LONDON, Nov 22: A Pakistani student who called on British Muslims to join extremists waging jihad in the Middle East and Afghanistan was jailed for six years by a court Thursday.

Abdul Rahman, 25, was sentenced after pleading guilty to possessing articles for the purpose of terrorism, dissemination of terrorist propaganda and aiding or abetting the breach of a control order – a form of house arrest.

He was arrested with a letter apparently from a Muslim fighter described as a “call to arms” and was linked to a “radical cell” committed to fighting jihad with their “Muslim brothers”, prosecutors said.

Sentencing him at Manchester Crown Court, Judge Clement Goldstone told Rahman: “You were prepared to go to great lengths in supporting jihad, not only by sending money to Pakistan but by paying for the flight of a controlled man back to Pakistan.” He added: “You, and others like you, who espouse religious views bring Islam and the Quran into disrepute and are responsible for the mistrust by which even law-abiding Muslims are held.”

Rahman, of Manchester, came to Britain on a student visa but quit his course a day after it started and moved to the city, where he met a group of other Muslim men. He later helped one of them to breach a control order and flee to Pakistan.—AFP