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Three found guilty of web extremism plot

Jihadi literature spread online

Three British Muslims face prison after a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court in London today found them guilty of involvement in an online plot to spread jihadism.

Dewsbury schoolboy Hammaad Munshi was 16 when he was arrested in 2006. Along with 23-year-old Aabid Khan, from Bradford, and 23-year-old Sultan Muhammed, from Manningham, he'll be sentenced for offences under the Terrorism Act. A fourth man, 30-year-old south Londoner Ahmed Sulieman, was cleared.

The court heard how police raided Munshi's home to discover instructions on how to make napalm, the BBC reports. Computer forensics evidence was produced showing he had downloaded extremist propaganda and made notes on martyrdom.

Munshi was found guilty of "making a record of information likely to be useful in terrorism" but cleared of a possession charge. Khan and Muhammed were found guilty of making records and possession of terror documents.

Phone records showed phone calls between Munshi and Khan in 2005 and 2006. In a web conversation they discussed how to smuggle a sword through airport security. Khan was billed as the leader of the "cell", and was said to have recruited Munshi at 15.

Khan and Muhammed will be sentenced tomorrow. Munshi will receive his sentence in September to allow reports to be prepared.

In February five British Muslim students overturned their convictions on similar charges when the Court of Appeal ruled the original verdict unsafe. Their lawyers successfully argued that although they posessed extremist material they had not sought to incite acts of terror, and had been wrongly jailed for a "thought crime". ®

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