A man who gave an uninvited speech at a mosque, in which he encouraged worshippers to commit violent jihad, has been jailed.
Abu Bakr Deghayes of Saltdean in Brighton, U.K. was found guilty of encouraging terrorism, under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 following a trial at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court on 19 January. On April 21 he was sentenced to four years imprisonment with one year on license, a five year total sentence.
The 53-year-old was arrested and charged after making an unwanted speech, the contents of which encouraged terrorism, at a mosque in Brighton on November 1, 2020. In the speech he stated that committing Jihad was an obligation and he encouraged Jihad by the sword.
At sentencing, Detective Chief Superintendent Oliver Wright, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), said: “Deghayes used a toxic rhetoric that could radicalize others, but his destructive views were rejected by the community he was preaching to. In the speech he made, he was at risk of persuading others to take action and follow his extremist view of the world but, due to the diligence and awareness of the people it was directed at, his actions were reported, and he was subsequently convicted of this serious crime.”
Read more at Counter Terrorism Policing
