A man from West Sussex, U.K. has been jailed for terrorism offenses following an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE).
At a hearing at the Old Bailey court, 21-year-old Zakaria Yanaouri, of Congreve Road, Worthing, pleaded guilty on 22 June 2020 to five counts of possessing material likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act (2000).
Yanaouri, who was arrested by detectives following a pre-planned operation at his home on February 24 2020, was found to have a number of banned examples of so-called Islamic State (IS) group propaganda, including extremist publications.
When searching his digital devices, investigators also found videos of executions, images of jihadi fighters and audio files of pro-IS music.
He was charged on February 29 and sentenced on November 23 at the Old Bailey to five years imprisonment reduced to 32 months for an early guilty plea.
A Serious Crime Prevention Order will also be in place for five years to disrupt Yanaouri from future online terrorist activity following his sentence.
Posters were discovered in his possession, which have been linked to a proscribed group and were produced by extremists.
Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, Head of CTPSE, said: “There is no doubt that Yanaouri’s mind-set is that of someone who had come under the influence of the warped ideology of Daesh.
“There is absolutely no excuse for possessing documents promoting proscribed groups, regardless of ideology. Anyone continuing to support such organizations can expect to be found and brought before the courts.
“I’d like to pay tribute to the officers working on this case, as their efforts have resulted in another potentially dangerous individual being given little option but to admit to the offenses.
“Although there has been no indication that Yanaouri had formed plans to carry out an attack, it’s vitally important that people demonstrating such an extremist mind-set are apprehended before it can develop into plans to harm other people.
Read the announcement at Counter Terrorism Policing
