A Brighton man who gave an uninvited speech at a mosque encouraging worshippers to commit violent jihad has been jailed.
Abu Baker Deghayes of Arundel Drive, Saltdean in Brighton was found guilty of encouraging terrorism after an Old Bailey trial in January.
The 53-year-old was arrested and charged after making an unwanted speech, the contents of which encouraged terrorism, at Dyke Road Mosque in Brighton on 1 November 2020.
He told worshippers committing Jihad was an obligation and he encouraged Jihad by the sword while making stabbing gestures.
Today he was sentenced to four years imprisonment with one year on licence.
The judge said his comments came at the end of a speech that was not rehearsed and had also included statements about the pandemic.
He told Deghayes: “You said at that point you were ‘rolling with the speech’. I take that to mean that you got carried away by the audience.”
There was no evidence that Deghayes had been in a position of authority or influence in the mosque and he had abused that position, but his statement had been “made recklessly” widely to an audience, the judge said.
The audience included fathers and their school-age sons who, as such, could be considered “vulnerable”.
During his trial, jurors were played a video of Deghayes’s speech in which he was seen to make a stabbing gesture when talking about jihad.
Deghayes told worshippers: “Whose power is more powerful than us? Allah is more powerful than you. You, idiots. You kuffar (non-believers)… The non-believer is an idiot. He’s stupid.”
He went on: “Jihad, jihad, jihad. Jihad is compulsory. Jihad is fighting by sword. That means this jihad is compulsory upon you, not jihad is the word of mouth but jihad will remain compulsory until the day of resurrection…”
Deghayes had denied wrongdoing, saying he was explaining the meaning of jihad by the sword as self-defence. The gesture he made was a “dance of the blade”, he claimed.
He also referred to Boris Johnson having to wear a mask during the pandemic, after the PM described Muslim women who wore a face covering as “letter boxes”.
Two of Deghayes’s sons were killed fighting for Islamists in Syria and he lost a third in a stabbing in the East Sussex city.
Abdul – who had become embroiled with drugs and was murdered by a dealer in 2019 aged 22 – was the twin brother of Abdullah, who was killed fighting in Syria in 2016 aged 18.
Their brother Jaffar, 17, was killed in 2014 while trying to overthrow Bashar Assad’s government.
Amer, another son and former finance student who also travelled to Syria, is understood to be continuing to fight for the cause.
Prosecutor Ben Lloyd had told jurors that Deghayes’s speech was not given “innocently or naively”.
He said: “The prosecution case is clear. By the defendant’s words and gestures he was encouraging people to undertake violent jihad.
“The defendant’s speech demonstrates him to be an Islamic extremist. He is someone who believes in the use of violence in the cause of Islam.
“Or, at the very least, he was reckless in giving his speech as to whether people would be encouraged.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Oliver Wright, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), said: “Deghayes used a toxic rhetoric that could radicalise others, but his destructive views were rejected by the community he was preaching to.
“In the speech he made, he was at risk of persuading others to take action and follow his extremist view of the world but, due to the diligence and awareness of the people it was directed at, his actions were reported, and he was subsequently convicted of this serious crime.
“It is vitally important that people have the courage to report their concerns to the police when they witness extremism being promoted in this way. We rely on those who see or hear this sort of messaging, to have the confidence to report it.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone within the community who supports and assist police officers during investigations of this nature. We can only fulfil our mission of keeping our communities safe by working together.”
Sussex Police’s Assistant Chief Constable, Tanya Jones, said: “Abubaker Deghayes’ corrosive ideology tried to sow division in the community.
“This sentence reaffirms our commitment, alongside our partners in Counter Terrorism Policing South East, to root out those who spread hateful, extremist views and bring them to justice.
“Brighton and Hove is a city famous for its inclusivity and acceptance and our officers have continued to carry out engagement work in the community to address any concerns.
“I would like to thank everybody who supported the investigation and helped to secure this conviction.
“If you have any concerns, please report them to us via the Sussex Police website, by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency.”
What a beastly, wicked scoundrel…
a copy of the actual words used (transcription) would help the reader know what is allowed and what is not allowed , with or without “gestures” … after all, it is not as if he was handing-out guns or even tickets to Syria .. “an uninvited speech” is a weird concept in the context of a private meeting … sounds he had been set-up or provoked … and, finally, the first advert. at the end of the article, sponsored by Past Factory with a picture of Jesus headline and Bible Quiz, is a bit of intentional cheap irony
Why wasn’t he deported to his native Libya? He came here as an asylum seeker and has been making trouble ever since.
Human right sact will prevent this. He can claim all kinds of things such as the right to family and to raise his sons as terrorists in the UK etc.