Isis supporter who said ‘attack’ video was just dog command jailed for encouraging terrorism

Shehroz Iqbal committed second terror offence while on bail for dealing drugs

Shehroz Iqbal, 29, was convicted of encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist material (Metropolitan Police)

An Isis-supporting drug dealer has been jailed for encouraging terror attacks, after claiming he was merely practicing dog commands.

Shehroz Iqbal posted a video of London landmarks in an extremist WhatsApp group on 11 March, the Old Bailey heard.

While the camera panned across Waterloo Bridge and the Royal Festival Hall, he could be heard saying: “This is my spot akhi (brother) central London. Attack, attack.”

Judge Katz QC said he posted the video in an Islamist WhatsApp group to urge “likeminded extremists” to carry out terror attacks.

Iqbal claimed that he was saying “attack, attack” because he wanted a German Shepherd like his former pet dog, Rocky, and was practicing commands.

But the judge called his explanation “absurd” at a sentencing hearing on Friday.

“You had joined the ranks of radicalised extremists who support Isis in the UK, some of whom are notorious,” Judge Katz said.

“I am sure that when you made and posted that short film, you intended members of the WhatsApp group to be encouraged to commission acts of terrorism.”

Iqbal did not give evidence at his trial but also told police that he had gone for a cycle ride to the Hayward Gallery and made the video to show off his bike.

But a jury rejected his claims to unanimously find the 29-year-old guilty of encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist material in October.

Prosecutor Kate Wilkinson said: “That was a video not showing off his bike but rather saying to his friends 'look what I might do' - carry out an attack in central London in a public spot just like the Royal Festival Hall or Waterloo Bridge, just as others who shared his extremist Islamic views had done before on 9/11, in Manchester and on London Bridge.”

Iqbal was jailed for six years for the terror offences, and another 30 months for three drug offences that were also committed this year.

Judge Katz gave him a three-year extended licence period, when he will be monitored following his release from prison, and a 15-year terrorist notification requirement.

The Old Bailey heard that Iqbal had a lengthy criminal history dating back a decade, including drug offences, shoplifting, threatening behaviour, stirring up racial hatred, racially-aggravated offences and driving offences.

Two days after posting the “attack, attack” video, Iqbal was stopped while driving a car and found to possess cocaine and cannabis resin with a combined street value of around £260, and £420 in cash.

Police seized his phone and released him on bail, and on 26 March Iqbal posted an Isis propaganda video on Facebook.

The court heard that the footage, which featured an image of a dead body, was viewed more than 200 times on his public page.

On 6 April he was arrested again and analysis of his electronic devices uncovered the video and later, the “attack, attack” footage.

Iqbal pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs between 11 and 16 February, possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and possession of cannabis resin.

He denied both terror offences but was convicted at trial.

The court heard that he had been on the Home Office Desistance and Disengagement programme”, which aims to deradicalise extremist offenders, for more than a year at the time.

Judge Katz said Iqbal had participated voluntarily in the programme and claimed that he wanted more help in the time between his two terror offences.

“When I consider what you were actually doing and saying on social media I do not accept that you had a genuine change of attitude,” he told the defendant.

“When dealing with the authorities you will say whatever suits you at the time.”

Ms Wilkinson said Iqbal had been “covering up his true beliefs” during meetings for the Desistance and Disengagement programme.

Concerns are mounting over its effectiveness following three terror attacks committed in England over the past year by prisoners who underwent deradicalisaton work.

Iqbal was participating in the scheme because of a previous conviction from 2019, when he was prosecuted for stirring up racial hatred with a series of antisemitic posters.

Iqbal, of Kenwood Gardens in Ilford, was spared jail last September and given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years, rehabilitation activity, unpaid work and £100 fine for breaching another suspended sentence.

That was for sending a threatening email to a member of the local Jewish community threatening to visit their office and calling them a “Zionist murdering community”.

The Old Bailey heard that Iqbal breached the terms of both suspended sentences by committing the new terror offences in March.

Defence barrister Laurie-Anne Power described his life as “chaotic” and said he suffered from mental health issues, drug addiction and alcohol abuse.

“At the time that he committed these offences he was isolated, lonely and bored,” she added, saying Iqbal “sought to impress” extremists in the WhatsApp group and was “desperate to please”.

“He says he felt that for the first time in his life he had a belonging, he felt that he fit in and he was listened to,” Ms Power told the court.

“He is the type of person who people with extremist mindsets prey on.”

She said that Iqbal was unemployed at the time of the offences, after leaving a job as a carpet fitter, and only dealt drugs for a “short period of time”.

Judge Katz ruled that he was a dangerous offender, telling him: “You have blamed your offending on everything, from drugs and mental health issues to difficulty opening a bank account and ironically feeling you were the victim of racism.”