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Somali Man, 42, Who Downloaded Terror Tactics Manual And Wrote ‘I Like ISIS’ Is Jailed

A Somali man who downloaded a terror tactics manual about vehicle and knife attacks and wrote ‘I like ISIS‘  on a file has been jailed for 15 months.

Abdirahman Abdullahi Mohamed, 42, from Northolt, west London, was in 2017 found with documents ‘useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.’

And had become ‘addicted’ to terrorist propaganda, downloading videos of beheadings and executions onto his mobile phone.

Despite claiming it was all for research, an Old Bailey jury convicted him of eight counts of possession of a document or record for terrorist purposes.

Judge Philip Katz, QC, explained that his interest in Islamic State’s activities in Somalia meant he was considered a risk.

He said: ‘This had become an obsession or fixation for you. I suggest you may have become desensitised to it all. The word has not been used but addiction may be apt.

‘Abdirahman Mohamed, I have to sentence you now for eight offences of possessing documents likely to be useful for a person preparing an act of terrorism.

‘You committed these offences by downloading an retaining digital material over a period of nearly two years.’

Mohamed was today jailed for 15 months as a result, but will be eligible for automatic parole after half of his jail term. He was cleared of one charge of disseminating terrorist propaganda.

Judge Katz explained that much of the material had been in the form of magazines, including ISIS publication ‘Rumiyah’ magazine and Al-Qaeda distributed ‘Inspire’.

‘The magazines and ebooks were professional, sleek looking publications. All the publications had front covers with graphic images.

‘It was all blatant propaganda for Islamic State. It certainly makes for tedious reading – it could be of no legitimate interest to anyone. It can only be described as extremist material.

‘I accept that your case was that you had moved from a position of support for IS and you came to reject its activities due to its barbarism across Europe and elsewhere.’

The judge explained that Mohamed’s case was that he had taken an interest in Islamic State’s activities in Somalia.

‘I heard you give this evidence and I didn’t believe you. I didn’t think you had been truthful with the jury about your mindset.

‘You said you had come to realise that you were spending too much time looking at this material.

‘I wanted to believe you. The problem is that you began downloading extremist material a long time ago. You didn’t stop the downloads, you were still downloading terrifying videos onto your phone in May and June 2017.

‘You are an educated man who is capable of working hard and looking after your family. You have lost your job and you will find it difficult now to support your family.’

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