Terror prisoner set for release had called for ‘year of fear’

The government is so concerned about the imminent release of Mohammed Zahir Khan that it is rushing through emergency legislation to stop him from gaining his freedom.

The terrorist convict, who is due for release within weeks, called for a “year of fear” and posted comments saying there was “nothing wrong with chopping off heads of your enemies”.

The 42-year-old shopkeeper from Sunderland was arrested as part of Operation Seabee in May 2017 after he posted tweets on Facebook and made statements supporting Islamic State and seeking to encourage terrorist attacks.

Khan had previously been arrested in June 2014 for social media postings expressing hatred for Shias and the West, but on that occasion was convicted of non-terrorist offences.

On 4 December 2016, he published a statement on his Twitter account calling for “death to Shias” – a rival sect of Islam. On 30 December, he tweeted a series of images, one of which appeared to show a person aiming a firearm with the words “The Lone Mujahid [fighter].”

The next day he replied to another user: “NOTHING wrong with chopping off heads of your enemies.”

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