Businessman avoids jail after sending funds to nephew in Syria

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A businessman has avoided jail after he sent 350 dollars (£270) to his nephew who was shot while fighting in Syria.

Farhad Mohammad, 46, from Colchester in Essex, was found guilty of two charges of funding terrorism by making money transfers for Idris Usman in Syria.

On Wednesday, Judge Angela Rafferty KC handed him a three-year community order at the Old Bailey.

She also ordered him to complete 250 hours of unpaid work, be subject to electronically monitored curfew and complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Previously, the court had heard that at the time of the offences, Usman was an Islamist fighter, most likely for Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a proscribed terrorist organisation linked to al Qaida.

Mohammad made two payments to his nephew between November 2017 and January 2018 despite knowing he was fighting for an Islamist terrorist group in Syria at the time.

One message to Mohammad from Usman in May 2017 stated: “Uncle forgive me, God willing I am going to participate in a fighting, either I will stay alive or I become a martyr, it is up to God.”

In June 2017, Usman told the defendant: “Uncle for the sake of God send me six and a half waraqa (£500), to buy a weapon, it is the one, which I like it, and may God reward you with good.”

Usman also sent a picture showing him sitting on a motorbike with a gun over his shoulder in August 2017.

On 27 February 2018, Mohammad was stopped before boarding a flight to Turkey from London Stansted airport.

Officers found he had more than £4,000 in cash, and three mobile phones, all of which were seized and the contents downloaded by officers, with Mohammad subsequently arrested.

Detectives recovered messaging app conversations and voice notes, which they pieced together to make a timeline detailing his conversations and fund transfers.

In a police interview, the defendant denied funding terrorism, saying in a prepared statement: “I have been living in the UK for 21 years.

“I am a married man with two children, and I am running my own business. I do not have any previous convictions. The allegations have nothing to do with me.”

Following his conviction in April, Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Terrorist groups rely on financial support and funding to be able to operate.

“While Mohammad’s contributions may not have been vast sums, he was well aware his nephew wanted the money to purchase a firearm and to help fund his fighting in Syria.

“Groups like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham cause huge misery, terror and devastation. If you knowingly fund someone – family member or not – who is part of a group like that, then it is helping a terrorist organisation and it is something we take extremely seriously.”

Bethan David, head of the CPS Counter Terrorism Division, said: “It was clear that Farhad Mohammad sent funds to his nephew via an intermediary and was well aware of his involvement with terrorism.

“In recovered Facebook messages, Mohammad’s nephew talked openly about being an Islamist fighter in Syria and asked for money to fund his cause and life.

“So there can be no doubt that Mohammad knew that his money was going to sustain and support his nephew while he was actively engaged in terrorism.

“The CPS will always seek to prosecute those who support terrorism in any way.”