A woman is due in court after being charged with online support of a terrorist group .

Sara El-Houssein, 23, of north west London, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court tomorrow (April 19).

She was charged on March 21 with publishing an image of an article in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse a reasonable suspicion that she is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas.

The Metropolitan Police said that on October 17 last year, a public referral was made into the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), highlighting posts linked to a social media account that were allegedly showing support towards Hamas.

The posts were assessed by specialist officers in the CTIRU, who believed the posts could be in breach of terrorism legislation and the case was passed for further investigation.

Officers enquiries to identify the user behind the account, led them to arresting a then 22-year-old El Houssein on 2 November 2023.

She was released on bail and after making further enquiries, she was charged last month.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “This investigation came as a result of members of the public referring social media content into our Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit.

"Any content referred gets carefully assessed and I hope this example shows that we take this extremely seriously and that we will take action if and where we identify potential terrorist or criminal activity.

"We encourage people who see material online that they are concerned may be terrorist or extremist to report it to the team online."