A man has been spared jail for terror offences after wearing T-shirts promoting banned Palestinian militant groups in public.
Feras al-Jayoosi, 34, wore clothing referring to the military wing of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in May and June, shortly after conflict broke out between Israel and Gaza.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard armed police were called to Barbury Castle, an Iron Age hill fort in Wiltshire, after a member of the public called police in the belief that his T-shirt displayed an Isis symbol on 30 May.
Al-Jayoosi, of Swindon, told officers the logo did not relate to the terrorist group and was a “symbol of resistance in Palestine”, and was not arrested after saying he would get rid of the T-shirt.
But he kept the item and wore it during a trip to Belfast days later, and told relatives he had previously gone to the Israeli embassy in London and “looked into the eyes of armed men”.
Recommended Man admits terror offences after wearing T-shirts supporting banned Palestinian groups Man charged with terror offence after wearing T-shirt ‘promoting banned group’
On 8 June, al-Jayoosi checked into a hotel in the Golders Green district of London, which is known for having a large Jewish population.
He wore the T-shirts in the area that evening and the following day, and the Metropolitan Police received a report of a “Muslim male wearing a T-shirt with a Palestinian Islamic Jihad logo and carrying a large rucksack”.
Al-Jayoosi was traced to the hotel and arrested. The court heard that he told police he was “shocked” and that his intention had not been to support terrorism.
He said he designed T-shirts online as a hobby and wanted them to draw attention to the “tragedy of what’s happening”.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of wearing an article that supports a terrorist group at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring sentenced him to 16 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, meaning he will not go to prison if he complies with conditions and commits no further offences in that time.
The judge said al-Jayoosi’s actions had aroused suspicion that he was a supporter of a terrorist group and deliberately targeted a Jewish area.
UK news in pictures Show all 50
1/50UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures 16 December 2021 Brussels sprouts are harvested by workers as they prepare for the busy Christmas period near Boston in Lincolnshire
PA
UK news in pictures 15 December 2021 Lewis Hamilton is made a Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle
PA
UK news in pictures 14 December 2021 The Royal Liver Buildings surrounded by early morning fog in Liverpool
PA
UK news in pictures 13 December 2021 People queue outside a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centre at St Thomas's Hospital in Westminster
Getty Images
UK news in pictures 12 December 2021 People take part in the Big Leeds Santa Dash in Roundhay Park, Leeds
PA
UK news in pictures 11 December 2021 People arrive at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Elland Road in Leeds,
PA
UK news in pictures 10 December 2021 Stella Moris speaks to the media after the US Government won its High Court bid to overturn a judge’s decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
PA
UK news in pictures 9 December 2021 Camels are lead around Salisbury Cathedral during a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Service
PA
UK news in pictures 8 December 2021 Margaret Keenan and Nurse May Parsons, a year after Margaret was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer vaccine
PA
UK news in pictures 7 December 2021 Snowfall in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire as Storm Barra hits the UK with disruptive winds, heavy rain and snow
PA
UK news in pictures 6 December 2021 A person tries to avoid sea spray on New Brighton promenade in Wallasey as the UK readies for the arrival of Storm Barra
Getty
UK news in pictures 5 December 2021 People release balloons during a tribute to six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes outside Emma Tustin's former address in Solihull, West Midlands, where he was murdered by his stepmother
PA
UK news in pictures 4 December 2021 People walk through a Christmas market in Trafalgar Square
Reuters
UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures 2 December 2021 Duchess of Cambridge inspects a Faberge egg at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Getty
UK news in pictures 1 December 2021 Meerkats at London Zoo with an advent calendar
PA
UK news in pictures 30 November 2021 Workers put the finishing touches to the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree ahead of the lighting ceremony later in the week
PA
UK news in pictures 29 November 2021 Home Secretary Priti Patel is greeted by a police dog at a special memorial service for Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana
Getty
UK news in pictures 28 November 2021 Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City battles for possession with Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during a match at the Etihad during snow
Manchester City/Getty
UK news in pictures 27 November 2021 Residents clear branches from a fallen tree in Birkenhead, north west England as “Storm Arwen” triggered a rare “red weather” warning
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 An aerial picture shows a worker using a quad bike and trailer to transport freshly harvested trees at Pimms Christmas Tree farm in Matfield, southeast England
AFP via Getty
UK news in pictures 26 November 2021 A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London
Reuters
UK news in pictures 25 November 2021 A murmuration of hundreds of thousands of starlings fly over a field at dusk in Cumbria, close to the Scottish border
PA
UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures 24 November 2021 Migrants are helped ashore from a RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) lifeboat at a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel.
