William Martin Chinyanga: UK Based Zimbabwean Man Jailed For Encouraging Bombings In Harare

William Martin Chinyanga: A Zimbabwean man who encouraged bombings in Zimbabwe in online speeches has been jailed for terrorism offences by a British court.

Chinyanga, 52, live-streamed a number of speeches on Facebook encouraging people in Zimbabwe to bomb and attack security forces.

He also asked people to set service stations and businesses in Harare on fire.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said:

It was a report from a member of the public that brought Chinyanga’s speeches to the attention of police.

That person did the right thing, and this case shows that we will follow up on all reports and take action when needed.

We would strongly urge anyone who sees anything online which promotes terrorism to report it to police.

Chinyanga sought to reach as wide an audience as possible when he took to social media to encourage violent action against the current government in his native Zimbabwe.

Dangerous rhetoric of this nature can and does have harmful real-world consequences.

In an interview, Chinyanga admitted to posting the videos and was sentenced to three years in prison on Friday.

Chinyanga’s December 2019 videos were referred to counter-terror police who swooped to his arrest on February 25, 2020 at his home in north London.