A man has been jailed after posting threats on TikTok that sparked an international alert that ISIS was planning attacks on football stadiums hosting Champions League games.
The Spanish interior ministry announced an “extraordinary” security response for the match featuring Real Madrid and Manchester City.
More than 3,500 police officers, four separate rings of security, and snipers were posted on the roofs of buildings overlooking the stadium.
Mohammed Mahfuz Ahmed, 26, from Cleethorpes, north Lincolnshire, was running multiple TikTok accounts, including one which he was using to share pro-ISIS propaganda making calls to behead and shoot dead disbelievers.
On 4 April last year, he posted an image of fans at a football ground with targets on their heads.
The image was posted days after an attack at a concert at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow by four men claiming allegiance to Islamic State, who opened fire killing at least 145 people including six children.
Another image was posted on 8 April, by a media channel linked to ISIS in the same black and red colours, featuring a gunman in a balaclava with the message: “Kill them all.”
It pictured the Emirates Stadium in London, Parc des Princes in Paris, as well as the Santiago Bernabeu and Metropolitano Arena stadiums in Madrid, which were due to host UEFA Champions League football matches the next day.
Ahmed was arrested on 18 April at his home and police seized an iPhone, a Samsung laptop and two USB memory sticks.
On his phone was an image of the Bernabeu with a red target circle at the entrance to the stadium where people are entering.
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Katherine Robinson, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court: “We say that this is a statement of direct encouragement to commit acts of terrorism.
“The defendant had an extensive following on TikTok. He also used hashtags which accompany each of his posts. This enables the user to significantly widen the reach of their posts.”
Ahmed was found guilty of three counts of disseminating terrorist material and one count of encouraging terrorism.
The judge, Jeremy Richardson KC, said Ahmed had “utterly revolting scenes of cruelty and savagery relating to a variety of terrorist outrages” on his computer.
Sentencing him to 10 years in jail with an extended licence of five years, the judge added: “I have a duty to protect the public. I sincerely hope that this sentence serves as a deterrent to others.”
