A 38-year-old man from Ealing is set to be tried at the Old Bailey in London following a Metropolitan Police investigation into postings on social media which allegedly show support for proscribed terrorist group Hamas.
Muhammad Abu Jweid of Castlebar Park was told at a preliminary hearing last week that his trial is set to begin on 2 December 2024.
In March, he was charged with two counts of expressing an opinion or belief in support of a proscribed organisation.
According to the police, the posts were referred to its Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) in late October 2023 by a member of the public.
Last month, Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “We’ve had a large volume of online content and social media posts referred to us since the horrific attacks by Hamas in October last year. Every single post that is referred gets assessed by specialist officers and where we identify something that could be a criminal offence, then we will take action to investigate and identify the person behind it.”
He added: “Posting any material online that glorifies, supports or encourages terrorist activity is not acceptable, and we’ll do everything we can to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”
Police have said members of the public can report extremist or terrorist content online via: www.gov.uk/report-terrorism
