An “idiot” Hamas supporter who threatened Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with a knife emoji and called him a “Zionist” before writing “your time will come” has been jailed for a year.
Accountant and self-styled “keyboard warrior”, Mohammed Nafees Ahmed, 32, dedicated his X account, formerly known as Twitter, to Gaza and Israel following the Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,100 people on October 7 last year.
On November 29 last year, he responded to the post of US President Joe Biden by writing “Judas Parish”, which means death to the Jews.
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He advocated “jihad” and anti-Semitic violence in the UK and abroad and failed to heed his wife’s warnings to stop.
Ahmed dedicated his X account to Gaza and Israel after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7 last autumn, the Old Bailey heard.
Last December, Ahmed used the knife icon when he wrote of Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “You Zionist, your time will come” after he spoke at a Hanukkah event.
The defendant, from Tipton in the West Midlands, appeared in court for sentencing on Thursday after pleading guilty to eight counts of supporting a banned terrorist organisation.
Opening the facts, prosecutor Peter Ratliff said the charges related to a five-month period in which Nafis Ahmed posted messages of an “anti-Semitic, violent and threatening nature”.
At the time, the defendant had 19 followers, but his account was open for everyone to see on the X platform, he said.
On October 11 last year, Nafees Ahmed posted a message, which was seen 15 times, saying: “Wipe them off the map. Death to Israel and America.”
He dismissed as “false fake news” the Israeli report that terrorists went from house to house killing entire families.
Other statements included “Long live Hamas, long live Palestine” and a call to “exterminate every Zionist”, the court heard.
On November 13 last year, then Home Secretary Suella Braverman complained that the then Prime Minister had failed to deal with anti-Semitism and extremism on Britain’s streets following the October 7 crimes.
In the message, which has been viewed 13 times, the defendant replied: “You’re still alive, witch.”
In another offensive message, he called Vice President Kamala Harris a “ridiculous cocoon (sic)”, the court was told.
He taunted the Metropolitan Police to “come and arrest me”, calling the police a “bunch of clowns”.
On January 12, he responded to broadcaster Piers Morgan’s message with abusive language and told him: “If your 3ver s3en in London 1m (knife emoji) str8 in your throat (sic).”
After his arrest on March 20, the defendant initially made no comment before accepting the device, which belonged to him, and providing the passcode.
Ratliff said the defendant claimed he acted after being “disturbed” by images of children being killed in Gaza, when at the time he began to take offense at Hamas, which was killing children.
He continued: “Given his use of knife icons threatening politicians, a Jewish religious leader and a broadcaster in the context of promoting attacks on Israel, it can be concluded that the accused has terrorist motives.”
On September 16, the previously unconvicted defendant was charged with supporting a banned organization.
On October 2, Nafis Ahmed pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to eight charges of expressing support for a banned organization between October 2023 and March 2024.
In mitigation, David Martin-Sperry said the defendant admitted his actions were “wrong and ill-considered”, describing himself as an “idiot”.
As the court was told, the married father worked as an accountant on weekdays and a pharmacy driver on weekends.
Mr Martin-Sperry said Nafees Ahmed’s “total loss of mind” came as a result of seeing images of child victims and he knew little about the organization he allegedly supported.
