A 19-year-old man from Birmingham has today been found guilty of terrorism offences following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Shaan Farooq, from Saltley, was convicted for three counts of intentionally distributing terrorism material after he had previously pleaded guilty to possessing terrorism material from May to July 2022.
When detectives searched his home in on 11 July 2022, they found a phone, laptop, tablet, and iPad containing extremist material and images which supported the banned organisation Islamic State which he intended to distribute to encourage terrorism. Following the discovery of the material, Farooq was arrested in August 2022 at the same time his friend Amir El-Harith was also being arrested from his Smethwick home on suspicion of terrorism offences.
Amir El-Harith, aged 20, was jailed in July this year for a total of six and a half years for terrorism offences. Reporting restrictions were placed on his trial which have now been lifted following Farooq’s conviction.
El-Harith was sentenced to three years for three charges of dissemination of terrorist publications after he transmitted videos between April and June 2022 to encourage others to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism with the material relating to Islamic State.
He received six and a half years for three counts of encouraging terrorism between April and May 2023, where he published videos on Instagram.
He pleaded guilty in December last year at an earlier court appearance to two counts of possessing terrorism information showing how to create explosive substances and was sentenced to three years and 10 months for each count. All sentences are to run concurrently.
He continued to commit offences and access extremist material after his arrest in August 2022 and while on bail. He also received a four year serious crime prevention order (SCPO) which will also begin on his release in addition to a four year extended licence period.
Farooq has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 11 December at Birmingham Crown Court.
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