LONDON (AFP)–Two Somali men went on trial in London Wednesday accused of encouraging acts of terrorism around the world, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ahmed Mohamed, 33, and Musse Yusuf, 32, ran Web sites offering material including volumes titled “Mujahideen Terrorist Handbook” and the “Mujahideen Explosives Handbook”, the court heard.

“The ideological material possessed by both defendants included material supporting the cause of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan, purported justifications for martyrdom operations and material encouraging jihad to be waged around the world,” said prosecutor Max Hill.

“Although a long way from their country of birth, these defendants used this country as a safe base from which to encourage and facilitate criminal activity of the most serious kind, namely jihad-style terrorism,” he said.

Mohamed and Yusuf deny providing terrorist publications and fundraising in breach of U.K. anti-terror law, while Yusuf denies an additional charge of possessing a document for terrorist purposes.

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