A woman has been found guilty of encouraging terrorism by retweeting a speech by the Islamic State leader.
Mary Kaya, from Batley, had around 30 Twitter followers when she retweeted the link to an audio clip by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Kaya denied posting the link but a jury at Leeds Crown Court found her guilty by majority verdict of distributing a terrorist publication likely to encourage people to participate in terrorism.
Kaya wept after the jury returned the verdict following nearly five hours of deliberations.
The week-long trial heard that Kaya’s Twitter account was monitored after her husband was arrested during a raid by counter terrorism police at a previous address in Dewsbury.
The account, named Justice and with the handle @GardenofGold, showed that the link to al-Baghdadi’s speech, Even If The Disbelievers Despise Such, was retweeted on November 13 2014.
Simon Davis, prosecuting, said: “The message was aimed at encouraging anyone who listened to or read it to participate in terrorist activity.”
The speech stated there was an obligation upon Muslims to engage in violent jihad and that anyone not behaving in that way would face divine retribution.
A computer seized from Kaya’s home was used to search for and view information about radical Islamic preachers, supporters of IS, people who had travelled to Syria, and footage of explosions and vicious attacks.
Kaya was arrested and interviewed on October 21 2015.
She told police she used Twitter “to see what was going on in the world” adding: “No-one else uses my account so if there’s anything on there, I’m the only one guilty.”
She later claimed she never posted anything and believed it must have been hacked or that someone else must have had access.
She will be sentenced on March 27.
Detective Chief Superintendent Clive Wain, Head of the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “It is clear from the evidence presented that Kaya openly demonstrated support for Daesh (also known IS) and their ideology by the posts made via her Twitter account.
“The material posted included a message from Daesh leader Al-Baghdadi and a particular speech which glorified terrorism and encouraged listeners to carry out terrorist acts.
“Due to the vast reach and influence of social media, the implications of posting such material should not be underestimated; Daesh and other terrorist groups are continuing to use the online space to encourage support for their objectives and to provoke individuals to carry out attacks abroad and in the UK.
