Woman convicted for supporting proscribed terror group

A woman has been found guilty of showing support to a proscribed terrorist group following an investigation by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command into social media posts that were referred to police by members of the public.

Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said: “Showing support for a terrorist organisation is a criminal offence, and is something we take seriously – whether it be online or in the real-world.

“In this case, the online posts were referred to our Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit. Specialist officers established the posts were potentially in breach of terrorism legislation and from the resulting investigation, we identified the person behind them and brought her to justice.

“Any content referred to us in this way will always be carefully assessed and where potential offences are identified, we will investigate and take action.”

Sara El-Houssein, 23 (08.01.01), of north west London was found guilty on Friday, 12 July at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of publishing an image of an article in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse a reasonable suspicion that she is a supporter of a proscribed organisation - namely Hamas - contrary to section 13(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000.

She is due to be sentenced on 20 August.

On 17 October 2023, a public referral was made into the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), highlighting posts linked to a social media account that were allegedly showing support towards Hamas.

The posts were assessed by specialist officers in the CTIRU, who believed the posts could be in breach of terrorism legislation, and the case was passed for further investigation.

Further enquiries were carried out to identify the user behind the account, which led officers to arrest El-Houssein on 2 November 2023.

She was released on bail and subsequently charged in March with the above offence.

Anyone who sees material online they are concerned may be terrorist or extremist can report it via: www.gov.uk/act

Further information:

The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) is a national Counter Terrorism Policing unit based within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, which is dedicated to identifying terrorist and extremist material online. It works with service providers to seek the removal of such material. If material breaches UK terrorism law, police will carry out an investigation.