'Toxic' Islamist terror website editors jailed Published duration 13 February

image copyright Greater Manchester Police image caption Muhammad Abdur Kamali and Mohammed Abdul Ahad encouraged people to join Islamic State in Syria

Two web managers who ran a website glorifying Islamist terror groups and encouraging attacks have been jailed.

Muhammad Abdur Kamali and Mohammed Abdul Ahad promoted "toxic ideologies" including speeches by hate preacher Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal

Their website also featured material from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, the Old Bailey heard.

Kamali, 31, of Rochdale, and Ahad, 38, of north London, each received sentences of four-and-a-half years.

The pair were found guilty of four counts of dissemination of terrorist publications, while Ahad was also found guilty of the possession of a document or record likely to be useful in preparing an act of terrorism.

'Harmful material'

The two men first came to police attention in 2016 during an investigation into a 20-year-old woman and her links to terrorism-related documents on the website and on a linked Facebook page.

Counter terrorism officers arrested Kamali and Ahad in march 2017 after it emerged they had edited and published several of the articles.

A search of their homes recovered digital devices which identified the men as administrators of the website.

In June 2018, Ahad was further arrested for possession of a propaganda article which gave instructions on how to assemble an AK-47 automatic rifle.

The website, owned by Kamali since 2011, featured "harmful extremist material" and "toxic ideologies" which promoted terrorism and encouraged people "to join Daesh in Syria", police said.

After the sentencing, Det Supt Will Chatterton, the police head of counter terrorism in north-west England, said officers were "unified" in stopping the incitement of violence and terror "in all of its abhorrent forms".

Commander Richard Smith, head of the Met Police's counter terrorism command, said: "We quickly identified the two offenders in different parts of the UK.