Luqmaan Ahmed, a 24-year-old Primark security guard, has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after posting Islamic State propaganda videos and images of himself masked while wielding a large knife on Instagram. Manchester Crown Court heard that the videos, which the judge described as "horrific," were directed at an audience sympathetic to the extremist group and included footage of fighters in combat, captured prisoners, executions and IS flags. This was Ahmed's third conviction for encouraging terrorism, with his previous convictions dating back to 2018 when, as a teenager, he posted material promoting Syrian militant groups.

The court was told that Ahmed posted videos in September 2022, November 2022 and July 2023 across multiple Instagram accounts after his initial account was closed. The November 2022 story generated 179 follows, whilst the July 2023 story generated 165 follows and featured Ahmed in woodland wearing a balaclava alongside images of a woman, a child and a man with a gun allegedly encouraging viewers to fight non-Muslims. Although Ahmed's defence argued that his intention was to attract extremist sympathisers in order to persuade them away from terrorism, the judge stated that the truth of this claim was "difficult to see" and that Ahmed "knew what he was doing was wrong." He must serve two-thirds of his sentence in prison before release and will be subject to an additional year's extended licence.