19 Year-Old Convicted 7 Years For Running ISIS WhatsApp Group From His Bedroom
19-year-old Abdullahi Ahmed Jama Farah has bagged a jail term of seven years and a further three years on extended licence. The judgement was delivered by Judge Michael Topolski.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, the defendant was found guilty of preparing for terrorist acts by attempting to facilitate Nur Hassan, 19, from Manchester, to travel to Syria to fight. Its imperative to note that the convict is the cousin of the so-called “teenager terror twins”, Zhara and Salma Halane, who at the age of 16 left their home in Chorlton in Manchester in June 2014 and are believed to have married ISIS fighters.
Prosecutor Gareth Patterson had told jurors it was clear that Jama Farah supported ISIS from what was found on his computers as well as messages on WhatsApp and social media.
The cousin of teen terror twins has been jailed for setting up an ISIS communications hub using WhatsApp in his bedroom.
From his mum’s home in Manchester, Abdullahi Ahmed Jama Farah, now 20, created the “hub of communication” for his “Mandem” group of like-minded extremists in 2013.
On the authority of the judgement,the trial judge affirmed that the extent of his radicalisation was “considerable”, saying:
“Your support for jihad was global and offensive in nature and not defensive and limited to Syria.”
“Your conduct demonstrated a significant degree of sophistication as well as determination and commitment.
“I am satisfied that what motivated you to assist was the very same set of extremist beliefs that motivated your friends to travel and train and fight and, if necessary, to die.”
While highlighting messages in which the defendant referred to beheadings as “lick some heads off” and asking his friends if they were “smacking (killing) guys”.
In assessing Jama Farah’s dangersome disposition, the judge added: “I bear in mind that as relatively recently as 2015, with the full extent of the grotesque barbarity of ISIS clear for all to see, you were continuing to support them and doing so openly and publicly.”
Jama Farah, who is Danish and of Somali origin, was in communication with four other friends abroad, two of whom are believed to have been killed and another badly injured in fighting.
