Liverpool barber shared IS beheadings video on WhatsApp group
Prosecutor David Earl told the sentencing hearing that Hamad, who was born in Iraq, came to the UK illegally from Iraqi Kurdistan in 2016.Hamad told authorities his life would be in danger were he to return home, and he also claimed he would face arrest.The court heard Hamad said he studied the Quran with preacher Mulla Shwan, but that the latter had recently "joined Daesh".Daesh is the Arabic name for the group calling itself Islamic State.The movement took over huge swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, drawing notoriety for its record of violence.Categorised as a terrorist group by the UK government, IS was driven out of power in 2019.Experts said the group was "down but not out".After he was arrested, Hamad told police: "Because I was [Mulla Shwan's] student, police called me to attend a meeting so I've run away for my life."
Video footage
The court heard he was part of a WhatsApp group, set up in June 2022, which pledged allegiance to IS.The court heard the group had an introductory message of "Swearing by the almighty Allah, we have given a pledge of allegiance to almighty Allah that we will come to you under the flag of the Islamic State caliphate in whatever hole you are in this world."Otherwise we will, by Allah, separate your head from your body."One video, shared by another user, showed a shackled soldier who was on fire.The court also heard that Hamad first shared a video within the Whatsapp group in December 2022. It referred to IS fighters being skilled in using improvised explosive devices (IED).A month later, he sent another video, showing the beheading of three prisoners.This followed a speech from a man who said he was acting in revenge for an attack on Muslims, promising: "We will slaughter you one by one."Mr Earl said: "The videos were sent intending them to be a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism."
'Hypocrisy'
When Hamad, who had an interpreter with him in the dock, was arrested at his home in Wavertree, he told officers: "I lost my phone a long time ago. I want a solicitor."Kate O'Raghallaigh, defending, said there was "evidence which is entirely consistent with this man being, in his real life, consistently a hard-working local barber in Liverpool".She described Hamad as a man who was "not religious, not devout" and who somebody who "attends nightclubs and so forth".Passing sentence, Judge Flewitt said: "It is said that you live a characteristic Western lifestyle, with many gay and lesbian friends, respecting everyone equally."On that basis, it is submitted that these offences represent an aberration in your life and undermine any suggestion that you are a committed ideologue."But he said he had "some difficulty with that submission, because another interpretation of that material is that it demonstrates the hypocrisy of a person who is willing publicly to embrace a Western lifestyle while privately supporting a terrorist organisation whose objective is to destroy it".In addition to jailing Hamad for four years, the judge also imposed restrictions upon him for 10 years under counter-terrorism legislation.
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