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A north London man has been sentenced for his part in publishing terrorism-related material on an extremist website.

Working together, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command (CTC), Counter Terrorism Police North-East (CTPNE) and North-West (CTPNW) disrupted an Islamist propaganda website for Daesh supporters.

The team brought to justice its two main administrators and contributors, 38-year-old, Mohammed Abdul Ahad, from north London, and 31-year-old, Muhammad Abdur Raheem Kamali, from Rochdale, Manchester.

Ahad and Kamali recorded and transcribed extremist speeches they then typed and edited them to be uploaded to the website. A significant number of these speeches glorified terrorist organisations, such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh, and encouraged both the support and act of terrorism.

The pair came to the attention of police in 2016, when CTPNE investigated a 20-year-old woman who shared terrorism-related documents on the website and on a linked Facebook page. She was convicted in 2017 for dissemination of a terrorist publication.

During this investigation, it was discovered Ahad and Kamali were administrators who had edited and published a number of these and other documents on the website.

The investigations into the two men meant both were simultaneously arrested on March 1, 2017 on suspicion of terrorism offences in a coordinated operation.

They were interviewed and bailed pending further enquiries. A search of their home addresses recovered a number of digital media devices which identified that Ahad and Kamali had been the website administrators.

On June 21, 2018, Ahad was further arrested for possession of an article from a terrorism propaganda magazine which gave instructions on how to assemble an AK47 automatic rifle. Again he gave a no-comment interview and was released on bail. Then on July 10, 2018, Ahad was charged with four counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication, contrary to Section 2 of the Terrorism Act (TACT) 2006 and one count of possession of a document or record likely to be of use to a terrorist, contrary to Section 58 of the TACT 2000.

On August 9, 2018, Kamali was charged with seven counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication, contrary to Section 2 of the TACT 2006.

Following a trial, Ahad was convicted on December 10, 2019 on all the counts of terrorism for which he was charged. Kamali was convicted on the same day of four counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. The jury did not reach a verdict in relation to the remaining three counts.

Ahad was today (Wednesday, February 12) sentenced at the Old Bailey to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for the charges of dissemination of a terrorist publication and three years’ imprisonment for possession of a document or record likely to be of use to a terrorist, to run concurrently - making a total of four-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment. Once he is released, he must serve a further year on licence and will be subject to a 10-year Part 4 Notification Requirements Order, meaning he must notify the police of particular changes in his circumstances.

Kamali was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment in total for the four counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication of which he was found guilty. He must then serve a further 12 months on licence. He is also subject to a 10 year Part 4 Notification Requirements Order.

The judge ordered that the remaining three counts on which the jury did not return a verdict should remain on file.