Sunderland shopkeeper sentenced to four and a half years for encouraging terrorism

A Sunderland shopkeeper, who posted abusive tweets about shia muslims, has been sentenced to four and a half years in jail for encouraging acts of terrorism.

40 year old Mohammed Khan has been facing a special hearing of the facts at Newcastle Crown Court.

The father of one, originally from Birmingham, admitted the offences, some of which were religiously aggravated, on the basis it was reckless.

But the prosecution did not accept that basis and a hearing of the facts is being held at Newcastle Crown Court.

Khan posted a tweet warning of a year of fear by IS and published a document which the court heard was "a call by the group for attacks".

He had told the court he was not pro-IS but admitted at the time of the messages, he was angry about the situation in Syria.

Khan was also found guilty of disseminating a terror publication and stirring up religious hatred.

Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting, said:

"The prosecution say that the defendant intended to encourage the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

"He maintains for his part he was merely reckless.''

Khan shared messages on social media saying "death to shias ... death to every single one of them'', describing them as "dirty and filthy shiite scum'' and calling for them to be burnt alive.

He has also admitted tweeting on January 2 2017: "Welcome to the year of fear, IS will make this one the deadliest ever. Mr Kuffar (non-believers) prepare for real war.''

In March last year he posted on Facebook a statement about martyrs and the flag associated with IS.

He also reposted a tweet which included an IS call to attack US bases in Bahrain.

Following his arrest at his convenience store, police found pro-IS videos on his computer.

After serving four years in jail, Khan moved to Sunderland to make a break from his "lifestyle'', gangs and crime in Birmingham, the court heard.

Khan told the court he had an "excellent business'' running the shop and he came to feel accepted by locals.

He had relationships with a series of women who were not Muslims, he said.

In 2016, he felt Shias were his "enemies'' but he was "impartial'' about non-Muslims.

Robert Dacre, defending, asked if he was an IS supporter, and Khan replied: I never believed it, I never supported them.

"I may have come across inadvertently supporting them.

"I am not pro-IS, I know given half the chance they would kill some non-Muslims.

"I know in their eyes I should know better, as a Muslim, than selling alcohol.''

He said at the time of the messages, he felt strongly about the situation in Syria and was disgusted by the Assad regime and its attacks on women and children.

Khan said he found out President Bashar Assad was a Shia Muslim.

Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson is the Head of Investigations at CTP North East. He said:

“Khan openly disseminated material over the Internet that promoted terrorism and hatred of others.

“Terrorist groups such as Daesh rely heavily on their propaganda being shared online where it is used to radicalise, encourage support and provoke individuals to carry out attacks abroad and in the UK.

“Tackling extremist material is an essential part of protecting the public and preventing offences that incite or encourage acts of terrorism.

“We urge anyone who sees extremist content online to report their concerns at www.gov.uk/ACT "