Man who wore t-shirts with terror group logos on given suspended jail term

17 December 2021, 22:50 | Updated: 18 December 2021, 00:38

A man has been given a suspended prison sentence for wearing t-shirts with the logos of two terror groups on them.

Feras Al Jayoosi, from Swindon, was seen wearing a shirt bearing the emblem of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in north London on June 8.

The next day, also in the Golders Green area, he was seen wearing a different shirt that had the logo of the Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades.

Both groups are proscribed terror organisations.

The sightings were reported to police and detectives identified Al Jayoosi as the man wearing them. He was arrested at his home on June 11.

It also emerged he had previously worn the Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades shirt in Swindon in May.

The group was proscribed by the UK government separately from the Hamas political organisation, but the entire organisation is now proscribed.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is described as opposing "the existence of the state of Israel, the Middle East Peace Process and the Palestinian Authority, and has carried out suicide bombings against Israeli targets".

He later admitted four charges of wearing a t-shirt "in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he was a supporter of a proscribed organisation".

Al Jayoosi was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for two years at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

He was told to undertake 60 days of rehabilitation, carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and be subject to a two-year exclusion order from the NW11 area.

He was also ordered to pay £160 in costs and £128 in court fees.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Al Jayoosi's actions caused a great deal of concern within local communities, and an investigation was quickly launched as a result of a call to police.

"This case further underlines how important information from communities is to our work, and how seriously we take reports of this nature.

"I would urge anyone with concerns or suspicions about crime, or indeed any potential terrorist activity in their neighbourhood to call police – we will listen, and we will act."

Anyone with information about suspicious activity or concerns can contact police, in confidence, via 0800 789 321, or report it via the Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) website.