AN ASIAN-origin man has been sentenced to two years and four months in prison for using a fake identity to incite racial hatred online during last month’s riots in various parts of the country.
Ehsan Hussain, 25, admitted to posting offensive messages on social media and was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.
A West Midlands Police investigation found that Hussain used a false identity belonging to an innocent person to post inflammatory messages in a Telegram chat group with over 12,000 members during far-right and anti-immigrant unrest in August.
Police presented screenshots of Hussain’s posts, which called for unrest in Birmingham’s Alum Rock and Bordesley Green areas and encouraged racial violence.
“This has been an excellent but complex investigation,” said chief superintendent Richard North from Birmingham Police.
“We thank members of the public for alerting us to these posts, which was crucial at a time when we were seeing lots of rumour, speculation, and misinformation online; we know this can be extremely harmful to all of our communities. We do not tolerate violence in our towns and cities, or those who use social media to encourage such violence,” he added.
The police were informed that an unrelated member of the public had been falsely identified as the source of the messages. They confirmed that the individual has been contacted and is receiving support.
During the court proceedings, it was revealed that Hussain, using a fake name, posted messages aimed at Pakistanis, often including racial slurs. Judge Melbourne Inman noted that the Telegram chat group where Hussain posted was frequented by individuals holding extreme right-wing and racist views.
The messages are believed to have contributed to the violence that occurred in various parts of the country following the killing of three young schoolgirls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, near Liverpool, on 29 July.
Hussain will serve half of his sentence in custody and the other half on parole under strict conditions. The judge also ordered the destruction of the phone used to send the messages.
(With inputs from PTI)
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