A Thornton Heath man who shared a video featuring Isis fighters and boasted of establishing an Islamic State in the UK has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. 

Mohammed Alam, 31, was convicted of distributing terrorist material on Tuesday after posing under the username "Cyber-Sultan" to send the footage to two chatroom users in July last year. 

Alam, of Highbury Avenue, had asked the pair to watch a video "regarding ISIS in Prophesy [sic]" and criticised them for their lack of of support for the group. 

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Before he was sentenced today at Kingston Crown Court, Alam’s lawyer Mozammel Hossain said his client suffered from schizophrenia and had been “described by the doctor on many occasions as naïve”.

Alam even expressed his wish to fight against Isis three months after sharing the video, said Mr Hossain, who added: “Maybe, if not for his illness, he would have never been in this position.”

Detectives found other material supporting violent extremism, including magazines celebrating the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks, when they searched Alam’s house following his arrest in December last year.

Sentencing, Judge Peter Lodder QC said Alam’s mental health problems “may have contributed to the poor judgement that [he] exercised”.

But he told him: “This does not justify your activity.

“Those who join the ranks of ISIS go on to commit murder and other atrocities.”

During his trial, Mr Hossain argued that the video - which featured images of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and described by one anti-terror officer as a "ready-made recruiting tool"– had not been created as terrorism propaganda.

The footage depicted an ancient prophecy by the prophet Muhammed about the future of Syria, said Mr Hossain, rather than a call to arms for would-be terrorist recruits.

He said the publisher, the controversial Turkish thinker Adnan Oktar, had publicly criticised Isis’s barbaric practices - a fact accepted by anti-terror officer Detective Constable Rob Dowling.

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Cross-examining the detective, the lawyer asked whether there was "anything in that video that glorifies terrorism and Isis".

Det Con Dowling said: "No, they're talking about their brutality and talking about them doing bad.

"But in the context of prophesied events and the end of days [and] this existential battle... that makes people want to go and join.”

Prosecuting barrister Mark Weeks, employing a blunt analogy to describe Alam’s use of the video, told the court: “The fact in itself that a baseball bat is legitimate would not mitigate the defendant if they were to bludgeon someone to death.”

In mitigation, Mr Hossain: “This was a young man that was very disturbed at the time. That can’t be ruled out in this case.

“He has been in prison for over six months and it has had a huge impact on him and any doubt he had about certain things, he tells me that those are now cleared, and no doubt the result of this case will act as the biggest lesson in his life.”

Alam, who spent much of the sentencing hearing with his eyes closed, remained silent as he was led away from the dock.