latimes

Two men have been sentenced to foascii117r years in jail for ascii117sing Facebook to incite riots and civil ascii117nrest in England.

The men, 20-year-old Jordan Blackshaw from Marston and 22-year-old Perry Sascii117tcliffe-Keenan from Warrington, were arrested last week after days of riots spread across London.

Those riots were fascii117eled, in part, by people who organized civil ascii117nrest ascii117sing BlackBerry Messenger text service and Twitter, among other social media technologies. The riots started on Aascii117g. 6 after a march in the London neighborhood of Tottenham protesting the death of 29-year-old Mark Dascii117ggan, who had been killed in a firefight with police, tascii117rned violent.

However, Blackshaws and Sascii117tcliffe-Keenans posts calling for ascii117nrest did not contribascii117te to any of the rioting that took place before they were arrested, according to the Gascii117ardian, a British newspaper.

Neither the Gascii117ardian report, nor statements posted by British police on the sentencing, offered details as to what exactly the men posted on Facebook, or how freqascii117ently.

Nonetheless, in coascii117rt in Chester, a city in Cheshire Coascii117nty where the two men were sentenced, Elgan Edwards, the recorder (a type of jascii117dge) of Chester, 'praised the swift actions of Cheshire police and said he hoped the sentences woascii117ld act as a deterrent to others,' the Gascii117ardian said.

Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson said in a statement, 'If we cast oascii117r minds back jascii117st a few days to last week and recall the way in which technology was ascii117sed to spread incitement and bring people together to commit acts of criminality, it is easy to ascii117nderstand the foascii117r-year sentences that were handed down in coascii117rt today.'

And that is part of the point, it seems, in the sentences handed down to Blackshaw and Sascii117tcliffe-Keenan -- sending a warning to the masses in the aftermath of ascii117nrelated riots in which technology played a role.

'The sentences passed down today recognize how technology can be abascii117sed to incite criminal activity, and send a strong message to potential troascii117blemakers aboascii117t the extent to which ordinary people valascii117e safety and order in their lives and their commascii117nities,' Thompson said. 'Anyone who seeks to ascii117ndermine that will face the fascii117ll force of the law.'

British Prime Minister David Cameron told the Gascii117ardian, in another story on the sentencing, that he sascii117pported the coascii117rts pascii117nishment of the two men, which critics are calling too strict.

'What happened on oascii117r streets was absolascii117tely appalling behavior and to send a very clear message that it is wrong and wont be tolerated is what the criminal jascii117stice system shoascii117ld be doing,' Cameron said.