Extremists jailed in UK for funding ISIS

Two UK-based Eritreans sent money to high-level contact in Iraq before they were arrested

Ayub Nurhussein, 29, and Said Mohammed, 30, have been jailed for sending funds to support ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria. Greater Manchester Police

Two Eritrean extremists have been jailed in the UK for sending money to a man in Iraq with connections to senior ISIS leaders.

Said Mohammed, 30, and Ayub Nurhussein, 29, sent a total of £2,700 in a series of transfers to the contact in Iraq.

Detectives found details of messages between the Iraqi-based militant, Mohammed, who lived in Manchester, northwest England, and Nurhussein in south London.

They transferred the money after their contact in Iraq urged them to support the increasingly embattled terrorist group.

“The situation is bad, my brother,” the man, named only as Wassim, told Mohammed, a London court was told. “If there are brothers... that would still give support, tell them this is a time of seriousness and this is a time when the Mujahideen really need you.”

They sent the money in three separate tranches in April to July 2019 via contacts in Denmark, police said.

Counter-terrorist officers arrested the pair at their homes in July 2009 after the last of the transfers. Searches uncovered mobile phones with chat records of their plans.

The court heard that the radicalised pair did whatever they could to support the ISIS cause including wanted to travel to join their ranks. They were jailed on Friday for funding terrorism.

Nurhussein, who was also found with terrorist bomb-making manuals and sharing ISIS beheading videos, was jailed for nine-and-a-half years; Mohammed was jailed for five years and three months.

Judge Rebecca Poulet said: “I conclude that both men have deeply held radicalised beliefs and that they were and possibly still are committed to the cause of the proscribed organisation Islamic State.

“It is quite clear that both men were wholehearted supporters of this terrorist cause and that both wished the funds to go to support the fighters of that organisation.”