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A Primark security guard who posted Islamic State propaganda videos and shared images of himself masked and wielding a large knife has been jailed.
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who → see → knife
Luqmaan Ahmed, 24, was given a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for what a judge said were ‘horrific’ videos.
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judge → give → sentence
Manchester Crown Court heard the first clip - posted to Ahmed’s Instagram in September 2022 - featured fighters in combat fatigues carrying guns with captured prisoners and a black IS flag waving in the background.
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clip → hear → background
Ahmed also published two Instagram 'stories' - videoclips which only remain online for 24 hours - showing executions and suggesting support for the extremist terror group.
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which → publish → group
The first, in November 2022, showed IS fighters, scenes of execution and violence as well as an IS flag.
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first → show → execution
It was said to have generated 179 'follows', the court was told.
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court → say → follows
After his Instagram account was closed down by the social media company two months later, Ahmed opened a new account and posted another 'story' on July 15, 2023 which featured a series of still images and text.
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which → close → images
One picture showed him in woodland wearing a balaclava holding a large knife with what appeared to be an IS flag in the background.
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what → show → background
Prosecutor Alex Du Sautoy said the second ‘story’ also featured a woman and a child and another man with a gun who was said to be encouraging watchers to fight non-Muslims, the court heard.
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court → say → Muslims
Luqmaan Ahmed, 24, has been jailed after posting 'horrific' Islamic State videos
The second story also featured execution scenes and generated 165 'follows'.
Mr Du Sautoy said Ahmed was 'potentially targeting' an IS audience and 'encouraging violent actions that would endanger life'.
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that → jail → life
Judge Alan Conrad KC said the three 'horrific' clips were 'directed to an audience online whom you believed to by sympathetic to Islamic State'.
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you → say → State
Ahmed, of Rusholme, Manchester, was sentenced on Monday after being convicted of three charges of encouraging terrorism at a trial in July.
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Ahmed → sentence → July
At his trial, he argued his intention was to attract an audience of IS sympathisers, then to talk to them and turn them away from terrorism – but Judge Conrad said the truth of his claim was ‘difficult to see’.
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truth → argue → claim
The court heard the fanatic posted the September 2022 video clip while awaiting sentencing for a charge of encouraging terrorism - after posting similar material encouraging people to fight in Syria for Al Qaeda-linked group four years earlier, when he was a teen.
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he → hear → group
Andrew Morris, defending, said his client believed his faith gave him an 'obligation' to turn people away from 'radical Islamism'.
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faith → defend → Islamism
He insisted his client had no 'terrorist mindset' and did not want others to joined proscribed terror groups.
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others → insist → groups
Mr Morris said the defendant had shown a 'high level of naivety' in committing his third offence while he was already serving a community order for encouraging terrorism.
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he → say → terrorism
There was 'no evidence' that anyone had watched his two Instagram stories, he said.
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he → be → stories
Ahmed, pictured on bail prior to sentencing, had earlier conviction for encouraging terrorism
He added Ahmed was a carer for his mother who suffers from arthritis while he also had 'parental responsibility' for his younger sister.
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he → picture → sister
Judge Conrad said the defendant 'knew what he was doing was wrong'.
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doing → say → what
Ahmed must serve two thirds of his prison sentence behind bars and has an extra year’s extended licence
In December 2022, Ahmed was handed a community order and 150 hours of unpaid work for posting terrorist material in 2018 when he was 16.
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he → serve → 2018
He and another youth posted propaganda videos made by 'armed militia' opposing the Assad regime in Syria on Instagram having become obsessed with the war following the Manchester Arena attack in 2017.
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He → post → 2017
He had allegedly been encouraging others to join and fight for the al-Qaeda-linked Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham militant group, as well as disseminating numerous pro-jihadist training videos via his Instagram and WhatsApp accounts.
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He → encourage → accounts
After Ahmed was jailed, Det Chief Supt Jonathan Chadwick, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Northwest, said: ‘People posting this type of material can bring fear and distrust among our communities.’
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People → jail → communities
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