LONDON: A British police officer on Tuesday was sentenced to 18 months of community service for sharing messages on WhatsApp supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Mohammed Adil, 26, from Bradford in northern England, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Terrorism Act for sending the messages in October and November last year.
He has been suspended from duty and now faces disciplinary proceedings, potentially including dismissal.
Adil was reported by two colleagues at the West Yorkshire Police force and charged by the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) Counter Terrorism Division.
“Mohammed Adil understood that in sharing the images he did, it would arouse suspicion that he was showing support for a terrorist organization,” said Bethan David, head of the division.
Previously, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring had warned Adil that the crimes were “very serious” and that he could face prison time.
But on Tuesday, he said a custodial sentence would be “unnecessarily disproportionate.”
Adil was first arrested on November 6 and suspended as an officer before appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London in May.
He admitted two counts of publishing an image in support of Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organization in the UK.
It came after Israel declared war against Hamas in Gaza in response to the militant group’s unprecedented October 7 attack.
Displayed on his WhatsApp “updates,” prosecutors said the image showed a Hamas fighter wearing a Hamas headband.
In one post, Adil had added the caption: “Today is the time for the Palestinian people to rise, set their paths straight and establish an independent Palestinian state.”
It was said to be a quote from the leader of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif.
The second post was captioned: “We will hold accountable all those who occupied our lands and Allah will hold accountable all those who remained silent against this occupation and oppression.”
That was said to be from Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the group’s military wing.
The posts were accessible for 24 hours to Adil’s 1,092 WhatsApp contacts, according to prosecutors.
“We will now commence with misconduct proceedings,” said Tanya Wilkins, of West Yorkshire Police, after the sentencing.
“We make it clear to all employees that it is not compatible for anyone working in policing to be a member of, or show support for, a proscribed organization.”
UK police officer sentenced for sharing pro-Hamas images
https://arab.news/2cvnb
UK police officer sentenced for sharing pro-Hamas images
- Mohammed Adil from Bradford in northern England, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Terrorism Act
- “Mohammed Adil understood that in sharing the images he did, it would arouse suspicion that he was showing support for a terrorist organization,” said Bethan David, head of the division
French publisher recalls dictionary over ‘Jewish settler’ reference
- The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks”
- The four books are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said
PARSI: French publisher Hachette on Friday said it had recalled a dictionary that described the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks as “Jewish settlers” and promised to review all its textbooks and educational materials.
The Larousse dictionary for 11- to 15-year-old students contained the same phrase as that discovered by an anti-racism body in three revision books, the company told AFP.
The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks, Israel decided to tighten its economic blockade and invade a large part of the Gaza Strip, triggering a major humanitarian crisis in the region.”
The worst attack in Israeli history saw militants from the Palestinian Islamist group kill around 1,200 people in settlements close to the Gaza Strip and at a music festival.
“Jewish settlers” is a term used to describe Israelis living on illegally occupied Palestinian land.
The four books, which were immediately withdrawn from sale, are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said, promising a “thorough review of its textbooks, educational materials and dictionaries.”
France’s leading publishing group, which came under the control of the ultra-conservative Vincent Bollore at the end of 2023, has begun an internal inquiry “to determine how such an error was made.”
It promised to put in place “a new, strengthened verification process for all its future publications” in these series.
President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said that it was “intolerable” that the revision books for the French school leavers’ exam, the baccalaureat, “falsify the facts” about the “terrorist and antisemitic attacks by Hamas.”
“Revisionism has no place in the Republic,” he wrote on X.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, with 251 people taken hostage, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Authorities in Gaza estimate that more than 70,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces during their bombardment of the territory since, while nearly 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN data.
Israeli forces have killed at least 447 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
