Man 'posted terror video' after Liverpool hospital bombing

An asylum seeker posted Islamic State (IS) propaganda on social media after the bombing at a Liverpool hospital, a jury has heard.

Ahmiri Ahmedi Azizi, 24, from Sheffield, is said to have shared the footage the day after the attack.

The video encouraged terrorist attacks against the West, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Mr Azizi denies seven counts of disseminating terrorist material between June and November 2021.

Emad Al Swealmeen died when a device exploded in a taxi outside Liverpool Women's Hospital on 14 November.

Prosecutor Denise Breen-Lawton said Mr Azizi, who came to the UK from Iran, posted the video on Instagram.

She told the court that while people were "recoiling in horror" from the attack, Mr Azizi was "sharing a public video encouraging others to commit violent attacks on the West".

He posted "a terrorist propaganda video by Islamic State encouraging attacks" and "instructing methods of attack with knives and rifles", she said.

Later that month, he also watched a video on making a silencer for an automatic rifle.

Mr Azizi's Kurdish co-defendant, Mohammed Hussini, 19, also from Iran, is charged with four counts of the same offence by sending videos via Telegram between August and November 2021.

Both supported IS and intended to encourage terrorism, or were being reckless as to whether they might, the jury was told.

The prosecution said Mr Azizi's defence case will claim his phone was hacked by or on behalf of the Iranian government, and the video aimed to assist fellow Kurds applying for UK asylum by highlighting how they were treated by IS.

John Jones QC, defending Mr Azizi, said his client had been trafficked to the UK and the rivalry and hatred between IS and Kurds was "bitter and divisive".

Mr Jones said Mr Azizi has aspirations for Kurdistan to become an independent nation and was a vocal opponent of the Iran government and IS.

"The material on the defendant's phone is in complete opposition of everything he believes in," he added.

John Harrison QC, representing Mr Hussini, from south-east London, said his client came to the UK in 2018 from Turkey.

The defendant was previously detained and tortured by authorities in Iran while his father was executed because he was a member of the Peshmerga military force, he said.

Mr Harrison said: "He believes IS share the same ideals as the Iranian state. He regards both as terroristic organisations who commit atrocities against sections of the Kurdish community."

The trial continues.

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