Sheffield man guilty of posting terror video after hospital bombing

A man has been convicted of disseminating Islamic State (IS) propaganda on social media after the bombing at a Liverpool hospital.

Ahmiri Ahmedi Azizi, 24, from Sheffield, shared video footage the day after a device exploded in a taxi outside Liverpool Women's Hospital.

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

Azizi is due to be sentenced for seven terrorist offences on 9 September.

Bomber Emad Al Swealmeen died when the device exploded outside the hospital on 14 November 2021.

The court heard Azizi, an asylum seeker who came to the UK from Iran, had posted the video on Instagram or through the encrypted Telegram app between June and November last year.

Later that month he viewed a video on how to make a silencer for an automatic rifle, jurors were told.

Azizi, of Mount Street, Sheffield, was also found guilty of viewing or accessing terrorist information and failing to disclose the pin number for his phone.

His co-defendant, Mohammed Hussini, 19, also from Iran, was convicted on four counts of the same offence by sending videos via Telegram between August and November 2021.

Azizi claimed his phone was hacked by or on behalf of the Iranian government, while Hussini, of south-east London, said he was aiming to help fellow Kurdish asylum seekers by highlighting how they were treated by IS.

Det Ch Supt Peter Craig, said: "Today's outcome highlights the seriousness of the offences committed by these individuals."

Judge Alan Conrad QC warned a "significant custodial sentence" was likely when the pair are sentenced.

Both defendants were remanded in custody.

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