Bristol man jailed for posting "horrific" beheading videos
Faseh Sajid will serve three years and nine months behind bars
Last updated 20th Sep 2024
A man has been jailed for sharing "horrific" beheading videos glorifying a terrorist group from his home in Bristol.
Faseh Sajid was 18 when he began posting videos on an encrypted Telegram chat group featuring armed IS fighters and mass execution, the Old Bailey was told.
The material was uncovered on his iPhone after police searched the home he shared with his mother in Speedwell, Bristol, on November 21 2022.
The court heard one of the groups the defendant posted material on had nearly 4,000 members, including some with sympathies for IS.
Sajid, now aged 21, insisted he had not intended that anyone would be encouraged to prepare or instigate acts of terrorism.
A jury found him guilty of five of the charges of dissiminating terrorist publications.
In mitigation, his barrister Philip Stott said Sajid's "fixation" with "gore videos" should be seen in the context of his young age and diagnosis autism spectrum disorder.
Even though Sajid was "intelligent and thoughtful", his crimes displayed a "lack of maturity", Mr Stott said.
He said: "He did not intend to cause others to commit acts of terror. He was criminally reckless but did not intend for it to happen."
On Friday, Judge Anthony Leonard KC jailed Sajid at the Old Bailey for three years and nine months with a further year on extended licence.
He said the defendant's posting of videos depicting beheadings and executions went beyond his "infatuation" with gore videos.
Judge Leonard told Sajid: "The groups you sent it to varied in size, the largest having 3,950 participants. The material you dealt in was horrific and clearly glorified the conduct of Isis killers."
Previously, the court was told the defendant joined a Telegram chat group in February 2022 under the false name of John Ross.
Asked by another user why he went under a non-Muslim name, he allegedly said: "Not tryna get arrested."
Prosecutor Frederick Hookway had said the defendant also posted messages distancing himself and deploying "tactical deniability".
One thread featured a picture of an IS fighter alongside the words: "In case of investigation by any federal entity or similar, I do not have any involvement with this group or with the people in it."
Mr Hookway said it showed the defendant understood the potential impact of what was being discussed and shared.
The prosecutor said: "The messages were a cynical attempt to distance himself from culpability."
Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East, said: "Sajid shared a large number of horrific videos including graphic beheadings, Isis footage and other content which reflected his extreme Islamist mindset.
"He attempted to cover his tracks in his social media messages but it is clear much of the material he sent could be defined as terrorist publications.
"The harm caused by sharing this type of content with others cannot be underestimated.
"It can be picked up by others and this dangerous rhetoric can then be spread far and wide."