Woman jailed but another walks free over pro-Isis posts

Mary Kaya, 57, from Batley, had around 30 followers on her Twitter account when she retweeted the link to an audio clip by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Kaya denied posting the link and claimed her Twitter account was used by someone else.

But earlier this month a jury at Leeds Crown Court found her guilty of distributing a terrorist publication likely to encourage people to participate in terrorism.

Kaya yesterday received a 21-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years.

She will also be subject to a two-year supervision order and must observe a 7pm to 7am curfew for four months.

On the same day, a 22-year-old Sheffield woman was jailed for 20 months after she admitted one count of disseminating terrorist publications online.

Fatimah Peer-Mohd (also known as Fatimah Peer-Mohamed) of Earl Marshal Road, Pitsmoor, admitted one count of disseminating terrorist publications, contrary to Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006 at Sheffield Crown Court.

Peer-Mohd was arrested in May 2015 by officers from the North East Counter Terrorism Unit after postings were made on social media that were pro Isis (also known as Daesh, Isil and IS) and anti-Western.

Head of the North East CTU, Detective Chief Superintendent Clive Wain, said yesterday: “We cannot underestimate the power of social media or the dangerous nature of the propaganda produced by terrorist groups such as Daesh.

“It is therefore vital that we pursue those who use these tools to further their cause and protect those who are potentially vulnerable to being influenced by this type of material.”

Handing Mary Kaya a suspended jail sentence, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, labelled the IS speech “a dreadful diatribe” but said that apart from the content of her Twitter account there was no evidence that Kaya held radical views or had tried to radicalise others.

She had attended the Prevent counter-terrorism programme since April last year which she is said to have “thoroughly enjoyed” and there was a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation, said Judge Collier.