A CONVICTED terror supporter from the North-East has had his prison sentence increased by three years.

Mohammed Kahar today (Tuesday May 17) learned that he must now serve an eight-year sentence, rather than the five-year term imposed after his conviction on ten terrorism-related offences, at Newcastle Crown Court, last November.

Today’s ruling was made by Appeal Court judges, following a review of the sentence.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC referred the sentence to the Appeal Court under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

He argued the original sentence should be replaced with a longer term due to the seriousness of the offences.

Kahar, a 37-year-old married father-of-six, from Sunderland, was said to have actively promoted and vowed to fund Islamic terrorism, while he was said to have made inquiries to travel to Syria to join the “Holy War”.

During his trial he claimed his online activity was merely religious research and that he did not believe in violence.

The takeaway chef, who was said to have other business interests, said he only watched beheading videos to discover how they could be justified.

Sentencing him after the November trial, when he was found guilty of ten of the 11 charges faced, Mrs Justice Andrews told him that he, “bought into the propaganda about Jihad, absolutely”.

Speaking after today’s hearing, and the decision to increase Kahar’s prison term, the Solicitor General said: “Given the seriousness and range of the offences, I submitted that the original sentence which was passed was insufficient.

“It failed to adequately reflect Kahar’s overall criminality and the harm he caused through the range of his offending behaviour.

“Terror plotting of this nature is extremely serious and a clear message must be sent to everyone that it will not be tolerated.”