A Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom on Thursday sentenced a Nigerian, Adeyinka Shoyemi, to four-and-a-half years in prison for encouraging v#olence and r@cial h#tred against an ethnic group in Nigeria.
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The 45-year-old was arrested in August 2019 after a series of social media posts created by accounts named “Adeyinka Grandson” were reported to police via the online reporting tool.
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The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command launched an investigation in March 2019 as a direct result of members of the public raising concerns to police about online social media posts which contained comments aimed at particular ethnic groups based in Nigeria.
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The posts which had a commentary encouraging att@cks against certain ethnic groups were assessed by a specialist group of officers in the Metropolitan Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). After assessing the posts, the officers determined these posts were potentially in breach of UK legislation and a formal investigation was launched.
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Shoyemi was first arrested in August 2019 at his home address. Officers searched his address, along with two others in London that he was associated with, and recovered various digital devices. He was released on bail while detectives carried out further enquiries and analysed the devices seized. He was charged in May 2020 with six counts of inciting racial h#tred.
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After being charged, he was released on bail with conditions not to make any comments or posts on social media which were thre@tening, ab#sive or ins#lting, to any ethnic groups. However, in October 2020, he was rearrested by officers after he made further offending social media posts whilst on bail. Two further charges were added as a result. He was found guilty on 30 November, 2021 of eight counts of inciting racial h#tred after a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
