A cousin of two sisters who were dubbed the "teenage terror twins" after they joined Islamic State is facing jail for helping a friend go to Syria to fight jihad.

From his mother's home in Manchester, A-level student Abdullahi Ahmed Jama Farah, 20, created a "hub of communication" for his "Mandem" group of like-minded extremists.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey he was found guilty of preparing for terrorist acts by helping Nur Hassan, 19, from Manchester, achieve his aim of travelling to Syria to fight.

It can now be reported that Jama Farah is related to the so-called "terror twins", Zhara and Salma Halane, who at the age of 16 left their home in Chorlton in Manchester in June 2014 and are believed to have married IS fighters.

Prosecutor Gareth Patterson had told jurors it was clear that Jama Farah supported IS from what was found on his computers as well as messages on WhatsApp and social media.

Mr Patterson said he performed an "important role as the hub of communication" in the UK.

Jama Farah, who is Danish and of Somali origin, was in communication with four other friends abroad, two of whom are believed to have been killed and another badly injured in fighting.

His cousin Ahmed Ibrahim Halane, known as Pie, from Manchester, went to Somalia in September 2013, where he is thought to have joined the terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

Halane, brother of the "terror twins", is currently in Copenhagen, banned from returning to the UK.

Close friends Raphael Hostey, Mohammed Javeed and Khalil Raoufi headed from north west England to Syria on October 6, 2013, to join IS, the court heard.

Raoufi and Hostey went on to encourage others from England and around the world to swell their ranks in postings on Twitter.

Raoufi, also known as Abu Layth, was killed in combat in February 2014 and Hostey, or Al Qaqa, was shot in the foot.

Javeed, nicknamed Prinny, ended up in Iraq, where it emerged during the trial, he blew himself up in a suicide attack.

During his evidence, the defendant confirmed that when he twice discussed with his friends "doing a Prinny", that was what they were referring to.

Javeed's brother, the science teacher Jamshed Javeed, also planned to join IS but was arrested in Britain before he could get there.

When Jama Farah was arrested on March 11, 2014, he told police that he knew them all through his cousin Halane, who was 'emir', or leader, of their group of close friends.

A snapshot of life under Islamic State was revealed in photographs Raoufi sent to the defendant via WhatsApp and Twitter in and around Al-Ittihad university near the Syrian city of Raqqah, which had been turned into a training camp with a stash of weaponry.

One of the images appeared to show a joke equation on the 'square root of jihad' written on a university white board with "well done" written on it.

Amid the friends posing together was Ifthekar Jaman, from Portsmouth, who was also killed in fighting.

Jurors were shown a YouTube clip by Raoufi of an interview with Hostey in a Syrian hospital after he was shot in the foot in January 2014.

Jama Farah, of South Grove, Manchester, denied wrongdoing. He was cast by his defence as an over-excited teenager sitting in his bedroom at home on his computer in contact with his friends and passing on phone numbers, concerned for their welfare.

However, the jury convicted him of facilitating Hassan's travel to Syria and for his communication with Raoufi.

Judge Michael Topolski told the defendant he would be sentenced at a later date.

He said: "You must be in no doubt there can only be one sentence from this court - at the end of this process - that is a term of imprisonment.You have been convicted of serious terrorist-related crimes, be in no doubt that will be the sentence of the court."

mfl