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures 23 November 2021 The coffin of Sir David Amess is carried past politicians, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the requiem mass for the MP at Westminster Cathedral, central London
PA
UK news in pictures 22 November 2021 The scene in Dragon Rise, Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset where police have launched a murder probe after two people were found dead
Tom Wren/SWNS
UK news in pictures 21 November 2021 London-based midwife Sarah Muggleton, 27, takes part in a 'March with Midwives' in central London to highlight the crisis in maternity services
PA
UK news in pictures 20 November 2021 Police officers monitor as climate change activists sit down and block traffic during a protest action in solidarity with activists from the Insulate Britain group who received prison terms for blocking roads, on Lambeth Bridge in central London
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures 19 November 2021 A giant installation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson made from recycled clothing goes on display at Manchester Central, as part of Manchester Art Fair, in a 'wake-up call for the Prime Minister to tackle textile waste'
PA
UK news in pictures 18 November 2021 The scene at a recycling centre in Stert, near Devizes in Wiltshire after a large blaze was brought under control. The fire broke out on Wednesday night the fire service has said and local residents were advised to keep windows and doors shut due to large amounts of smoke
PA
UK news in pictures 17 November 2021 The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England
PA
UK news in pictures 16 November 2021 ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh
PA
UK news in pictures 15 November 2021 Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool
Reuters
UK news in pictures 14 November 2021 Wreaths by the Cenotaph after the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London
PA
UK news in pictures 13 November 2021 Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is ending his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Ratcliffe has spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London without food. He began his demonstration on 24 October after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, saying his family was “caught in a dispute between two states”
PA
UK news in pictures 12 November 2021 Peter Green protesting outside the Cop26 gates during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.
PA
UK news in pictures 11 November 2021 Seagulls fly around the statue entitled 'Tommy', a first World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale at dawn in Seaham, Britain
Reuters
UK news in pictures 10 November 2021 Climate activists dressed as characters inspired by the Netflix series “Squid Game” protest as they ask Samsung to go 100% renewable energy, outside the venue for COP26 in Glasgow
Reuters
UK news in pictures 9 November 2021 A deer statue silhouetted at Loch Faskally in Pitlochry, Scotland
Reuters
UK news in pictures 8 November 2021 Sunrise over St Mary's Lighthouse at Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England
PA
UK news in pictures 7 November 2021 Activists from Friends of the Earth during a demonstration calling for an end to all new oil and gas projects in the North Sea outside the UK Government's Cop26 hub during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow
PA
UK news in pictures 6 November 2021 Protesters take part in a rally organised by the Cop26 Coalition in Glasgow demanding global climate justice
PA
UK news in pictures 5 November 2021 Final touches are made to a life sized Sir David Attenborough cake surrounded by animals as part of a display created by a group of cake artists during Cake International at NEC Birmingham
PA
UK news in pictures 4 November 2021 A spectacular display of the Northern Lights seen over Derwentwater, near Keswick in the Lake District
PA
UK news in pictures 3 November 2021 Police and demonstrators at a Extinction Rebellion protest on Buchanan Street, during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow
PA
UK news in pictures 2 November 2021 A person walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire
PA
UK news in pictures 1 November 2021 Sir David Attenborough delivers a speech during Cop26 in Glasgow
Reuters
UK news in pictures 31 October 2021 Extinction Rebellion activists protest in Edinburgh as the Cop26 conference begins in Glasgow
Getty
UK news in pictures 30 October 2021 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with Mapuche leader and Minga Indigena Lead Coordinator Claflin Lafkenche (right) alongside indigenous delegates at a ceremonial gathering at the Tramway in Glasgow in a symbolic gesture to mark a unified demand for climate justice
PA
“There are many, many organisations that support the cause of the Palestinain people that have not been proscribed, because they do so in an appropriate and fair way,” he told the defendant.
“The prosecution is not about supporting the cause of the Palestinian people, it is about groups that act in ways that are violent and we should all abhor.”
District judge Goldspring said al-Jayoosi had ignored “multiple warnings from police, family and friends” to change his behaviour and “caused a great deal of harm”.
“There are many ways you could have expressed your support for the cause without ending up in court today,” he told the defendant.
The court heard that al-Jayoosi’s T-shirts indicated support for Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Both groups were proscribed as terrorist organisations by the British government in 2001, and were involved in the May Israel-Gaza conflict.
Al-Jayoosi had designed the T-shirts himself earlier this year, and had them printed through an online service, while making hundreds of online searches relating to Israel and Jews.
Relatives and friends had told al-Jayoosi to stop designing and wearing the T-shirts, with one sending him the government’s list of proscribed terrorist groups and writing: “Have you read what I just sent you or are you stupid, why are you so eager to get locked up?”
A defence barrister said al-Jayoosi had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and had an interest in “current events and social injustices”, previously making a T-shirt showing a starving child in Yemen.
The court heard that he lost his job after his arrest and may struggle to find employment in future because of his conviction for terror offences.
District judge Goldspring ordered al-Jayoosi to carry out a 60-day programme on “reducing the risk of radicalisation”, 100 hours of unpaid work and imposed a two-year exclusion order banning him from visiting Golders Green.
The case had been investigated by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
The Terrorism Act 2000 makes it illegal to wear an item of clothing in a public place that suggests they are a member or supporter of a terrorist group. The offence is punishable by a fine or a prison term of up to six months.
The British government has banned 77 groups under the same law, including Isis, al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups, as well as neo-Nazi and separatist organisations.