Three Islamist extremists were jailed yesterday for engaging in “cyber-jihad” by inciting terrorism on the internet.

They promoted martyrdom and holy war through online forums and websites, including discussions about a plot by 45 doctors to explode a car bomb at an American naval base. It was the first prosecution based entirely on the distribution of jihadi material via the internet.

All three sat through a two-month trial before changing their pleas to guilty this week at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.

Younes Tsouli, 23, the ringleader, who ran an internet site that regularly featured the beheadings of Western hostages in the Middle East, was imprisoned for ten years. Tariq al-Daour, who was also involved in a £1.8 million fraud, was jailed for 6½ years. Waseem Mughal was given a 7½year sentence for his role.

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Hidden among clothing were goods selected and purchased to support the activities of terrorists, a court was told

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All were students who lived with their parents in London and Kent. They admitted inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism, wholly or partly outside Britain, which would constitute murder if committed in England or Wales.

They also admitted conspiring together and with others to defraud banks, credit-card companies and charge-card companies. Al-Daour pleaded guilty to a further count of conspiracy to defraud.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Openshaw described the men as having engaged in “cyber-jihad” and having encouraged others to kill nonbelievers. He said: “Much of the material was directed at young men, who are more likely to be impressionable and are, of course, of military age. Much of it does amount to incitement to commit murder by way of encouragement to join the call to arms, to participate in jihad, to go on and commit an act of terrorism. Some of the material went further and amounted to a direct and obvious incitement to murder.”

He said that there was considerable footage on the websites of beheadings, the terrorist atrocities committed against New York, Washington, Madrid and London, and people extolling the virtues of martyrdom. One of the posts, which referred to the July 7 bombings in London, in which 52 people died, said: “From the moment the infidels cry, I laugh.”

Tsouli used the tag name Irhabi007, Arabic for terrorist and the code number of James Bond. The judge said that none of them had come close to carrying out acts of violence themselves. He ordered that Tsouli be deported to Morocco, his birthplace, after his sentence. The court was told that the men had close links with al-Qaeda and believed that there was a global conspiracy to wipe out Islam.

The judge dismissed claims from Tsouli’s defence counsel, Alan Hedworth, QC, that his client had changed his opinions since his arrest two years ago. The men promoted the killing of Christians and Jews. All Muslims were urged to carry out their “religious duty” and join the fight to wipe out “kuffars”, or nonbelievers. The judge, who asked the meaning of a website, was defended by the jury in the “cyber” terrorism trial. At the end of the trial yesterday, Mr Justice Openshaw was handed a note from the jury indicating that it was their request that had prompted his question. It read: “We, the jury, would like you to know that we are sorry for any embarrassment.”

The judge was reported to have said: “The trouble is, I don’t understand the language. I don’t really understand what a website is.”

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