealed them but aside from the fact there is no proof of this, the public dissemination of the message and photograph by another person in the group would constitute a crime committed by that person and never the accused.”
Spain’s state prosecution service has been told it has 10 days to lodge an appeal if it wishes, which well-placed sources said they thought would be unlikely. There was no immediate response to the judgement from Aditya, believed now to be back in the UK, or his parents who said they needed time to digest the news before making any statement.
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