Three jailed over holy war campaign

Targeting impressionable young men, they promoted martyrdom and the killing of Christians and Jews through a series of online forums and websites.

Woolwich Crown Court heard footage of beheadings, terrorist atrocities and coalition forces bombing Iraqi civilians all featured highly. All Muslims were urged to carry out their "religious duty" and join the fight to wipe out "kuffars" or non-believers.

It is the first time anyone in the UK has been prosecuted for inciting terrorist murder purely based on the internet, the court heard.

Younes Tsouli, 23, who set up and ran several sites over the summer of 2005 was described as the most prominent of the three, and imprisoned for 10 years at Woolwich Crown Court. His co-defendant Tariq Al-Daour - who was also involved in a £1.8 million fraud - was jailed for six-and-a-half years, while Waseem Mughal received seven-and-a-half-years.

Earlier this week, all three pleaded guilty to inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism wholly or partly outside the United Kingdom which would, if committed in England and Wales, constitute murder.

Mr Justice Openshaw said the Metropolitan Police had trawled through a "hugely gigantic" amount of material - computers, CDs and memory sticks - to bring the men to justice. The documents, if printed out and piled up, would stand tens of thousands of feet high.

Passing sentence, the judge described the men as engaging in "cyber jihad", encouraging others to kill non-believers. But he added that none of the defendants had carried out acts of violence themselves. Referring to Tsouli, he said: "He came no closer to a bomb or a firearm than a computer keyboard."

He said the Moroccan-born terrorist, who lived in Shepherd's Bush, west London, but had been given indefinite leave to remain, should be deported after serving his sentence.

The court heard how British-born Mughal, 24, of Chatham, Kent, and UAE-born Al-Daour, 21, of Bayswater, west London, provided Tsouli with the means to make fraudulent payments to set up websites. Mr Justice Openshaw said the forums repeatedly called for the "death, destruction and humiliation of all enemies of Islam". Although they had restricted access, he said their influence would have been significant.