Shazad Ali (Image: Counter Terrorism Police Wales)
Last Updated: 8 March 2026
A 21-year-old man from Newport has been jailed for five years after using social media to promote the so-called Islamic State group and attempting to recruit a teenager to the banned organisation.
Shazad Ali was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Friday to five years in custody, with an additional two years on licence following his release.
The offences
The court heard Ali became immersed in IS ideology between July 2024 and January 2025, spending much of his time in his bedroom using his phone to spread propaganda for the group across Instagram and TikTok.
Ali posted hundreds of videos promoting IS on both platforms. To avoid detection by platform algorithms, he disguised violent pro-IS imagery with innocent content, including footage of Pride marches and mixed martial arts.
Christopher Amis, prosecuting, played three of the videos to the court, one of which featured Mohammed Emwazi – known as Jihadi John – holding a scalpel and a knife while audio spoke of “slaughter”.
During one TikTok chat, Ali claimed he worked to create media for IS, which Mr Amis said “reinforces the notion the defendant was working as an influencer and propagandist for Isis”.
Recruitment attempts
Ali exchanged around 1,700 messages with a 17-year-old boy over two months in an effort to recruit him to IS from al-Qaeda. He also told others he would be “the next spokesman for Dawla in Wales”, referring to al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq al-Sham – meaning the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
The court heard Ali communicated extensively online with others he believed were linked to IS and successfully recruited six men into its ranks.
Judge Parker told Ali: “In addition, through online communication you were able to recruit six men into the ranks of Isis.”
Telegram groups and explosives document
Ali created chat groups on Telegram used to discuss IS, involving people he believed were members of the organisation. The judge said he acted as a “gatekeeper” to a man called Abu Qatada, whom Ali believed to be an IS member fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, vetting those who wanted access to chats where the man was present.
One group, called Lone Wolves, had 11 members. A document providing instructions on how to make an explosive was posted in the chat and downloaded automatically onto Ali’s device. When another participant asked how to obtain the ingredients, Ali replied: “If from the UK, I have them all, I can send.”
The judge described this as an “escalation in your behaviour and involvement”, though noted none of the chemicals were found despite extensive searches at Ali’s family home.
Ali told police he had first come into contact with Abu Qatada while playing online games such as Roblox, and claimed he had acted under pressure from the man. Investigators found no evidence to support that claim.
Guilty pleas and sentencing
Ali pleaded guilty to four offences under the Terrorism Act – supporting a proscribed organisation, two counts of encouraging terrorism, and one of possessing a document likely to be useful to a terrorist.
The prosecution offered no evidence on charges that Ali was a member of IS and that he possessed a second document about explosives. Judge Parker directed not guilty verdicts on those charges.
Sentencing Ali, Judge Parker said acting as a recruiter and propagandist for the group had been “harmful and dangerous” and told him he hoped Ali would return to the “ordinary, happy life which your parents so long for you” after being deradicalised.
‘A very dangerous threat’
Speaking after the case, Det Ch Insp Leanne Williams of Counter Terrorism Police Wales described Ali as representing a “very clear, very dangerous threat to the public”.
“Ali visibly expressed his support for the Islamic State and it was our overriding priority to ensure the public were protected from both him and the abhorrent rhetoric he promoted,” she said.
Ali’s defence barrister, Jodie-Jane Hitchcock, said he had a “very modest number of followers” on his accounts and was socially isolated.
“He found himself exposed to a world online where his isolation was exploited and he found an outlet,” she said, adding that he was remorseful for his actions.
