Rapist barber jailed for 12 years after sending thousands of pounds from COVID grants to ISIS
5 January 2023, 15:30
A convicted rapist and barbershop owner has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of sending tens of thousands of pounds to Islamic State fighters in Syria.
Tarek Namouz, 43, from west London, was arrested in May 2021 in a pre-planned operation by counter terrorism officers.
Namouz, who was radicalised in prison after being convicted of rape in 2014, was found to have sent around £11,280 to Islamic State fighters in his homeland of Syria - although he was recorded telling one visitor in prison he had sent around £25,000.
After analysing his phone, officers discovered messages between Namouz and a Daesh supporter in Syria.
The evidence included two videos – one which gave instructions on how to create and improvised explosive device, and another on detailing how to carry out knife attacks.
Other Whatsapp messages saw him threaten to 'burn Christianity', Kingston Crown Court heard.
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After Namouz was found guilty of in December, Judge Peter Lodder KC handed down the sentence at Kingston Crown Court.
The sentence also included a further year on extended licence.
The judge had previously said he would "explore the implications" of Namouz’s prior rape conviction at the January sentencing.
After thanking the judge, Namouz shouted at an officer: "May Allah destroy you".
Namouz had previously served a decade behind bars where he was allegedly radicalised.
He was found guilty of locking up an 18-year-old in the Prince Public House in Wood Green while his victim was in the toilets.
Opening Boss Crew Barbers in Olympia after his release, Namouz then cashed in on COVID by taking advantage of low-cost loans.
Claiming the loans in 2021, he then transferred the money to a schoolfriend fighting with Isis.
Head of Scotland Yard’s counter terror command, Richard Smith, added: ‘People like Namouz who provide money to terrorist groups - both in the UK and overseas - are enabling others to go and commit serious and deadly attacks, and we will always pursue and investigate those people and seek to bring them to justice.
