Nottingham man jailed after using Twitter to incite terrorism

From the Nottingham Post

On September 26, in 2020, Ajmal Shahpal published tweets showing support for a terrorist who attacked members of the public close to Charlie Hebdo’s former offices in Paris a day earlier.

The 41-year-old also posted tweets, between October 15 and October 30 in the same year, praising the murder of teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed in a Paris suburb on October 16, during the period in question, after showing students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. He posted further messages encouraging similar violence.

He was found guilty by a jury of publishing statements on his Twitter account, between October 15 2020 and October 30 2020, intentionally encouraging members of the public to commit, prepare, or instigate terrorism.

He was also found guilty of publishing statements on his Twitter account, on September 26 2020, recklessly encouraging the commission, preparation, or instigation of terrorism.

Shahpal was previously convicted after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. On Thursday (May 11), Shahpal was sentenced to a total of six-and-half-years in prison and made subject of a 15-year terrorist notification requirement.