A Thornton Heath man who dubbed himself the ‘Cyber-Sultan’ and boasted of establishing an Islamic State in the UK has been found guilty of promoting terrorism.
Mohammed Alam, 31, was convicted of distributing a terrorist publication at Kingston Crown Court yesterday after he posted links to a video by Isis several times last July.
Alam, of Highbury Avenue, was arrested on December 22 on suspicion of sharing terrorist material after detectives swooped on a business address in south London and seized a laptop and a mobile phone.
Chatroom logs shown to the jury allegedly show Mr Alam asking users to watch the video "regarding Isis in Prophesy [sic]", produced by controversial Turkish thinker Adnan Oktar about the ongoing Syrian civil war.
In the logs Mr Alam claimed he was working to "establish an Islamic State within the UK" and rebuked his sceptical interlocutors for a perceived lack of faith.
The video links he posted alluded to the activities of Isis being scripturally foretold, thus it was encouraging people to join its ranks, prosecution argued.
In one of these conversations, Alam commented that he supported Isis, having previously backed the Taliban.
In another message to a user who was trying to enter a general chat room Alam had created he said he would not allow her access unless she swore allegiance to the organisation.
Officers also recovered a number of magazines and leaflets from Alam's bedroom, some of which lauded the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorists attacks.
Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter terrorism command, said: "Alam tried to elicit support for Daesh online although he was frequently rejected by users, one of whom told him to live in peace with non-Muslims.
"The seriousness of sharing a link to a video like this should not be underestimated - it is enough to start someone down a spiral of self-radicalisation, which can have obvious consequences."
Sentencing was adjourned until Thursday, 30 June, at Kingston Crown Court.
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