Two terrorist suspects face prison after spreading sermons from jailed Islamist preacher Abdullah el-Faisal
Two terrorist sympathizers are facing jail for spreading the hate speeches of a convicted Islamist preacher.
Mohammed Kamali, 31, and Mohammed Abdul Ahad, 38, published sermons given by notorious terror recruiter Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal.
The speeches ‘glorified’ terrorist organisations including Al-Qaeda and ISIS and ‘encouraged’ listeners to commit or prepare for acts of terrorism, the court heard.
El-Faisal, now 56, claimed he was reflecting the words of the Koran but the ‘Sheikh of Hate’ was convicted of three charges of soliciting to murder and jailed for nine years in 2003.
Kamali and Ahad were among a network of ‘volunteers’ who published el-Faisal’s speeches on a website called ‘Authentic Tauheed’ between 2012 and 2014.
An Old Bailey jury today convicted Ahad of four charges of disseminating terrorist material and one of possessing articles useful for terrorism.
Kamali was found guilty of four charges.
The jury was discharged after failing to reach verdicts on three further charges of disseminating terrorist material against Khan.
The prosecution asked for seven days to decide whether they would have a retrial on the remaining charges.
Judge Anuja Dhir, QC, remanded both men in custody ahead of sentence.
Earlier Matthew Brook, prosecuting, said: ‘At the heart of this case is a website called Authentic Tauheed which published a number of speeches by a man who calls himself Sheikh Faisal.
‘He puts himself forward as a teacher of the Islamic faith. Many of his speeches were about religious matters.
‘However, a significant number of his speeches did not restrict themselves to talking about proper religious matters.
‘A significant number of them the Crown allege amounted to terrorist publications because they praised terrorist organisations such as ISIS and encouraged his listeners to support those terrorist organisations and directly or indirectly encouraged terrorist action by encouraging support for a wider violent jihad.
‘The speeches glorified terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
‘They were therefore providing encouragement to their readers to commit or prepare for acts of terrorism.
‘The speeches spoke of violent jihad and how boys or girls and how boys or girls aged 12 could participate as they could make IEDs (improvised explosive devices).’
Sheikh el-Faisal said it was compulsory for ‘true Muslims’ to participate in jihad and encouraged followers to kill non-believers so that ‘they would take their place in hellfire’.
‘Faisal’s speeches covered the period in 2014 when ISIS rose to prominence in Syria and Iraq, declared a Caliphate (a Muslim state) and changed its name to Islamic State,’ said Mr Brook.
‘Faisal praised ISIS for its actions such as crucifying non-believers and stated it was the religious duty of Muslims to join it.’
Kamali and Ahad transcribed the speeches and published his work on the website, making it available to followers as part of a ‘daily email’ dropped into their inbox.
El-Faisal was said to have a ‘very narrow definition of who, in his view, was a ‘proper’ Muslim and therefore deserved to live, and who was not a’proper’ Muslim, and deserved to die.
Earlier the judge warned jurors that some of the material they would see would be ‘offensive to all right-minded people no matter what their faith.’
Kamali, of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, denied seven counts of disseminating terrorist material while Ahad, of Euston, central London, denied four counts of disseminating terrorist material and one of possessing articles useful for terrorism.
Ahad was convicted of four charges of disseminating terrorist material and one of possessing articles useful for terrorism.
Kamali was found guilty of four charges of disseminating terrorist material.
They will return for sentence on a date to be fixed in January.
Source: Daily Mail
