A man who praised the killer of French teacher Samuel Paty and posted images of his severed head was on Thursday (11) sentenced by a UK court to five and a half years in jail.
Ajmal Shahpal, 41, was convicted in March at Birmingham Crown Court for posting tweets which would encourage people "to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism".
On Twitter, Shahpal had described the killer of Paty, a French secondary school teacher who was murdered by an extremist in October 2020, "as brave as a lion".
He also posted an image of the severed head of Paty lying on the street, saying that "the insolent had been sent to hell".
"You expressed extreme Muslim ideology, which included the immediate murder by beheading of anyone considered to have committed blasphemy against your religion," judge Melbourne Inman said at the sentencing.
Shahpal was arrested in March 2021 at his home in Nottingham, central England, after he tweeted messages backing a Pakistan-based political party which advocated the killing of supposed blasphemers.
Some of his tweets were published to his public account in September 2020, a day after a second attack targeting the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
During the trial, Shahpal claimed that he was retweeting other people's views "just to have some more followers".
(AFP)
Man who praised French teacher Samuel Paty's murder jailed in UK
Ajmal Shahpal, 41, was convicted in March at Birmingham Crown Court for posting tweets which would encourage people “to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism”
Dharavi slum in Mumbai
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads not guilty to murder of BBC presenter's family
A 26-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the wife and two daughters of BBC sports commentator John Hunt in a crossbow and knife attack.
Kyle Clifford, who also faces charges of rape, appeared via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Clifford, arrested in July after a manhunt, is charged with three counts of murder, one count each of rape and false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons – a 10-inch knife and a crossbow.
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session.
He is expected to enter a plea for that charge at a later date.
The victims were Carol Hunt, 61, wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
An earlier hearing revealed that Louise had been found tied up and that both she and her sister had been shot with a crossbow, while their mother had been stabbed with a knife.
The fatal attack occurred at the family’s home in Bushey, a commuter town near Watford, northwest of London.
(With inputs from AFP)