Man Convicted Of Funding Syrian Extremists

The uncle of a jihadi fighter has been jailed for five-and-half-years for infiltrating Syria-bound aid convoys to smuggle £4,500 to help his nephew buy a gun.

Father-of-four Syed Hoque, 37, was found guilty of two charges of funding terrorism on December 23 and was today given a concurrent sentence at the Old Bailey.

His "fixer" Mashoud Miah, 28, was convicted on one count of the same charge by a majority verdict following the trial and jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Sentencing, Judge John Bevan QC said: "Both of you sought to abuse the legitimate aid convoys which depend on integrity if they are to function properly."

Prosecutor Annabel Darlow QC said during the trial that the aid convoys were used as a, 

"means of moving money and other property out of the UK to Syria"

Hoque, a former probation officer, sent £4,500 to his nephew who was fighting with an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria.

His nephew Mohammed Choudhury, 26, sent WhatsApp messages begging for money to buy a Dragunov sniper rifle.

Hoque was put in touch with gas engineer and "fixer" Miah, who travelled to and from Syria with aid convoys in 2012 and 2013.

Miah, who was convicted of helping Hoque get £1,500 to Syria, was cleared of a further charge over an alleged plot to create a "night team" in Syria.

Hoque and Miah looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as they received the sentences on Friday.

Defending, Lawrence McNulty QC said Hoque had

"concern for the weak and the underprivileged",

and Miah's defence counsel David Gottlieb said Miah was the kind of person who would

"try to help anybody".

Judge Bevan dismissed suggestions that they had acted on moral grounds, stating:

"There is no such thing as noble-cause terrorism."

Mr McNulty argued  "the British Government has supported rebel groups by funding ... and the supply of arms to the rebel groups" on a more extensive basis.

But Judge Bevan dismissed the attempt to "turn this to some extent into a political trial".

He said Hoque had acted as though he was the "only sheriff in town" and claimed it was "unattractive" that he was "prepared to encourage" his then 22-year-old nephew Choudhury to fight in Syria.

During the trial, Hoque said he knew that Syrian President Bashar Assad was a "tyrant" who was "killing indiscriminately" and that Choudhury initially told him he was in Syria for "humanitarian" reasons.

He later learned his nephew was fighting in Syria

"in defence of those who cannot defend themselves".

However, he denied being aware of any connection with Jabhat al-Nusra, a terrorist organisation representing al-Qaeda in Syria.

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