Convicted terrorist Mizanur Rahman has used TikTok to tell almost 2,000 followers that most people jailed for terrorism offences were imprisoned for “reading a magazine” or holding a placard, while attacking Britain and Muslim police officers.
Rahman, 43, a former associate of hate preacher Anjem Choudary, has posted a series of anti-British videos and has received almost 10,000 likes, amid concerns that his material could influence young Muslims.
Security expert Professor Anthony Glees said Rahman’s words could have “horrific repercussions”, accusing him of trying to persuade impressionable Muslims that Islamist jihadists were not terrorists or killers.
“It’s highly toxic nonsense,” said Professor Glees, of the University of Buckingham. He added that Rahman was exploiting “a barmy logic that can all too easily appeal to the TikTok generation”.
Professor Glees said almost 1,000 young British Muslims were referred to the Prevent counter-terror platform last year, with 36 per cent aged between 11 and 15.
He also referred to a report by Dame Sara Khan which found that 29 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds believed violence could be justified for political purposes. Fifteen per cent of that group were described as “violence fixated”.
What Mizanur Rahman said on TikTok
In a video captioned “The Truth about Terrorism convictions”, Rahman claimed: “I would say 99 per cent of the people convicted of terrorism – their cases have nothing to do with violence.”
He added: “I would say even 100 per cent, but I am leaving that room just in case there is one case I do not know about.”
Rahman said he could not think of a terrorism case involving somebody who had killed another person, and argued that people were convicted for “reading a magazine” or taking part in protests.
He referred to people arrested during protests against what he called the “genocide in Gaza”, saying they included men, women, elderly people and disabled people who had held placards bearing the phrase “from the river to the sea”.
In another video, Rahman criticised Muslims who wanted to join the police. Speaking about somebody who was said to be “obsessed with joining the Met Police”, he claimed that financial ambition could lead people to become sinners or “kafir”, meaning a non-believer or infidel.
He also described Britain, the United States and Israel as an “axis of evil”, claiming they benefited from keeping Islamophobia alive. Rahman said the wars involving those countries had nothing to do with alleged atrocities, but were driven by ideology.
His videos were reposted on TikTok by supporters using a new account after his previous personal account was removed by the platform following an earlier report.
The latest material appeared days after Rahman was reported to have used TikTok to promote Islamic books, including titles instructing women to seek their husbands’ permission before leaving the house.
Rahman has written eight books under the name Abu Baraa. The material has been described as discouraging Muslims from holding elected office and promoting interpretations of Islamic law that call for homosexuals to be killed.
Rahman was jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2016 after being convicted of inviting support for Isis alongside Choudary. He was released in October 2018.
Choudary, described as one of Britain’s most prolific Islamist terror radicalisers, was jailed for 28 years in 2024 for directing the banned group al-Muhajiroun.
Rahman, an accountant and father of four, had previously been jailed for six years in 2007 with two other men after being convicted of soliciting the murder of Western troops in Iraq.
Professor Glees said any glorification of terrorism would be a serious criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2006, and called for counter-terrorism police to act before it was too late.
Rahman was contacted for comment.
