Ahmed Faraz was sentenced today to three years’ imprisonment at Kingston Crown Court for intentionally distributing publications in order to encourage terrorism, and the possession of material likely to be of use to terrorists.
CPS prosecutor Mark Topping said:
“The charges relate to Ahmed Faraz's activities at the Maktabah bookshop in Birmingham which produced and distributed books, DVDs, and other material designed to encourage terrorist acts. The publications contain highly selective sections of Islamist writing together with material praising Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
“Owning the books themselves is not a crime, but selling them with a view to encouraging acts of terrorism is. This case is not about banning books. The issue is whether criminal offences are being encouraged.
“It is significant that many of those convicted of the most serious terrorist offences in this country in recent years were in possession of publications produced and distributed by Ahmed Faraz.
“Faraz did not only distribute material. The jury found that he possessed other material, including the al-Qaeda training manual and other electronic documents about IEDs and weapons, which were of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”
