Algerian Mourad Mosdefaoui, who was living in Edinburgh, regrets ‘naive’ posts and has since come to oppose terror group, lawyer says

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

An Algerian man who posted messages in support of Islamic State on Facebook has been jailed for two years.

Mourad Mosdefaoui, 34, who entered the UK seven years ago and had been living in Edinburgh, put three posts on Facebook from September 2014 to March 2015 celebrating the group and their terrorist acts.

One showed a photograph of him holding a notepad with Arabic text, translated as: “The Islamic State will remain and expand, God willing.”

In another, he wrote he was troubled to be “living in a country of blasphemy” and appeared to suggest he would be willing to fight in Iraq and Syria.

More than 11,000 images were later found on a mobile phone in his possession, a number of which showed imagery and propaganda associated with Isis. One of the pictures appeared to show a beheading carried out by Mohammed Emwazi, the Isis executioner known as Jihadi John.

A search of Mosdefaoui’s Edinburgh flat this summer also uncovered a forged Belgian identity card, which he said he owned to find work in the UK.

Mosdefaoui admitted posting the messages at a hearing at Edinburgh sheriff court last month, where he pleaded guilty to two charges under the Terrorism Act 2006 and the 2010 Identity Documents Act.

Sheriff Frank Crowe jailed him for a total of two years when he returned to court for sentencing on Wednesday.

Mosdefaoui lived in the city’s Granton Road before being detained by police. He had previously been denied asylum in the UK but had not left the country.

The court heard how on 22 September last year, he posted the single image of himself to Facebook, on an account belonging to him in a different name, supporting the expansion of Isis. Two days later, he posted a second image, this time depicting the Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Bagdhadi.

Almost six months later, Mosdefaoui put a further image on the social networking site that asked for people’s prayers. “The main thing that is troubling me is that I have been living in a country of blasphemy for a long time,” the post said. The sheriff described this post as alarming.

‘Recruiter’ of UK jihadis: I regret opening the way to Isis Read more

Procurator fiscal depute Calum Darling had previously told the court: “The messages posted by the accused celebrate the terrorist acts of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The messages amount to encouragement of support for a proscribed group and may be inferred to encourage acts of terrorism generally.”

Police detained Mosdefaoui on 8 July and found the forged identity card during a search of his flat. When interviewed by officers, he admitted posting the messages but said he did not know it was an offence to do so.

The court heard that Mosdefaoui had witnessed war crimes while serving in the Algerian army and made pro-Isis comments in response to “atrocities committed in Syria by the Assad regime”.

Since then, he has become aware of atrocities committed by Isis and had come to “strongly oppose the organisation”, the court heard. Niall McCluskey, defending, said on Wednesday: “He very much regrets his behaviour and he is remorseful for it. He realises that he was naive and stupid to post the matters he did and as far as he is concerned, this has been a big lesson for him in respect of what he has done.”

Referring to Isis, the lawyer added: “He now realises that they are equally an organisation that he would not want to have anything to do with. His position is he is much more aware of what they are about now.”

He added that the offending was at the “lower end of the scale” under the Terrorism Act and said Mosdefaoui had no previous convictions.

Passing sentence, Crowe told Mosdefaoui: “Your actions clearly provoked support among a few other misguided persons until the pages were taken down. A prison sentence is inevitable in respect of these charges.”

He backdated the sentence to 8 July this year and said Mosdefaoui will be subject to the notification requirements of a section of the Counter Terrorism Act for the next 10 years.

The sheriff said he understands that Mosdefaoui remains the subject of an investigation by the UK Border Agency.