Student jailed for terrorism material
SHEFFIELD: A dental student from Sheffield who amassed and disseminated a “breathtaking” amount of terrorist-related material has been jailed for eight years. Abdurahman Kaabar also sent hundreds of pounds to his brother, Mohammed Kaabar, who was fighting with jihadists in Syria, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
A DENTAL student from Sheffield who amassed and disseminated a “breathtaking” amount of terrorist-related material has been jailed for eight years.
Abdurahman Kaabar also sent hundreds of pounds to his brother, Mohammed Kaabar, who was fighting with jihadists in Syria, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Jailing 24-year-old Kaabar, Judge Paul Watson QC said: “It was clear that you had wed yourself to a corrupt and corrosive ideology of Islamic extremism. The volume of material which you downloaded and kept in your possession was frankly breathtaking and the content of which was horrific.”
The judge said he was confident the material distributed by Kaabar was “intended to encourage others to engage in terrorist activities”.
He said one of those who had been in contact with the defendant was Mohammed Awan, another dentistry student whom he jailed for 10 years in 2017 for preparing acts of terrorism.
Awan, 24, from Huddersfield, was arrested days after purchasing 500 ball bearings, which extremist material he possessed advised could be used as shrapnel in home-made bombs.
Judge Watson said Kaabar had been found with documents which gave instructions for knife attacks and bomb making as well one which glorified the Orlando nightclub attack in June 2016 that left 49 people dead.
Kaabar, of Martin Street, Upperthorpe, Sheffield, pleaded guilty last year to 15 offences relating to disseminating or possessing material likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
He was found guilty by jury of two counts of terrorist fundraising relating to cash sent to his brother in Syria.
The former Plymouth University student told the jury last year that the cash had been for medical treatments.
Another defendant – Badroddin Kazkaz, 23, of Cross Myrtle Road, Heeley, Sheffield – pleaded guilty to a similar terrorism funding offence. He was jailed for four years yesterday.
Judge Watson said Mohammed Kaabar, who travelled to Syria in 2016, was “engaged in violent jihadi activity”.
The judge said it was not clear which group Kaabar was fighting with, but it did not matter.
He said the cash sent abroad was to be used “for a terrorist purpose”.
Judge Watson told Kazkaz: “I’m not sentencing you for the views that you had or even may continue to have.
“The privilege that you enjoy of living in a democratic society, based on democratically passed laws and conventions, is to hold such views.”
But he said that privilege ended when someone engaged in acts supportive of terrorism “designed to undermine those very privileges”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Snowden, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said afterwards: “Kaabar had a radical mindset and an active interest in extremism. He was not only in possession of terrorist material, he was also sharing it and encouraging others to carry out terrorist activity.
“Kaabar and Kazkaz both transferred money to Kaabar’s brother, believed to be fighting in Syria. It is highly likely that they would have at least suspected that the money would be used to further the cause of terrorist groups and potentially fund terrorist activity.”
He added that showing support and providing funds to these types of groups allowed terrorism to survive.
Kaabar had a radical mindset and an active interest in extremism. Det Ch Supt Martin Snowden, of Counter Terrorism Policing North East.