Ozain Yousef: Leeds man pleads guilty to terrorism offence after posting support for Hamas on X

Ozain Yousef, 23, from Leeds, was arrested on November 24 last year on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation, Counter Terrorism Policing North East said.

The arrest was made after police received a report that Yousef’s social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter, had posted extremist material supportive of Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7.

Yousef’s phone was seized by police and his X account was found to contain a large number of pro-Hamas images and videos, and one pro-Hezbollah video.

Between July 9 and September 26 2023, Yousef’s posts made no reference to Palestine or the ongoing conflict.

However, from October 9 2023 virtually all his posts relate to the Gaza conflict, and subsequently transition into support for Hamas.

In one of these posts, Yousef directly acknowledged Hamas and aligned himself as a “brother” of the proscribed organisation.

In another, he re-posted an image of a sniper from the Qassam Brigade, the military wing associated to Hamas.

He was charged with one terrorism offence over claims he published a series of images online, in such a way as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of banned terrorist group Hamas.

Yousef, of Mexborough Place, Leeds, pleaded guilty to the offence at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

He will be sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 9.

Get the latest news, straight to your inbox, with one of the Yorkshire Post’s newsletters