ISIS supported posed as Osama Bin Laden and posted images of decapitated bodies and mocked victims

An ISIS supporter who posted videos on Instagram calling for terror attacks on Christians has been jailed for four years.
Akeem Samuels, 22, openly promoted Islamic State and mocked the 49 victims of the Orlando terror attack who were shot dead at a gay nightclub in June.

He also posed as Osama bin Laden in a bulletproof vest and posted horrific images of decapitated bodies.

He threatened non-Muslim users with a picture of a hooded man and the message: ‘We are your worst nightmare kuffar [unbelievers]’.

Samuels was arrested in August last year after counter-terrorism officers spotted some of the extremist messages while monitoring social media.

Samuels, who came to the UK from Jamaica as a child and converted to Islam in his teens, later admitted encouraging terrorism and stirring up hatred on Instagram between 31 December 2015 and 14 August 2016.

The Common Serjeant of London, judge Richard Marks QC, told him: ‘The more support an organisation such as ISIS gets the more dangerous it will be and the further it will be prepared to go in furthering its aims and objectives.

‘That is why offending such as this is so serious and why there needs to be a deterrent element to the sentence.

‘This defendant posted a variety of communications intending they should encourage others to prepare or instigate acts of terrorism.

‘The homicidal loathing of homosexual men by IS is well known and I am sure the posting of this message [about the Orlando attacks] was clearly intended to foment that irrational hatred.

‘It is absolutely clear he held and still holds entrenched jihadi views. He offers not one word of apology or contrition.’

The court heard Samuels used a Virtual Private Network in an attempt to hide his IP address and identity while making the postings, which were open to anyone to view.

In December 2015 he posted a picture of a hooded mad with an ISIS flag covering the face and the message ‘We are your worst nightmare kuffar’.

Another image showed a picture of a forearm being cut with a knife and the message: ‘Shi’ism – cut it out before it spreads’.

In January 2016 he posted screenshots of proclamations by the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Soon after the Orlando massacre by Omar Mateen on 12 June last year, Samuels posted a video recording featuring his own voice saying in a mocking voice: ‘All these hypocrites have started to come out “he’s not from my religion, Islam doesn’t practice that, Islam doesn’t say you shoot gay people”.

‘The gays got punished by Sharia, killed, thrown off buildings by Sharia.’

Prosecutor Robin Sellers said: ‘This is referring to the Orlando shootings at the gay nightclub and is this defendant suggesting that those who decry these shootings “not in my name” were in fact hypocrites because they were not adhering to Sharia law.’

Samuels also posted a fatwa by extremist Anwar al-Awlaki and a picture of knives with the claim that they were ‘sharp enough to cut coconuts’ – a derogatory term for a person who is black on the outside but white on the inside.

Two days before his arrest he posted a picture of a man holding the Islamic flag in his right hand with one finger of his left hand raised in an ISIS salute, and the message: ‘I give the judgement that their warriors should be killed and their women and children should be taken as prisoners.’

One of the last posts before his arrests contained a silhouette of four people with machine guns and the message: ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah.’

The prosecutor said: ‘This was clear encouragement when you look at it in the context of other material.’

Among the images found on his phone and laptop included a mock beheading of President Obama, the ISIS flag in Westminster and pictures of beheaded men.

One picture showed Samuels copying the pose of Osama Bin Laden in one of his famous photos.

Samuels has previous convictions for battery, possession of heroin and possession of cannabis between April 2009 and May 2010.

The court heard he was unemployed at the time of his arrest and spent most of his time online.

Samuels, of Proctor House in Picton Street, Camberwell, southeast London, admitted seven charges of encouraging terrorism and two counts of distributing material to stir up hatred on the grounds of religion or sexual orientation.

Source: Daily Mail