Woman who posted Hamas material after October 7 atrocities guilty of supporting terrorism
The Met Police Counter Terrorism Command received referrals about posts on October 17, just ten days after the horror terror strike which saw Hamas terrorists cross the border and parachute into Israel.
A woman has been found guilty of showing support for Hamas on Instagram after its terrorist atrocities in Israel on October 7 last year.
The Met Police Counter Terrorism Command received referrals about posts on October 17, just ten days after the horror terror strike which saw Hamas terrorists cross the border and parachute into Israel.
They also fired thousands of rockets and murdered about 1,200 people.
Those killed included children, the elderly and 364 young people at a music festival.
Hamas also took more than 250 others back to Gaza to hold as hostages, with evidence of rapes committed during the attacks.
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Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees said: "Showing support for a terrorist organisation is a criminal offence, and is something we take seriously – whether it be online or in the real-world.
“In this case, the online posts were referred to our Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit. Specialist officers established the posts were potentially in breach of terrorism legislation and from the resulting investigation, we identified the person behind them and brought her to justice.
“Any content referred to us in this way will always be carefully assessed and where potential offences are identified, we will investigate and take action.”
The posts were assessed by specialist officers in the CTIRU, who believed the posts could be in breach of terrorism legislation, and the case was passed for further investigation.
Further enquiries were carried out to identify the user behind the account, which led officers to arrest Sara El-Houssein, 23, of Camden, north west London, on November 2 2023.
She was released on bail and subsequently charged in March with the above offence.
El-Houssein was charged with publishing an image of an article in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse a reasonable suspicion that she is a supporter of a proscribed organisation - namely Hamas - contrary to section 13(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The relevant posts were published by her on Instagram from October 7, straight after the atrocities, until October 22.
She was found guilty of the offence on Friday, July 12, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and she is due to be sentenced on August 20.
The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) is a national Counter Terrorism Policing unit based within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, which is dedicated to identifying terrorist and extremist material online. It works with service providers to seek the removal of such material. If material breaches UK terrorism law, police will carry out an investigation.
Anyone who sees material online they are concerned may be terrorist or extremist can report it via: www.gov.uk/act.
