Then, al-Saadi, who faces life behind bars, was led away. The brief hearing was the latest chapter in an extraordinary story that appears far from over. It involves: two powers at war; one of the most high-profile terrorist campaigns in Europe and the UK for many years; a new form of warfare to which western security services have yet to find an answer; teenage petty criminals caught up in geopolitics; Islamist militia in Iraq; and, inevitably for 2026, the disruptive power of social media.