Birmingham man jailed for stirring up racial hatred during August unrest

A Birmingham man has been jailed after publishing material to stir up racial hatred during last month’s unrest.

Ehsan Hussain, 25, of Coventry Road, Yardley, admitted the offence and was sentenced to two years and four months at Birmingham Crown Court today (18 Sept).

Hussain used a fake name belonging to an innocent member of the public to post numerous messages on Telegram in a chat group containing over 12,000 members during the violent disorder across the UK in August.

Screenshots of the posts were captured, which called for disorder in Alum Rock and Bordesley Green in Birmingham, and incited racial violence.

Judge Melbourne Inman KC said the Telegram chat was populated "by those who hold extreme right-wing and racist views", with Hussain using a pseudonym to incite members to attend areas of the city with a significant Muslim population where they "would be met with violence themselves".

Prosecutor Peter Grieves Smith said some of the messages sent by Hussain days after the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport, included: "It's all about the kids, we are doing this for the kids" and that he was "sick of these smelly scumbags".

Hussain pleaded guilty on September 11 at the city's magistrates' court to distributing "threatening, abusive or insulting" written material intending to stir up racial hatred, with Rag Chand, mitigating, saying the defendant was "desperately remorseful" for what he had done.

Chief Superintendent Richard North, from Birmingham Police, said: “This has been an excellent but complex investigation.

“We would like to thank members of the public for alerting us to these posts which was crucial at a time when we were seeing lots of rumour, speculation and misinformation online; we know this can be extremely harmful to all of our communities.

“We do not tolerate violence in our towns and cities, or tolerate those who use social media to encourage such violence.”

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.