Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP has referred the suspended sentence of convicted terror supporter Farhana Ahmed to the Court of Appeal, following the intervention of Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk.

Mr Chalk (pictured) wrote to the Attorney General in November asking him to intervene and review the sentence because he believed it was too lenient.

Farhana Ahmed was convicted in the High Court on 7th November, after pleading guilty to one count of encouraging terrorism and three counts of disseminating a terrorist publication.

She did so by creating a fake Facebook account. The court was told that Ahmed had been a prolific contributor to a Facebook group, which described itself as a "pro-IS group, the purpose of it is to connect mawhideen brothers from different parts of the world and to help each other". She praised the Paris terror attacks, published a speech by an IS spokesman and linked to an extensive online library of terrorist publications.

Rather than sending her to jail, the Judge sentenced her to a suspended term of two years. In reaching this decision, the judge was moved by a letter from her eldest son and told Mrs Ahmed: "In your exceptional case, the sooner you get back to your children the better".

Alex Chalk said "I have constituents who have been directly affected by the terror attacks in London. They lost a loved one, the Angel of London Bridge, brutally murdered whilst helping other victims of the attack. Their resolve in the face of terror is an example for us all. The contrast here is stark.

"Online jihadist propaganda gets more clicks in the UK than any other European country. Only Iraq, Turkey, the USA and Saudi Arabia attract more hits. ISIS produces more than 100 new articles, videos and newspapers every week.

"The courts should be sending a strong message that anyone deliberately encouraging "home-grown" terror attacks in the UK will be met with a tough sentence.

"I believe that the suspended sentence of Farhana Ahmed was unduly lenient. That's why I raised the case with the Attorney General and asked him to intervene. I am pleased that he has acted so rapidly."

The Attorney General formally responded to Mr Chalk stating "I have considered the sentence imposed on Farhana Ahmed very carefully and I have decided to refer her case to the Court of Appeal because it appears to me to be unduly lenient."

Punchline says: Terror affects us all and it's great to see one of our local MPs taking a stand against it.