Neil Wilby Media

A 26-year-old man was  sentenced yesterday (June 4th, 2024) to an 18-month Community Order at Westminster Magistrates Court, for posting images on WhatsApp which showed support for the proscribed organisation Hamas.

The Community Order includes up to 35 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and 160 hours of unpaid work.

Mohammed Adil was a serving West Yorkshire Police (WYP) Officer, working in the Calderdale district, at the time the offences were committed on October 31st and November 4th, 2023.

 

PC Adil was reported by his police colleagues which led to his prompt arrest by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East (CTPNE) on November 6th, 2023.

Adil, from Wibsey area of Bradford, was a district student officer in the process of operational competency training. His supervisor, whilst undertaking a review of his progress, saw that in October, 2023, shortly after the Hamas attack, he posted a video showing images of Saddam Hussein and rockets being launched with the caption “rockets to Israel”.

In another video, a man speaking in Arabic with English subtitles referenced purifying the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem from “the abomination of the Jews” and the “aggressive Zionists”.

Another video referred to Yemeni groups attacking “positions of the Zionist Israeli regime”.

A further image showed two men wearing headbands displaying the logo of the military wing of Hamas, the proscribed terrorist organisation that wants to murder Jews. The caption on the image, attributed to a senior Hamas commander, read: “Today is the time for the Palestinian people to rise, set their path straight, and establish an independent Palestinian state.”

All of that was just in October. In November, he posted a video showing a man wearing a headscarf and headband emblazoned with a Hamas logo. The caption, attributed to a Hamas spokesperson, read: “We will hold accountable all those who occupied our lands, and Allah will hold accountable all those who remained silent against this occupation and oppression.”

Yet another post featured a man speaking in Arabic with English subtitles saying: “Until Muslims fight the Jews, Muslims who are people of creed, people of faith, will kill them.”

His phone contained a list of companies to boycott for supposedly supporting Israel, and memes that said “Israel to the Arab world is like a cancer to the human body. Arabs should unite to uproot it.”

Another video on his phone showed a speech by someone suggesting that Israel carried out the 7th October attack.

 

CTP NE conducted the investigation into this matter, due to the nature of images, but this was directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct following a mandatory referral by WYP.

The investigation looked at Adil’s search, message and image history over several years, dating back to before he joined WYP. This investigation led to two criminal charges relating to two pro-Hamas images he posted on WhatsApp which were both reported by his police colleagues.

He subsequently pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court on 2nd May, 2024 to the two charges of publishing an image in such circumstances as to arouse a reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, contrary to section 13(1A) Terrorism Act 2000.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, Detective Chief Superintendent Jim Dunkerley, said:

“Supporting and glorifying acts of terrorism, and the groups engaged in them, helps to further terrorist objectives by extending their reach and influence. We will always seek to prosecute those responsible, irrespective of their occupation or background.

“This is particularly important when those involved occupy positions of trust. There is no place for such deeply offensive views anywhere in our society, and particularly in policing’.

“I commend the police officers that reported ADIL which led to this sentence. It also denied the opportunity for violent profiles and agendas to be increased’.

“I would ask anyone to report this type of expression regardless of what internet: apps, social media platforms or websites they see it on.   Dealing with harmful, violent and extremist content is critical to our efforts to reduce the spread of terrorist material and propaganda’ continues DCS Dunkerley.

“Since last October, the national Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) received more than 3000 public referrals relating to the conflict. The majority of these referrals relate to pro-Hamas content’.

“Specialist officers assess each referral to determine whether the content is potentially in breach of terrorism legislation, requires further investigation, or highlights any safeguarding concerns.

“Any sites deemed to be hosting extremist content are taken down. I’d appeal to anyone who comes across terrorist or extremist material to report it to police at www.gov.uk/report-terrorism.” 

The Campaign for Antisemitism made this statement:

“A police officer who admitted sharing pro-Hamas images and was convicted of terrorism offences has been sentenced to…a community order.

“It is any wonder that extremism is so rife in Britain right now?

“He was suspended by the police, investigated, charged with terrorism offences and pleaded guilty the next day.

“Apparently posting this sort of material – Hamas logos, quotes from Hamas leaders, calls for the violent murder of Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state, Hamas-denial – by a police officer, is not enough to land you in prison.

“This is not the first time that this judge – the Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring – has issued questionable rulings in relation to antisemitic terror. Two years ago he was disciplined by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office for “giving the impression that he endorsed the Palestinian cause” when judging a case of a man who wore Hamas and Islamic Jihad T-shirts in Golders Green, his conduct had “fallen below the standards expected”.

“The sentence for this police officer is an astonishing miscarriage of justice. The message from the court is clear: those who support violence against Jewish people will face no real penalty for doing so.

“It is an invitation to extremism in Britain.”

Adil, who has a master’s degree, told the court that he ‘planned to start from scratch and forge a new career path’, which involved enrolling for a PhD course. But could not do so if he was given a custodial sentence. That was the reason given by the judge for not jailing him, even though the offending was ‘very serious and passed the custody threshold’.

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Page last updated: Wednesday 5th June, 2024 at 1945 hours

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