A "reckless" father, who brandished a decommissioned AK-47 assault rifle as he threatened to "blow away" the English Defence League (EDL) in an "inflammatory" video, has been jailed for 27 months. The footage of Habeeb Khan in his living room in Birmingham was posted on 6 August, during the height of the civil unrest this summer.
It was widely shared by the far-right on social media, attracting 1.4 million views on an extreme right-wing account on X, the city's crown court heard on Monday. Between 30 July and 7 August, about 29 anti-immigration demonstrations and riots took place across 27 towns and cities in the UK. Many of these were violent, with people attacking mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.
Passing sentence on Monday, Judge Melbourne Inman KC called Khan "very reckless" as he "caused a message to be sent on X" at a time of "extremely heightened social tension". The defendant said the video had been posted by a friend who he did not want to name.
Khan, a married father, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to making threats of death or serious harm contrary to the Online Safety Act. He also admitted threatening behaviour relating to homophobic and abusive comments made after he was taken to hospital by police on the day of his arrest.
In a clip played in court, Khan put a magazine in the weapon and said: "EDL we're coming to f****** blow you away you m*************.". Other parts of the video, in which threats were made to the ex-leader of the now-defunct group, Tommy Robinson, were not played at the sentencing hearing.
