A Hamas supporter who called for Jews to be “burnt alive” and spoke about “hunting them for fun” has been given a prison sentence of more than five years.
Zakir Hussein, 29, of no fixed address, was arrested in March last year after officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command linked him to Twitter account posting statements in support of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Statements made on the “@lewiswarren911” account between November 2023 and January 2024 included ““7 October was a beautiful day, Jews stop hiding”, “In the UK, we are hunting them for fun” and “Go on Hamas, finish them and maybe we can find the beheaded urine babies”. The account also tweeted “Wish it was more in that festival slaughter them IDK [sic] terrorists, burn them alive”
In early January the account tweeted “I’m in London, any Jew out there come out and stand up for your religion.” It’s last post later that month was “Burn them alive, no religion can abuse children the way they do.”
The account also expressed repeated support for both Hamas and Hezbollah, which are proscribed as terrorist organisations in the UK.
Hussein had initially denied any wrongdoing, but in February changed his plea and admitted 11 charges against him – four counts of expressing support for a proscribed organisation and seven counts of stirring up racial hatred. The judge noted that the pre-sentencing report said that Hussein had been spending £600 a week on Cannabis during the period that he was tweeting.
Having been imprisoned on remand for the last year, he was jailed for five years and eight months, with an extended period on licence of three years.
Hussein was already serving a suspended sentence for a conviction of malicious communications offences committed in 2021 and 2022. This involved him sending threatening and abusive posts on Twitter to the sister of a man who died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “This investigation started as the result of an anonymous report by a member of the public appalled by the content of Hussain’s X account.
“Our Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) assessed the content of the posts as being in breach of terrorism legislation and a proactive investigation was launched.
“This case demonstrates, yet again, that we will act when we receive information about social media content that is unlawful. When this happens those responsible can expect to be investigated and prosecuted where the evidence allows.”
